Reflections from the Dartmoor edge

"But the right’s knee-jerk response - that this is criminality, pure and simple, and that to seek a deeper explanation is to excuse the culprits - is also wrong. There is clearly a cadre of young people in Britain who feel that they have little or no stake in the country’s future or their own. The barriers that prevent most youngsters from running amok - an inherent sense of right and wrong; concern for their job and education prospects; shame - seem not to exist in the minds of the rioters. Britain needs to try to understand why that is so."