Whilst Oliver Letwin, who doesn't in my view understand cultural diversity and equality, which he clearly demonstrates with his comments concerning poor white people, his comments in response to encouraging black entrepreneurship by claiming it would fuel the "disco and drug trade" is an astounding indictment of racial stereotyping of a complete community.
The issues which were clearly identified then are they not in existence today, being Poor Housing, High unemployment, youth disaffection, poverty, poor education and a breakdown in the relationship between particularly the black community and the Police. Does this not sound familiar in 2015 some 30 years later.
Clearly, despite Douglas Hurd identifying the socio-economic factors which had a "specific ethnic(notably black) dimension", Oliver Letwin just sought to blame the whole disturbances on "Bad Moral Attitudes", which highlights a reluctance in my view in Government taking responsibility inn levelling the playing field irrespective of race, ability, gender or wealth.
Could one not argue it may well be the Politicians that may possess these bad attitudes, by not listening too and addressing the calls for change by those who are disaffected by a system in which they feel oppressed.
It is made clear by these comments that there was and still is a them and us focus in society and the comments only fuel the inequality and racial divide which are to some degree in force today, the difference is that it is now given the buzz title of disproportionality, however, the most alarming matter for me is that some of those with these historic views are still in Government today.
The Apology which has been issued, whilst acknowledging that the comments were wrong, was there not a realisation that it was wrong at the time. It is clear to me that those who seek the continuation of Inequality and are in Government have no place there and in my view it is clear that an apology is not sufficient and Mr Letwin should resign.
Desmond Jaddoo
30.12.2016
This is one of the Press articles concerning Oliver Letwin's Comments
OLIVER LETWIN BLAMED 'BAD MORAL ATTITUDES' FOR 1980S RIOTS, RECORDS SHOW
By Gavin Cordon, Press Association Whitehall Editor
David Cameron's policy chief Oliver Letwin blamed "bad moral attitudes" for a
series of devastating riots which erupted in predominantly black inner city
areas in the mid 1980s, according to newly released government papers.
Mr Letwin - then an adviser in Margaret Thatcher's No 10 policy unit - poured
scorn on claims that the disturbances were the product of urban deprivation,
saying white communities had endured such conditions for decades without
rioting.
He also dismissed proposals by ministers to foster a new class of black
entrepreneurs, saying they would simply set up in the "disco and drug trade".
The riots in autumn 1985 were among the worst disturbances to hit mainland
Britain in recent times.
They included serious unrest in the Handsworth area of Birmingham and Brixton,
south London, as well the Broadwater Farm riot in Tottenham where Pc Keith
Blakelock was stabbed to death.
The troubles widely blamed on a combustible combination of high unemployment,
slum housing, poor education and an atmosphere of bitter distrust between many
young black people and the police.
In one document among the papers released by the National Archives at Kew, home
secretary Douglas Hurd pointed to the underlying social and economic problems in
the areas which had a "specific ethnic (notably black) dimension".
But in an outspoken memorandum, written with fellow future Tory MP Hartley
Booth, Mr Letwin - now the Cabinet Office minister - urged Mrs Thatcher to
reject the prevailing orthodoxy, insisting the troubles came down to
"individual characters and attitudes".
"The root of social malaise is not poor housing, or youth 'alienation', or the
lack of a middle class," they wrote.
"Lower-class, unemployed white people lived for years in appalling slums
without a breakdown of public order on anything like the present scale; in the
midst of the depression, people in Brixton went out, leaving their grocery money
in a bag at the front door, and expecting to see groceries there when they got
back.
"Riots, criminality and social disintegration are caused solely by individual
characters and attitudes. So long as bad moral attitudes remain, all efforts to
improve the inner cities will founder."
Plans by environment secretary Kenneth Baker to refurbish crumbling tower
blocks or by employment secretary Lord Young to encourage new black middle class
entrepreneurs as a "force for stability" were not the answer, they argued.
"David Young's new entrepreneurs will set up in the disco and drug trade;
Kenneth Baker's refurbished council blocks will decay through vandalism combined
with neglect; and people will graduate from temporary training or employment
programmes into unemployment or crime," they said.
Government measures would only be effective, they said, if they succeeded in
changing attitudes to "personal responsibility, basic honesty, the law and the
police" from an early age.
Such schemes could include placing "young delinquents" in "good" foster
homes and the creation of a new "youth corps" to promote "moral values".
In a follow-up paper, Mr Booth attacked plans for a #10 million communities
programme, suggesting it would do little more than "subsidise Rastafarian arts
and crafts workshops".
The policy unit's proposals were strongly criticised by cabinet secretary Sir
Robert Armstrong who warned Mrs Thatcher that the proposed attempts at "social
engineering" raised some "very large and problematic questions".
ends