http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peteroborne/100100708/the-moral-decay-of-our-society-is-as-bad-at-the-top-as-the-bottom/

The moral decay of our society is as bad at the top as the bottom

David Cameron, Ed Miliband and the entire British political class came together yesterday to denounce the rioters. They were of course right to say that the actions of these looters, arsonists and muggers were abhorrent and criminal, and that the police should be given more support.

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.

It is not just the feral youth of Tottenham who have forgotten they have duties as well as rights. So have the feral rich of Chelsea and Kensington. A few years ago, my wife and I went to a dinner party in a large house in west London. A security guard prowled along the street outside, and there was much talk of the “north-south divide”, which I took literally for a while until I realised that my hosts were facetiously referring to the difference between those who lived north and south of Kensington High Street.

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.

Yet we celebrate people who live empty lives like this. A few weeks ago, I noticed an item in a newspaper saying that the business tycoon Sir Richard Branson was thinking of moving his headquarters to Switzerland. This move was represented as a potential blow to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, because it meant less tax revenue.

I couldn’t help thinking that in a sane and decent world such a move would be a blow to Sir Richard, not the Chancellor. People would note that a prominent and wealthy businessman was avoiding British tax and think less of him. Instead, he has a knighthood and is widely feted. The same is true of the brilliant retailer Sir Philip Green. Sir Philip’s businesses could never survive but for Britain’s famous social and political stability, our transport system to shift his goods and our schools to educate his workers.

Yet Sir Philip, who a few years ago sent an extraordinary £1 billion dividend offshore, seems to have little intention of paying for much of this. Why does nobody get angry or hold him culpable? I know that he employs expensive tax lawyers and that everything he does is legal, but he surely faces ethical and moral questions just as much as does a young thug who breaks into one of Sir Philip’s shops and steals from it?

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.

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.

Yesterday, the veteran Labour MP Gerald Kaufman asked the Prime Minister to consider how these rioters can be “reclaimed” by society. Yes, this is indeed the same Gerald Kaufman who submitted a claim for three months’ expenses totalling £14,301.60, which included £8,865 for a Bang & Olufsen television.

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 tragic truth is that Mr Cameron is himself guilty of failing this test. It is scarcely six weeks since he jauntily turned up at the News International summer party, even though the media group was at the time subject to not one but two police investigations. Even more notoriously, he awarded a senior Downing Street job to the former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, even though he knew at the time that Coulson had resigned after criminal acts were committed under his editorship. 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.

These double standards from Downing Street are symptomatic of widespread double standards at the very top of our society. It should be stressed that most people (including, I know, Telegraph readers) continue to believe in honesty, decency, hard work, and putting back into society at least as much as they take out.

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.

Of course, most of them are smart and wealthy enough to make sure that they obey the law. That cannot be said of the sad young men and women, without hope or aspiration, who have caused such mayhem and chaos over the past few days. But the rioters have this defence: they are just following the example set by senior and respected figures in society. 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.

Not usually a fan of the Daily telegraph, but that hits the nail on the head for me. Can’t see it making the blindest bit of difference though, easier to make a headline grabbing comment than do some hard self reflection.

I wouldn’t generally align myself with the Telegraph either, but that makes a cogent point.

wot they said ^

ive been thinking this ever since the first night of riots

the stink of hypocrisy comming from westminster is overwhelming right now

its not just limited to the; politicians, mayor(s) senior police, bankers, media moguls, newspaper editors…..

To summarise, eveyone is out for what they can get, but the poor are too stupid to do it without breaking windows, whilst the more intelligent find more complicated ways to fleece everyone else.

It is not an intelligence thing it is about access to power and lack of moral fibre in those that have the access.
Very good article IMHO.

Hits the nail right on the head – repeatedly.

For an account of how we got here, why it did not have to be this way and what can possibly be done you can’t beat Tony Judt’s ‘I’ll Fares the Land’, published last year just before he died. Leftist but realistic, i.e., no ‘capitalism as Babylon, about to go under in an orgy of fire and blood’ posturing. Take it on holiday and despair at the last thirty years of farcical social and political regression.

I was thinking much the same thing yesterday while listening to the bloody hypocrites loudly and self-servingly posturing in parliament. I had to turn it off before my blood pressure went through the roof.

Martin Rowson has been pretty much on the money in the Guardian for the last two days

Another repellent aspect was listening to them, without a hint of irony, criticising the police for their ‘slow’ response. Erm… excuse me but where were you? Sipping a G&T by a pool in a monumentally expensive holiday villa in Tuscany!!!! And it took you three ****ing days before you thought it might be an idea to maybe pop back

Excellent article.

and lets not forget that they have made swingeing cuts to the police.it will be interesting to see if we have a baclkash of draconian police measures and powers of arrest as we did when there was similar unrest in the 80s

Im glad people can finally discuss this with a level head. Its boring when people just bring out the good old “SHOOT THEM DEAD IN THE STREET.” argument.

I think the article sums it up nicely but, a lot like political cartoons, won’t make a blind bit of difference really.

cfh to the forum please…

this is looking a bit one-sided.

Astonishing. The Telegraph now agrees with Ed Milliband.

The world is on it’s head…

(Good article).

“deracinated”

Learnt a new word today.

Excellent article.

Good article.
Dont forget Michael Gove, education secretary, whilst he was ranting on newsnight the other night, all i could think was “how many grands worth of antiques did you rob off the taxpayers?”. Oh sorry I forgot he decided to pay half of it back.

Likewise, not a telegraph reader but well articulated. For the ‘sickness’ that Cameron speaks of he need look no further than his own backyard.

gove was at his most repellant on newsnight, which really is something to behold

I’m glad you enjoyed it. Just as an aside, i was tutor to Peter Oborne’s son when he was at uni.

In a similar vein,
http://nathanieltapley.com/2011/08/10/an-open-letter-to-david-camerons-parents/