UK Riots: A tipping point for the family?

Britain's families need to be reformed, says the Prime Minister. Are his politicians up to the job?
Michael Cook
Wednesday, 17 August 2011

Do the London riots signal the end of the welfare state and a turnaround for the family? The shock waves around the world suggest that Western countries have peered into the abyss and realised how weak the walls protecting civil society are if they can pushed over so quickly, with so little provocation. This was not a case of political protest, but “greed, selfishness, immorality. and above all, gross irresponsibility” – to quote the Labor leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband.

The looters and rioters were not the wretched of the earth. They even included a man with a master’s degree from the London School of Economics. This was a 9/11 for civil society, a reminder of how fragile is the foundation on which rest public discipline, respect for property, and respect for human rights.

So the response of British prime minister David Cameron is significant as far away as the United States, Canada and Australia – wherever the welfare state has gone hand in hand with family breakdown. He says that his government is determined to mend the UK's "broken society". In a landmark speech he described Britain as a country teetering on the brink of moral collapse:

"Do we have the determination to confront the slow-motion moral collapse that has taken place in parts of our country these past few generations? Irresponsibility. Selfishness. Behaving as if your choices have no consequences. Children without fathers. Schools without discipline. Reward without effort. the rest