irony

the conservative party have gotten themselves all excited with the publication of iain duncan smith’s “breakthrough britain”. i have yet to read it (but that has never stopped anyone commenting on anything…), but from the reports it is a substantial document.
the iain duncan smith highlights a number of reasons why there is a social breakdown in britain, and the tories see themselves as being the people who will repair britain.
the, current, main mantra of the tories is about social responsibility and that how it is the duty of the state to help us live our lives the way we choose.
but of course such social choice must include the family and marriage. the decline of marriage is one of the reasons for social breakdown and the reason why we have “feral” children roaming the streets.
one of the consequences of this is the growth of drug usage.
the unspoken accusation is that social breakdown and reliance on drugs occurs where there is a welfare benefit dependency and single mums.
(you know where i am going with this, but let me continue anyway..)

the recent tragic case of a young woman being stabbed by a drug crazed neighbour seems to be exactly what iain duncan smith is going on about except that the murderer, william jaggs, (who has been convicted of manslaughter because of diminished responsibility) was a student of harrow school, his dad a master there, he was also a student at oxford university.
the father of his victim, lucy braham, is also a master at harrow school, has described jaggs as being the perfect prey for the drug dealer and that he fitted in well “into the despicable drugs fraternity at oxford university.”

these are not parents who are stupid or ill prepared to raise children, but somehow drugs still entered the family life. jaggs is not someone who suffers from social deprivation. it appears he was let down by the establishment institutions he attended.

the daily mail
also carried another story of a well off student getting involved with drugs while at school. again demonstrating that a “good” social background and “good” family is no guarantee that your children will grow up to be good citizens.
the insistence that marriage may prevent social breakdown is rendered a little impotent when those from such a background end up off the straight and narrow.
but perhaps when it is the children of the middle classes we are only talking of a youthful phase that will pass and allow you to become the leader of the conservatives (allegedly), while if you happen to live on a sink estate and smoke a bit of weed you are a danger to society.

the more the tories change, the more it seems they stay the same.