to find the whole Broken Britain thing a load of horse crap?

[slightlystressed]

It's really irratating me now, Britain has never been "fixed".

I know Mr Smuggness will be our next PM, and I've been trying to avoid him, but he's frikin' EVERYWHERE! Using the Edlington case to highlight his theory was pretty poor aswell.

God, Im going to unplug the TV for a few days after the Election, his smuggness just might make me explode!

It's the oldest wag the dog in the book: scapegoat the poorest of the poor and hopefully create a distraction so you don't notice you're paying hella tax on your £18,000 or £32,000/pa but Zac Goldsmith is paying jack shit on millions nor Sarah Cameron on the £20m inheritance she did nothing to earn.

Scapegoat the poorest of the poor because they can't hide as easily as the likes of those who have big country estates or tony houses in Marleybone with security in place.

I don't know which is sadder: the fact that people with the greatest advantages in life still don't feel compelled to use their brains to dream up something new or that so many people are still apathetic and ignorant enough to fall for that sort of cock and bull.

I think the main problems are the relaxation of drinking laws, the dumbing down of education and the denigration of social conscience and social responsibility.

Personal responsibility isn't just personal: it's social. I can't bring up a child that would ruin someone else's life. I have lived in a place where in intrapersonal relations there was zero social responsibility. It holds back progress, prosperity and is a restraint on simple contentment.

Applauds, Upandrunning!

Scapegoat the poor? But it's the poor who are suffering most! Non white collar crime affects the communities it comes from much more than it affects those outside. The number of people on this thread who've said "I can't see it, so it's not happening" is shocking.

Gosh -- agreement is a new thing for me

'Scapegoat the poor? But it's the poor who are suffering most! Non white collar crime affects the communities it comes from much more than it affects those outside.'

I'm off the opinion that Tory policies like bringing back tax breaks for marrieds and their attitude towards welfare ('big society not big government' as DC put it) is scapegoating the poor.

That's what I meant.

Whip up ire: 'they' are all scroungers! Immigrants do those jobs because 'they' don't want to, etc. etc.

Get anger directed at them so no one takes notice of non-doms making key policy decisions.

Oh yes.. I see what you mean. I like the tax breaks for married (ahem) because I think it would send a signal that stability is desirable. But it is definitely the poorest who are losing ground: they may have enough money to meet their needs but quite often their future is desolate. It's a "what's the point" life: what's the point in study, there's no job: what's the point in a job, there's money anyway.

That feeling doesn't just come from being supported by the state, I don't know where it comes from but it's created by more than dependancy. It's as if corporate and political abuse has sucked the life and ambition out of a certain section of society.

Lunatic is right though: white collar "crime" (banks) is fast sucking the hope out of a different section and making people more selfish.

Would a 'broken' society allow us to be having this discussion?

or even 'allow us to have'... It's all that dumbing down of education, you see

I think if Education was truly made better, so that EVERYONE could access a decent level of qualifications, it would help. Sometimes. If you live in an area where the schools are not able to give you a reasonable standard of education (even if you are very able), and there are not jobs locally, it can seem a very desolate life. It seems to me that not many people from a wealthy privelidged background would be prepared to take a job cleaning toilets when that job will not feed their family, pay all their basic bills and allow a little extra for the fun things in life. If you knew that you could work 40 hours a week all year round, for such a low amount of money that you never had a chance to leave your local estate, or buy a treat for your child, or pay for your child to go to a club to enrich their education, or buy a larger house, or new furniture...wouldn't it depress you? And if you knew that alcohol or drugs would let you escape from that mind-crushing reality for a short while, from knowing that no matter what you do, you will live and die in poverty, and so will your children, and your children's children, no matter how hard you work, wouldn't YOU take that opportunity to escape? And eventually, a lot of people in that situation, granted, end up on benefits, but if you had worked yourself for years upon years in a physically demanding menial job, you would get so dispirited, that you just can't be arsed anymore. Hardly anyone in that form of poverty has 'job satisfaction', what they have is someone who is often 10/20 years younger than them, possibly not as bright as them, bossing them around and looking down their nose at them, being paid more than them, simply because, by virtue of their birth into a more privelidged family, was able to access a better quality of education, thus earn more, and expect the 'scum' working lower in the chain of command for peanuts that don't cover basic living costs (due to the STUPID MINIMUM WAGE) to lick his boots clean every day. And if you've seen that happen to your parents, why in hells name would you want that for yourself. NOW as the people living in these areas probably attended the same (failing) schools as their children are now going to, they want more for their children but haven't been educated to a high enough level to know how to make changes in their local area. So the cycle perpetuates.

And I've managed to put a 'd' in priveliged. Twice. Poo. .

I've always had problems spelling that particular word. Probably because I never was. Privilidged that is. It still doesn't look right though. Will someone sensible please come and tell me how to spell it!!

Privileged.

'twas a very good post though.

Loudlass.

I do apologise!

No, Britain isn't broken. Its not perfect but its still a great place to live.

As someone said earlier, I can't think of any other period of time I would have preferred to live.

As a woman, good lord, its just better than ever.

Standards of living are much higher, our ability to communicate, to educate, to travel - everything is better.

There are problems, just as there has always been problems. The only difference is that now we can all see the problems a lot more clearly. Secrecy has gone, the shame has gone, the media reports on absolutely everything.

We have a local african priest who has a smile on his face constantly when he is over here, he constantly reminds us how lucky we are.

I keep hearing about the breakdown of the family in the media, but everyone I know at work, in mother and toddler groups, socially - everyone puts family first.

The problems which have always been around are getting more and more attention and more and more money is thankfully being poured into trying to solve them.

We have a wonderful society in the main.

8000 girls under 16 got pregnant in 2007

8000 girls, out of a fucking HUGE population of teenage girls.

8000 girls in the uk, where nearly all girls over 13 are fertile.

It's actually not bad. It's certainly not 'the ruin of Britain'. We probably spend more on grass seed for public areas than we do on teenager's babies.

DP if you renounce the BNP it could be the start of something wonderful

go on there's a love you know it makes sense

a clean break is the best way

Well of course if I believed this country was broken, my first course of action would be to vote for the party who told us there is no such thing as society

I agree, I think it was that awful case in doncaster that triggered this. I hate it when they use someone elses tragedy to pimp their politics. I think that feral evil kids have existed since the dawn of time, and will continue to exist. Unless we sterilise people we dont see as suitable to rear children this will always be the case

It really angers me the way they blame the council, sure they had a part to play but its THE PARENTS...SIGH