I hope everyone battling youth violence in the 3rd sector applauds, as the Damilola Taylor Trust do, the editorial bravery of the London Evening Standard this week in the decision they have taken to put the spotlight on the appalling poverty that exists in our City – click here to view the article.
How can any politician, no matter what party they represent, expect crime and the escalation into violence it causes be dealt with when such squalor exists right on our doorsteps? As Noel Gallagher once flippantly remarked “If 1 in 4 of our children live under the poverty line of course youth crime is an issue and they will be killing each other with knives” – Let the burden of eradicating the problem first and foremost be the task of the next Government. Let them come out and admit that it is a problem more pressing than anything else on their agenda.
Lets make poverty history by tearing down the sink estates and by providing front line services to give those at risk more opportunity – Let people not effected by poverty recognise it is rife in the UK and stop donating money right left and centre to foreign aid projects – never mind comic relief and red noses, what about “NEVER MIND THE COMEDY, POVERTY IS RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSES AND IT AINT FUNNY!” – If all the money raised by these telethons was put into a central UK REGENERATION fund then it could make a difference.
Nothing excuses the taking of a life of a young one and the Spirit of London Awards, through the wonderful young people it spotlights shows that no matter what the deprivation and disadvantage, we have the greatest young people in the world. This is not the point. The point is that until we invest in ripping down the sink estates that exist in every Borough of London we don’t have a chance of eradicating youth violence altogether. Our sticking plasters are all very good but the cancer of poverty and the crime it gives birth to cannot be dealt with this way. One final thought… Perhaps the designers responsible for a twisted, broken and dishevelled looking logo for London 2012 were being ironic?
Gary Trowsdale – Executive Director, SOLA 2010
