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Jon Snow

The moral decay of our society is as bad at the top as the bottom - Telegraph Blogs - 0 views

  • But there was also something very phony and hypocritical about all the shock and outrage expressed in parliament. MPs spoke about the week’s dreadful events as if they were nothing to do with them. I cannot accept that this is the case. Indeed, I believe that the criminality in our streets cannot be dissociated from the moral disintegration in the highest ranks of modern British society. The last two decades have seen a terrifying decline in standards among the British governing elite. It has become acceptable for our politicians to lie and to cheat. An almost universal culture of selfishness and greed has grown up.
  • Most of the people in this very expensive street were every bit as deracinated and cut off from the rest of Britain as the young, unemployed men and women who have caused such terrible damage over the last few days. For them, the repellent Financial Times magazine How to Spend It is a bible. I’d guess that few of them bother to pay British tax if they can avoid it, and that fewer still feel the sense of obligation to society that only a few decades ago came naturally to the wealthy and better off.
  • Our politicians – standing sanctimoniously on their hind legs in the Commons yesterday – are just as bad. They have shown themselves prepared to ignore common decency and, in some cases, to break the law. David Cameron is happy to have some of the worst offenders in his Cabinet. Take the example of Francis Maude, who is charged with tackling public sector waste – which trade unions say is a euphemism for waging war on low‑paid workers. Yet Mr Maude made tens of thousands of pounds by breaching the spirit, though not the law, surrounding MPs’ allowances.
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  • A great deal has been made over the past few days of the greed of the rioters for consumer goods, not least by Rotherham MP Denis MacShane who accurately remarked, “What the looters wanted was for a few minutes to enter the world of Sloane Street consumption.” This from a man who notoriously claimed £5,900 for eight laptops. Of course, as an MP he obtained these laptops legally through his expenses.
  • Or take the Salford MP Hazel Blears, who has been loudly calling for draconian action against the looters. I find it very hard to make any kind of ethical distinction between Blears’s expense cheating and tax avoidance, and the straight robbery carried out by the looters.
  • The Prime Minister showed no sign that he understood that something stank about yesterday’s Commons debate. He spoke of morality, but only as something which applies to the very poor: “We will restore a stronger sense of morality and responsibility – in every town, in every street and in every estate.” He appeared not to grasp that this should apply to the rich and powerful as well.
  • The Prime Minister excused his wretched judgment by proclaiming that “everybody deserves a second chance”. It was very telling yesterday that he did not talk of second chances as he pledged exemplary punishment for the rioters and looters.
  • But there are those who do not. Certainly, the so-called feral youth seem oblivious to decency and morality. But so are the venal rich and powerful – too many of our bankers, footballers, wealthy businessmen and politicians.
  • Let’s bear in mind that many of the youths in our inner cities have never been trained in decent values. All they have ever known is barbarism. Our politicians and bankers, in sharp contrast, tend to have been to good schools and universities and to have been given every opportunity in life. Something has gone horribly wrong in Britain. If we are ever to confront the problems which have been exposed in the past week, it is essential to bear in mind that they do not only exist in inner-city housing estates. The culture of greed and impunity we are witnessing on our TV screens stretches right up into corporate boardrooms and the Cabinet. It embraces the police and large parts of our media. It is not just its damaged youth, but Britain itself that needs a moral reformation.
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    "Let's bear in mind that many of the youths in our inner cities have never been trained in decent values. All they have ever known is barbarism. Our politicians and bankers, in sharp contrast, tend to have been to good schools and universities and to have been given every opportunity in life. Something has gone horribly wrong in Britain. If we are ever to confront the problems which have been exposed in the past week, it is essential to bear in mind that they do not only exist in inner-city housing estates. The culture of greed and impunity we are witnessing on our TV screens stretches right up into corporate boardrooms and the Cabinet. It embraces the police and large parts of our media. It is not just its damaged youth, but Britain itself that needs a moral reformation." On remplacera Britain par France, USA, etc. Papier simple mais Ô combien rafraîchissant en ces heures d'hypocrisie. Tout est à refonder! Magnifique, non! edit: A relier à cet article de Cabanel sur Agoravox: Le cas français. On a la presse qu'on mérite. Oborne c'est l'édito d'un des plus grands journaux anglais. Et nous, un simple site tenu par des individus lambdas. La valeur reste cependant la même. http://www.agoravox.fr/actualites/citoyennete/article/une-ripoublique-irreprochable-98682
Jon Snow

Le texte qui fait parler toute l'Angleterre - lesoir.be - 0 views

  • La démesure des décisions judiciaires, favorisées par le soutien du chef du gouvernement, font depuis trois jours largement débat. Plus encore, les critiques s'élèvent contre l'analyse des autorités. Le Premier Ministre a en effet accusé « la culture » des émeutiers, qui « glorifie la violence, montre un manque de respect de l'autorité et parle des droits mais jamais des responsabilités », et dont profiteraient « les gangs des rues ». Pour y répondre, il réclame « plus de disciplines dans nos écoles », « un système judiciaire criminel qui marque une claire et lourde ligne entre le bien et le mal ».
    • Jon Snow
       
      On en revient aux bons vieux classiques moraux et autoritaires.
  • La plus violente diatribe à son encontre est venue de Peter Oborne, l'éditorialiste politique en chef du quotidien de droite The Telegraph, dont l'écrit a été repris par ses concurrents et relayés massivement sur Twitter. Il estime que « la criminalité dans nos rues ne peut pas être dissociée de la désintégration morale des plus hauts rangs de la société moderne britannique. Les deux dernières décades ont vu un déclin terrifiant des standards au sein de l'élite gouvernante britannique. Il est devenu acceptable pour nos politiciens de mentir et de tricher. (.) Il n'y a pas que la jeunesse sauvage de Tottenham qui a oublié qu'elle a des devoirs aussi bien que des droits, mais aussi les riches sauvages de Chelsea et Kensington ».
  • Enfin, conclut-il, alors qu'il y a quelques semaines « le Premier Ministre excusait son erreur de jugement en embauchant l'ancien directeur de la rédaction Andrew Coulson en clamant que « tout le monde mérite une seconde chance », il était très parlant qu'il n'a pas parlé de seconde chance lorsqu'il a requis une punition exemplaire pour les émeutiers et les casseurs. « Ces doubles standards de Downing Street sont symptomatiques des doubles standards répandus au sommet de notre société. (.) Bien évidemment, ces derniers sont intelligents et assez riches pour être certains qu'ils obéissent à la loi. Cela ne peut être dit des malheureux jeunes femmes et hommes, qui sans espoir et aspiration, ont causé tellement de désordre et de chaos ces derniers jours. Mais les émeutiers ont cette défense : ils suivent tout simplement l'exemple montré par les figures plus âgées et respectées de la société ».
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    Je m'en vais chercher l'original.
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