It's started already: Cameron and his "deep social problems"

[vodkaandtonic]

In his first speech as PM, Cameron identified three key issues to address:

• budget deficit (fair enough)
• electoral reform (whatever)
• deep social problems - WHAT?

Depends on your perspective, dear Mr C. Most people don't see that we have "deep social problems". Most people are leading normal, hard-working lives, trying to do the best for their future, their kids, their retirement...

Smacks of the ivory tower, elitist crap line you inevitably get from someone who wants to crush sort out the lower classes with their problems of indolence, teen pregnancy, knife crime, benefit cheating and binge drinking.

OK. Shit.

Britain is largely a great place to live but there are pockets where there are serious problems. If you don't live in one of those areas you think life is pretty good, crime's low and everyone has two cars and mows the lawn at the weekend. If you live in an area of London where gangs are roaming the streets and where teenagers are being stabbed and shot with monotonous regularity you'd have quite a different view of life and you'd demand action.

yes, but he could have talked about poverty, social justice, breaking down barriers to help people...

But no. He sees Britain through the filter of deep social problems. He might not ever have used the term Broken Britain, but this is clearly that same idea.

Perhaps we should just be mighty relieved he didn't mention Big Fucking Society.

I am dreading this.

There are deep social problems though - they just aren't the ones traditionally identified by traditional Tories. Such as poverty, long term unemployment blighting communities, social justice and yes, alchohol consumption (across all classes).

No one thinks teen pregnancy or crime are good either, but both of those are already much lower than they used to be.

We are not 'broken' - there are issues that need addressing - the same ones as a week ago.

Damn, the Economist 'How broken is Britain' article I like to quote is now behind the paywall

Little pockets of Britain have always been "broken", though haven't they? It's just that the exact nature of the problems change. Labour have tried with a broader brush to relieve child poverty, with some success but it's a long term job.

I fear the Tories still don't get that you can't clear the deficit by focussing only on public spending cuts, without hitting the frail, vulnerable, blah blah blah. You've got to balance it with tax rises for the wealthier, something even Ken Clarke realised in the recession he was chancellor for. So the proposed rise in NIs was unpopular, but how much more popular will a rise in VAT be, especially as it hits the less well off disproportionately.

You contradict yourself in your opening OP. You suggest that most people think there are no deep social problems and then you go and list them...

It isn't elitist to identify that these issues need to be addressed surely. I would think it very worrying if they were not high on the new government's agenda to be honest.

Ah well, what did anyone expect?

I mean it takes one to know one does it not?

criminals that contribute to 'Broken Britain'? What is Andy Coulsen then? Oh, it was ok for him because he was able to PAY his way out of it.

I guess its ok for Zac [for example] to contribute to our lack of family values too with excuses along a similar vein?

from now on, I expect all their crappy policies will just be cut and paste jobbies from the Mail, news of the World and the Sun headlines.

I would never buy his old cruddy papers, let alone vote for his and Murdocks new little conservative party.

Yuck.

Seems you have completely missed the point of my OP, dinosaur.

My point is:

what most people live is modern life...maybe as a lone parent, hardworking or struggling with childcare issues and having to claim benefits, looking to the future, trying to get the best education for their kids. Not many people - thank the lord - live with the daily threat of knife crime.

And YET what the privileged Cameron sees in the same picture is scroungers and broken Britain and knife crime that needs to be cracked down on and "deep social problems".

What I am saying is, one person's lone parent is Cameron's shiftless teen mum who will be punished whilst those in marriages are rewarded.

What I see as a young girl who made a mistake and is trying to do her best is seen as teen mum scum.

And, yes, binge drinking and drug-taking are problems throughout society. But if you are working class, Cameron views you as a binge drinking problem. If you are at Eton College and caught smoking cannibis, Cameron sees you as MP material (Zac Goldsmith).

Need I go on?

I know (of - work with) plenty of people with 'deep' social problems. 8 year olds well known to police etc... Where my parents live is full of knife/ gun crime. I will be really glad if he addresses it. Glad he isn't living with his head in the clouds.

So if you go to a good school because your parents are rich you cant make mistakes but if you are poor it is ok?
Drug taking/teen pregnancy!

Why is it so difficult for those with left leaning principles to see past someones family background and see the person instead?

Who cares where someone went to school or where they live. Does it make them any less relevant?
Are you only entitled to an opinion if you are poor????

OP, it just sounds like you are just anti conservative. (Before you ask, I don't vote at all usually, I voted this time on a specific and serious local issue and would not have voted if it was just about national policies).

We do have social problems. It's just a fact and I think it is fine for David Cameron to want to sort them out. My brother taught in a school where children came into the classroom, shook fizzy drinks up and sprayed the wall displays he had put hours into. A member of his department was punched in the face by a 12yo. Another was called a bitch by a 12yo. These are social problems, they are real and they exist all over the country, even in "respectable" areas. If you don't think we have social problems, do you bother locking your front door at night?

I am happy there is a coalition government because I don't think any of the parties had great policies across the board. I think you should give it a chance.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg have different politics. They are both public schoolboys. I really don't care where they were educated, I want them to do their jobs. I can't help but feel that if Gordon Brown had said that we had deep social problems, that the OP wouldn't have minded.

You come across as quite amazingly bitter OP. The venom you're directing at DC for his supposed 'elitism' speaks volumes about yourself. Britain does have some fairly serious social problems that need to be tackled, good for DC if he has the balls to do it.

I also think it's good that DC has the balls to stand up and admit we have social problems in this country. Maybe not in all areas but you have to be pretty blind not to see the breakdown of our society these days.

Teenagers have always drank cider (or whatever else) in the park and been abit lippy but when you have teenagers who are swearing at police officers in the street with no fear at all for any consequences that may (but probably won't) come upon them, then you know that something along the line has gone very wrong.

When it actually makes someone better of to not work and claim benifits then if they had a full time job then something is not right.

Yes the Tories are probably a bit too tough talking for some people, unlike the manby panby Labour Govenment that we have just had 13 years of who spend money like it grows on trees.

If the Tories are willing to sort out the have everything for doing nothing generation that Labour has created then fine, i will give them that chance. When will people get it into their head that the Government have to cut, cut, cut because the Country is in huge debt.

Good I'm glad he is going to address the problem. I for one am sick of living in feral Britain. I made my mind up who to vote for on Wednesday when I came out to find some mindless scum had keyed my car.

If we are a country without Deep Social Problems, then why oh why have I just had to sit through a news item about the rape of an 8 year old child?
By two boys who were 10??????????

I'd call that pretty broken, wouldnt you?

When I have a Head Teacher telling me not to send my (yr R, yr 2, and yr 4) children to their catchment school, because they will not receive the education (social as well as academic) they are entitled to, because the school is essentially having to fire-fight behavioural issues rather than worry about actual education at this point, I'd say he hit the nail right on the head.

"mindless scum had keyed my car"

mindless scum?????

MintHumbug i am with you on the 24 hour drinking and how stupid it is.

I live in a town where it is infamous for it's nightlife, mainly at weekends where the town centre is a no go area for people with families. It's just nightclubs/bars/fast food joints etc and it gets too much for the police to deal with because of lack of police on the streets.

I hope DC reverses the stupid idea of 24 hour drinking. It also would help if the supermarkets weren't selling cheap booze as well.

Good on him, if the social issues are addressed everything else will follow, education will improve, people's values will improve, family and society in general. What is the point of giving a poor single mum a few vouchers if her children are stuck in a rut with no future.
Yes there are some serious social issues to address

ronshar - Bad things happen all the time. One awful incident tells us nothing except that awful things happen. We can make sure that nothing bad ever happens if you like - but it would involve locking you in a room and never letting you out.

Ronshar/smallwhitecat - I can see why you consider it left wing orthodoxy to deny social problems. But it isn't. As Labour were in power for so long, they were forced into a position of being constantly attacked for all social ills. (Which is not an inappropriate thing to attack a government for) so they were forced into a position of defending them. Their policies however clearly DID acknowledge them as they sought to alleviate them. So there is a disconnect between there actions and the discussion of them. This is a problem with how we deal with politics in general.

MintHumbug/MsSaprkle - 24 hour licensing is not the problem per se. It is the concentration of late night drinking places in small areas which has been encouraged by Councils and the Police in order to make Policing them cheaper and more efficient. This has led to the cutthroat competion between them that has helped fuel the drinking culture. Alchohol is too cheap in general though.

Can't do right for some people can he?

Doesn't say anything and is living in Cloud Cuckoo land, does say something and is attacking the 'lower classes'.

David Cameron is right. I live in South East London and have done all my life. In the last 10-15 years the town I live in has changed to a place where none of me and my friends would walk the streets at night (and we did all the time in the 90's). There are stabbings and shootings on a regular basis. Every nightclub and most of the bars and pubs have closed - not due to recession but due to drugs and violence. The schools have all gone majorly downhill and it is a struggle to find a decent non private senior school. There are gangs in the town centre starting fights on a regular basis.

Something has gone wrong. Was is Labours fault? I don't know. No point in blaming anyone now but to say it doesn't need to be dealt with or doesn't exist is just plain ignorant. Where do you live OP? Believe me the areas in and around London need to be dealt with - I can't speak for the rest of the country though.

I wish people would stop bloody moaning and accept that the Tories do actually have some good ideas and policies. Labour supporters need to concentrate their energies on revitalising their party if they want to win the next election. Stop whinging about the Tories - they are in now, make the best of it. We had to under Labour after all.