The Children's Society is wrong about the rioters - they were just as greedy and selfish as anyone else

By Jonathan Walker on Dec 19, 11 12:39 PM in Politics

The Children's Society has published the results of a survey which found most 13 to 17 year olds and adults believed the main reason for the summer riots was that rioters wanted "to get goods and possessions they couldn't afford to buy".

According to the Children's Society, this proves that Theresa May, the Home Secretary, was wrong to claim that the riots were about "instant gratification".

Instead, according to the Children's Society, it proves that "poverty" was one of the key causes of the riots.

Doesn't it actually suggest the opposite - that she was right?

Or do we now define poverty simply as not being able to afford things you want? If so, 99 per cent or more of the country lives in poverty.

In fact, there clearly wasn't one single easy explanation for the riots. I don't doubt that poverty, inequality and hopelessness played a role.

But pure greed and selfishness seems to have played a role too.

If there's one thing we've learnt in recent years, from the behaviour of some bankers, some MPs and some journalists, it's that people from all walks of life are capable of being greedy, selfish and irresponsible when they think they'll get away with it.

I don't see why some organisations are tying themselves in knots in an effort to prove this doesn't also apply to the looters who raided shops in August.

There are clearly serious points to be made about the way some young people feel about society and their prospects - raised in the Children's Society report - but if anything these are undermined by being presented as part of a daft thesis about the causes of the riots.