Difficult Issues

The Prime Minister had little option but to condemn the sympathy phenomenon for Raoul Moat, but troubling issues remain. Most gratifying, though, is the extraordinary courage and lack of bitterness shown by P.C.Rathband. Whatever flows from this tragic chain of events, his commitment to overcome the dreadful legacy of Moat’s violence should shine like a bright star.

But there remain questions for the investigating authorities and for society as a whole. The authorities need to discover whether the police tactics were the best available and whether the probation and social authorities responded correctly and whether warnings, including those from Moat himself, were heeded.

For society there are different questions. Why do we have an underclass in modern times which feels excluded and oppressed? Why do so many see a man who appears to have been both violent and deranged as a figure for sympathy, even a hero? What did these people see of themselves in Moat? What is  the image of the police in communities which depend upon their protection and support more than more affluent locations? Have we really faced the enormity of the human price of the mantra ‘there is no such thing as society’?

The answers to all these questions are neither straightforward nor easy to define. They are nevertheless there to be found. Whilst Cameron must proclaim the uncompromising good versus evil take on recent events, as probably the most socially aware and sensitive prime minister of modern times, in his heart he will know not only the questions, but also the need for solutions. This is our best hope.

It is true that one of the better legacies of Labour is a more open, kinder, less selfish society than it inherited in 1997.   Ironically the dark core of exclusion, which lay deep at the start, has grown bigger through the same policies and over the same period which helped the mainstream to open out and become more inclusive. This perverse heritage is one which both the main parties helped to create. Cameron and the coalition have the initiative to set about building a better outcome, but to succeed not only Labour, but all the institutions of the land will have to engage in the project too.