Our wicked children

Some days I am afraid to open the newspapers for fear of what I might find. Just two stories from today's Telegraph:

• a group of muggers seized a baby from a pram and threatened to drop her unless her mother gave them her handbag;
• two youngsters were shot in McDonald's restaurant in Brixton
  

You can be sure that this is by no means the sum total of evil perpretrated in the country yesterday. So many other crimes go unreported everyday. In fact, I am sure that the McDonald's case only made the news because the shooting took place in front of children.

When did we as a society become so wicked? Even our pets are catching the vibe and mauling children left, right, centre. Once upon a time, there were some acts at which even the most violent criminal would draw the line. This is no longer so. Does anyone really believe the muggers would not have harmed that baby if the mother had hesitated to hand over her bag?

The most shocking thing is that these acts are committed, in the main, by teenagers. Some of them would have been no more than nine years old when this Government came into office. These are Blair's babies, the ASBO children begotten as a result of moral relativism and a wrong-headed approach to law and order.

A few years ago, it was a thing of surprise for an eleven year old to be given an ASBO. Now, things have changed. We are no longer surprised to read about a ten year old being given an ASBO and a driving ban, for good measure.

These youngsters are growing up in Britain today without a sense of personal responsibility. When children and teenagers start committing violent crime, it is time to ask ourselves if we have done anything to foster it. Here are some of these Government's policies that may have had something to do with it:

• violent criminals released without serving anywhere near their full term (lesson for children: crime pays)
• 'incentive' payments to bribe children to stay on at school (lesson for children: education in itself is not worth bothering with, hence the bribe)
• explosion in benefit payments, with billions lost through fraud (lesson for children: it pays to cheat the system; the Government is too thick to catch you)
• reduction in the number of police on patrol (lesson for children: you can do whatever you damn well like, there's nobody out there to enforce the law)
• erosion of authority from parents and teachers (lesson for children: you are accountable to no-one)
• a tax and benefits system that penalises married couples (lesson for children: there is nothing to be gained from being a strong family unit)

Is it therefore any surprise that these little angels are now running amok, shooting, stabbing, and mugging to their hearts' content? Until these matters are addressed, we will continue down the bloody path to destruction. On-the spot-fines are not the answer. High-sounding speeches are not the answer. It is time for the Government to stop its meaningless rhetoric on crime and begin to repair the damage to the social fabric.