-end of line- in response to an article written by David Lammy MP, in the Guardian: Friday 24 May 2013 18.32

I have to say, its a well thought out article; and if you don't mind, I'd say in many ways he is right, but unlike him I do think that there is a solution. The big question he doesn't seem to want to answer is why do these young men feel alienated? From my position, and I know a lot about alienation, I don't think its just young men. I do think that young men (and women) have the ability to be more vocal and express themselves more passionately than most, but I also think that we as a nation are becoming increasingly introverted. Family staged event's -like bonfire night-, once held as a rural collective event are now fewer and far less important. And the public house , where a person could go and have a beer and a fag or two is on the decline as inclusive restaurants and wine bars become the norm. Villages, and that is what a city is: small towns built into each other as individuals or families choose to move closer towards its mythical center where hope's are always sought yet always dashed, are on the decline as individuals become increasingly cut off from each other; leaving, for want of a better word, emotional causalities: those who, because of colour or ideology, gender or religious practice do not seem to fit in; and in the heart of all this chaos run voices of dissent embracing the aliened for their own agenda.

As an example of alienation I will use my family. We live in a close knit rural town, that has very strong associations to the Tory party. If you choose to stand against that, then you will find yourself marginalized, because you don't share in their collective ideal, this also filters down into the children; leading to greater alienation. This might be a bad example of why individuals are alienated, but, I think its a valid example. Society - a hated word for some, a hallowed dream for others- has to be able to be exclusive, rather than inclusive. It has to be able to accept all individuals, not matter what they believe, either about themselves or each other. This is the multicultural dream, yet it has to deal with the huge demographic changes that are rippling through our nation that are happening even as I type. Also I have come to believe that society functions in a very fluid way: our leader's (elected or otherwise) dictate the shape of our culture, through a trickling down effect; that is seen through their actions and their behavior. This is -in turn- reflected back up and out towards others and back into the community at large through the media: The shape this creates is almost a form of helix. To break it is not easy. I think, and this is where ideology and perhaps idealism takes over from reality, that big business can and should have a greater role in shaping society. A link away from the greed of the stock market ethic and a considered approach to community as a whole is vital is making individuals feel accepted and (dare I use a philosophical term badly?) valid. A social conscious for business for want of a better word. With this connected to government then there would be a greater chance of the alienated individual to become included into something, as income is created through social welfare programs. Yes a dangerous idea, but these are dangerous times.

Also Government has a huge role to play in reshaping the way society functions. It cannot sit idly by and expect tax returns to keep it stable without investment into itself. It cannot simply look to the bankers and the inclusively rich to support their inspirational dreams and aspiration. It has to do something.
Instead its creating laws that will make homelessness illegal, without having the funding for the individuals to find homes, creating a messy system of work house jails, it is privatizing the health service, the education system and asset stripping at a frightening rate; and while it does this, it creates a greater impasse between the elite and the wealthy and the working class and the destitute by not supporting the core foundations of our society. Namely equality for all. (after all that is what the house of commons was built for. The common individual.)
I accept that we are living in a changing world, a world where social ideology has become weak rhetoric, but socialism does have some ideas that can -and do- work, to ignore them, is to create a greater schism in our already fragmenting society; leaving this alienation to grow and allowing the insidious of our society to have a greater sway over the hearts and the minds of the young. In the end, we shape our world, we leave it for our children to shape with their ideas. It would be good, to leave them something to aspire to, and be inspired about. Don't you think?
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