Riot Special Young Voters' Question Time

Why did England erupt? This is the only programme on British

television to give young people their chance to tell you. Welcome

to this special edition of Young Voters' Question Time. Good evening.

With me tonight, Adam Deacon. Labour's rising star Stella Creasey,

who had rioting in her constituency this week. The former gang member

turned government adviser Sheldon Thomas. Businesswoman turned TV

presenter of Kate Walsh. And the Government's ambassador for the

"big society" Shaun Bailey. Welcome to this special programme.

We're in London, with what I believe is a lively audience. See?

Of young people, who I'm sure will want to challenge our panel's views.

And you can get involved as well. Details are on screen now. You can

go on Twitter. Let's get our first question, from Anastasia Kyriacou.

How can people argue these rioters are looting because they arent part

of this luxury consumer society, when they plan looting on their

BlackBerrys? Shaun Bailey... Lot of it is just pure criminal acts. I

used to be a youth worker. I was watching the BlackBerry feed, and

people were saying, let's go to Shepherd's Bush market. And

somebody was saying, what do you mean, it's called Westfield.

Someone was saying, it is quite nice to terrorise the police for

once. But I have to say, I don't think it was really a big political

statement. Is this about a culture of bling and a culture of greed?

think it is a little bit of everything. When I was watching the

riots, this thing has been boiling up for a long time. Young people

are quite angry at the moment. Not every young person, but there's a

lot of angry young people out there at the moment. I saw all types of

people. All types of people. What do you mean, it has been building

up for a while? I did some of my first interviews in 2006. I met

politicians, I met David Cameron. We spoke about these issues deeply,

about some kids feeling that they're so out of society, they do

not feel part of society. They feel that people do not care for them,

people were not watching their back. I was always talking about this,

saying, things have got to change, you have got to get into young

people's minds. You have got to go to the schools, do something,

because there's a lot of people, young people, that are quite lost.

I have been saying that since I was six. In 2011, we have riots on the

street. I do not think any of that is right. I was shocked, but there

was all types of young people. There was angry people, a lot of

angry kids, also kids that just went to get free stuff. Let's be

honest about it. It was like a game to them. But there was also kids

from well-to-do families, that do not need to be there, but it was a

fun day out for them. It was young people saying, we can get away with

this, let's go and do this. Talking about these underlying causes - so,

they have been there for a while, and they have been ignored, and

people should have noticed... Does anyone here think the Government

should have seen this coming? You're shaking your head. I do not

live in London myself, but I have got some friends who live in

Croydon and stuff. Some of them were very upset. Their local high

street was trashed. No matter how poor you are, robbing shops,

ruining restaurants and things like that, it is unjustifiable. It is

just wrong. I have got to agree. I come from a working-class

background myself, and I may have gotten a little bit of trouble, but

down to good parenting, good role models in school, I knew the

difference between right and wrong. Watching these riots, I just cannot

understand how people can get stuck in and ruin people's livelihoods,

their businesses, their homes. They're ruining their own local

shops. And ruining their own local communities. We're here talking

about looting and shops being burnt down, and no-one's going to support

that. Everybody in society would agree that it is not right. But I

worked with gangs, I do not work with people who commit anti-social

behaviour... And they have been saying that they have had 20

murders over the last two years. They do not see anybody jumping up

and talking about those murders. We have seen girls being gang-raped,

no-one's talking about that. I know people that have raped girls, and

they are coming out in less than six years, and that girl is

traumatised for a long time. Why is it not talked about? Because this

society has become materialistic. It has become so materialistic.

When you're in a society which is focused on materials, it is OK for

Nick Clegg and the rest of them to say, we're not going to tolerate

looting. But I'm going to tell you this, there's brothers down in

Peckham who will say that their brothers have died, and no Nick

Clegg or anyone has stood up and said anything about them. The

strongest time I have heard David Cameron speak, ever, and say he is

not going to tolerate gang violence any more, was when shops got burnt

down. We have had 20 murders. We can sit here and have a debate, I

will have that debate, but I am going to stick it raw, I am here

for the people that's dead. Because right now, as far as I'm concerned,

shops can be rebuilt. You can't rebuild a dead body. And that girl

was traumatised because she was gang raped, you cannot put her back

together. But is this the reason people are rioting? We do need to

talk about these issues, but I think it is opportunism. It is

about greed in society. This is a corrupt and immoral society, from

the highest level, whether it's MPs' expenses, whether its

businessmen avoiding paying tax and taking it overseas, there are many

social issues, all from society. you look at the younger generation

right now, they are one of the first generations to go through the

most materialistic lifestyle we have ever had in this country. When

I was growing up, I had four channels. We were not bombarded by

images all the time. I speak to young people, they're bombarded by

images of i-Pads, sex, money, just a bombardment. Some of these kids

cannot get their hands on that. They can't. But for the first time

ever, in 2011, that's all the images that they're getting, all

the time. If you want to be cool, be like that. If you want to be

that kind of person, get those trainers. If you keep doing that to

young people all the time, there is going to be a time when they burst.

I condemn what I saw, it is wrong. But it is not black kids, it's not

Asian kids or white kids, it is a culture of thinking. Stella Creasey,

do you agree with what Adam Deacon said, and if it is true, how do you

change that culture? There is a kernel of truth is it. I stood with

kids in Walthamstow watching looters come to our town centre and

attack our shops, and nobody was more scared or more angry than

those young people. That's why I think it is right to say there is

no excuse for any of this. But trying to deal with some of the

reasons is a more complex problem. Sheldon Thomas is right to talk

about the issues happening with young people right now, which we

have to work with. There was a 17- year-old kid in Walthamstow, a

bright kid, living on my road, who was killed by a gang because they

were trying to steal his mobile phone. There are lots of young

people who are the victims of this, as much as they may be involved.

Trying to turn it around is not just about one simple thing. It is

not just about what the police do, what the politicians do, it is

about what we as a community do. That's what I'm focused on. Can I

just find out, who has sympathy for the rioters? OK, let's go to the

gentleman on the back row. I'm from Hackney, and basically, you have to

think about, we're all young people that are trying to make a living.

We're all individuals in different ways. Basically, every young person

has their own mind set about what they can do in life. Not every

young person always has the dream of making success in life and stuff

like that. You have to think about all the influences, like Adam

Deacon said, the different things which are coming up in young

people's lives, which are bombarding us. Different situations

and stuff. It leads us to different things. But we are also human

beings, no-one was born a criminal. Who said they had sympathy? I would

have us like sympathy, because if you look at it, these young kids do

not have the mind sets which politicians may have. When you grow

up in a certain part of life, you may not have much encouragement,

there's so many different reasons, it is not just one which is the

exact reason. When you have to look at the whole situation, chilly so

many different reasons, and too many politicians are better at

talking and listening. They are leaders, and leaders need to listen.

The more they listen to what is being said in places like this and

many other places, like I said the Boris Johnson, the better. The

Government now, there's too much talking from the politicians. So

many people are explaining themselves, and saying, this is the

reason. Then they continue on to say their own stuff and not take on

board what is being said. It needs to be taken on board, because it is

so frustrating. So many young people are trying to express

themselves. Some in the wrong way, some in the right way, like myself.

You're not listening, take on board and actually listen to what's being

said to you. Who has got no sympathy? Let's go the other way...

There are explanations, obviously, but there are not any excuses.

Horrific things happen to loads of people every single day in this

country. Three people died on Monday night in Birmingham, or

Tuesday night - did they go and riot? No, they didn't. We have got

people who have been unemployed for 10 years - did a riot? No, they

didn't. It wasn't just kids rioting. Hang on a moment. Go ahead. You're

going on like it was just the youth rioting, it wasn't. There were men

and women out there. It was not just young people. We can't be held

accountable for what everybody else is doing. You can't just group us

and say that we are the bad ones, when everyone else is joining in.

One thing I think is really important is that we understand

that not the same things happened on the same nights or in different

places. There were a criminal gangs organising people to loot, and also,

people got caught up as bystanders, they got caught up in the emotion

of the situation. We have to understand all of these different

things happening in different places. This is why it is important

to talk about what happened. I just want to respond to that gentleman

up there. The young people I'm working with feel betrayed and lied

to, because the Olympics was supposed to provide this big thing

of jobs and apprenticeships in east London. And what they have seen is

that they were lied to, because actually, it did not materialise,

any of the jobs for the local young people. As for the apprenticeships,

that never happened at all.. These guys are saying that if the

Olympics cannot provide jobs for young people, which it promised it

was going to... Seb Coe promised that it was going to be a legacy,

it was going to leave a lasting legacy. And they cannot see it,

because they see corporations making all the money, because they

are taking up all the industry. You have to understand, young people

are not going to continue to sit down and keep being lied to by

politicians... This is not a reason to kick in shops. I never said I am

supporting anything, I'm saying, I understand some of the madness

behind what they were doing. Some of these young people are fractured,

they're coming from a serious background where their families are

broken, where for a anger and frustration, they have seen things

in their life which you're not supposed to see at seven or eight

years old. We have got girls that have been raped by step-parents,

living and going to school, and no- one understands why they're angry.

No-one understands what's going on. Because you only see the anger. But

We live in a complex society, where lots of things go wrong for people.

I have been with a group of 500 people today and there was pure

anger in the room. One young person asked a question about

responsibility. They were saying to the room, who do you think is

responsible? That is why community is important. If you are talking

about community, at what point is the Government responsible for your

community? Are they responsible? Are they responsible in your house?

You sit there and you say that, but the reason I got involved...

are the Big Society spokesperson. So is the government involved in

the community or not? You are the spokesperson. It is easy to sit

there and be clever about it. youth worker and I work in the

community. Hold on. I sat with 500 kids today and a lot of the things

they asked for, asked them, do you think the Government could give it

to you? They came to the conclusion that a lot of it comes from them.

There is plenty that Government can do for you but there is even more

that they said they could do for themselves, and that interests me.

It is about his sense of belonging and that is what has been lost in

our community and our country. Shildon will correct me if I am

wrong, but it is about a sense of belonging. Young people join gangs

and feel a sense of belonging as part of that. Where is the sense of

belonging? Does it come from school, parents? It is not going to come

from cutting places where young people can go. That this is what is

important to me today, what went on in the room with those young people.

They said to me, we need to do this and that. I have been a youth

worker for 22 years. The removal of the youth club, I know what that is

like. This is the second or third time that has happened. One second.

The important thing is that the sense of belonging you are talking

about, I ask you, do you think a Government can give that to you?

Yes, they can, with funding. They are cutting it by �70,000. It is

cutting the funding, end of story. Was the Government right to cut

youth services? No. But this is the important thing. I spoke to a group

of students who were going off at me about rising tuition fees. One

of them said, it is his inalienable right to a free education. I said

to him, is it your inalienable right about my Auntie having earned

the replaced? There is only so much money. -- having her knee operation.

We are talking about the young generation coming through. That is

the future, really. The problem is that you cannot underestimate young

people. Young people, I talk to them regularly. You cannot

underestimate them. They watch the news, they watch TV. They get

bombarded with images of Government lying to them. Let's get this

straight. Young people did not get us into this whole recession

business, it was the bankers. me get the next question. There is

criminality in the Government. And one of the News of the World guy's

got a job. David Cameron's words were that everyone deserves a

second chance. For me, that has got to go back to the young people as

well. We are coming to the next question which will cover some of

that territory. Justin. Hello. You appear to have a number of fans in

the audience. Basically, when the MPs apologised for claiming

expenses fraudulently they were forgiven. When bankers broke our

economy, they were given bonuses. Why should teenagers be made

homeless for stealing a pair of Let's explain the background to

that comment. Stella, let's hear from you. In Wandsworth, a family

have been evicted from their house because a child was involved in the

riots and he or she and his parent, male or female, have been thrown

out of their house. What do you make of that? I do not know the

circumstances but you are right to say what happened with MPs. I am a

new MP and I hate the way that people think... People get into

politics because they want to try and change the world. When people

act like those other MPs do, it is horrible because people do not see

the good will and we lose the goodwill which we need to work in

our communities. Equally, think we need to restore the boundaries that

say that what happened on Sunday night in Walthamstow and in Hackney

on Monday, it is not right. We need to restore that boundaries. Nobody

stole trainers because they could not get them. They stole them

because they thought they could get away with it. But making them

homeless! That is my question. point here is that a young person

who was involved in the riots, he and his parents have been thrown

out of their house. He has not been convicted, simply charged.

Traditionally there is a presumption of innocence, and his

parent has been thrown out of their house. That is clearly wrong, even

if he is convicted, because it is non-proportionate. Of course, that

will make the situation worse. If that child has come to the point

where the parent cannot supervise them, or did not want to, throwing

them out is not going to fix anything. Back to your point about

MPs, they should have been treated with that level of to

proportionality. If you are young and angry about that, that is

completely fine and I accept that. But why the riots were such a

problem, for me, was because we attacked our own communities.

you leave kids in poverty for so long, right, so long, you don't

invest in their estates and their flats, what starts to happen is

young people start to think, you know what, I am not proud of this

place. Hold on. I am talking. sorry to interrupt. This is the

problem. You are talking over me and people want to talk of the

young people. Don't talk over me, please. What I am saying is that

young people do not feel proud of their community, so they seem to

think... That is not true. What are the postcode wars about. They are

proud of their road, but I don't think they are really thinking, you

know what, attacking McDonald's, attacking the little corner shop on

the corner is a different thing. They are looking like they can go

and attack all of the shops. My thing is that for most of them it

was a fun day. I don't even think most of them realised what they

were doing. Everyone was doing it. What it comes down to his education.

It comes down to education. Stark educating the young minds, because

I don't think they realised what they are doing. -- start educating

the young minds. Did it make them feel significant that there was

this big event on the news that everyone was talking about?

course. This could have got stopped. I saw the riots in my home town of

Hackney. I thought, this is going to get stopped. The one in

Tottenham hit everyone by surprise a little bit. When it started in

Hackney, the police watched that happen. That was sending a message

to young people up and down the country, there is three staff, go

out and do it. -- it is three. has answered my question because I

was saying what is the difference between these youngsters that have

got issues and poverty, and they have been through traumatic

experiences as has been touched on, what is the difference between

those that go and riot and those that do not? It is a number of

things. Go-ahead. I am sick and tired of young people being talked

about like they are some group of animals that do not have an agency

or choice. I am from an inner-city area and everything got mashed up.

I am from north-west London, around Harlesden. There was a lot of

destruction over there. I was born and raised in that place and a love

it to bits. My church is down the road. We are all poor, but we are

happy and poor together. We are not stupid. We do not think, the

Government is lying to us, so I need to smash the corner shop down

the road because I don't have a choice. Why don't you take that

route, and others do? What is the reason? I have respect for my

community. Why do some people not have respect? That is what I'm

saying, they do not. It is possible in life for people to just the

wrong. People do not try to understand neo- Nazis because we

are united in our position to that. Where does your value system come

from? It is an amalgamation of what my mum gave me, what I learned from

a community and how I learnt to navigate through life. He has

pointed out that the Government cannot help. You have broken

families, so your family cannot help. What if your friends are the

same way inclined as you? Who do you turn to? Give me an answer.

Because we are sitting here saying that this person cannot help and

that person cannot help. With people from backgrounds like that

who do not have role-models, some still did not get involved in

rioting and looting. There were kids from all over involved. There

is a majority that do not have that, and where are they going to get it

from. Do we need to rebuild the family, rebuild communities? What

do we need to do? I would say it is a minority. Far more people did not

riot than did. But a lot of people hold the same views. But they did

not take the same action and that is the point. No one is saying that

the riots were a good thing for the country. That is an irrelevant

question. Someone said about MPs and bankers, two of the most

powerful groups in any country. They get away with it, they can say

we are sorry, and what are you going to do about it? Banks

contribute so much to the GDP growth of this country. People on

benefits in subsidised housing have no voice, so they look at other

people getting away with it and they think, I do not feel like part

of this country and it is a nonsense to me. Let me give you a

statistic. A student this week with no previous convictions was jailed

for six months for stealing bottles of water worth three pounds 50. Jim

Devine, ex-Labour MP, got four months in jail for �8,000 of

expenses fraud. This is what I was going to save. Does that make

sense? No, it does not. There was no justice in that. Jumping back to

what we were talking about before, talking about belonging. Adam

Deacon was talking about community, and Shaun was talking about the Big

Society. The problem is that the Government are on to something with

the Big Society. The problem is that they do not know how to

articulate it. You are the ambassador. It seems like we are

all talking about community and family. The way that I see it is

that if young people feel a part of their community, like this

gentleman, have respect for their community, have a stake in their

community, have active involvement and an active voice... How do you

make someone feel they have respect? I think the Government on

to something with the Big Society. Shaun is an example of the

Government not... At the end of the day, the problem is sitting in

front of us. This is not a personal point, but this whole society thing

is great. Talk about it. If you are going to talk about the Big Society,

it is down to the Government to give the Big Society but you have

to put it out. You know what the Big Society means to me,

Responsibility. You are not communicating that to the country,

that is the problem. I am not saying it has been communicated

I really want to answer that question. What is the Big Society

and what does it mean? Responsibility. Firstly, I believe

it is a minority of people who do not have that support. No. I am

entitled to my view. I am just telling you what I believe. This

has been a boiling pot. How can you say it is a minority? It has been

growing for years. The connection between us, what a gentleman was

saying at the back, the people who helped the police keep the peace in

Walthamstow have been the youth workers and outreach workers who

have been out every night. They have been trying to get them to

come off the street. The outreach workers from organisations, all

this year they have had funding cut and yet they were out there when

the community needed them. The Big Society is also about us in the

Government taking responsibility. We don't get a police service, we

get a police force. This is or about a class system. It is a

biased class system. It is about economic slavery, social exclusion,

poor representation, stereotypes... We basically have not got to say.

We are not part of the old boys' network, we never went to Eton. A

lot of people, on ground level, there's a lot of young people that

are doing a lot to help their community, but the Government are

basically cutting all of the funding for youth services,

children's services, basically, we have nothing. They're not cutting

all of them. Do you know who's getting the funding? Middle-class

people who come from other boroughs and apply for the funding. People

in the community that want to actually run projects within the

community are finding it hard. Please explain to me why that is.

I'm going to read some comments from Twitter. Thomas has tweeted,

he says, I'm 18, the riots were the only way to get heard. The

Government has no outlet for our generation. It is his opinion. This

one says, the riots in London are nothing more than mindful violence,

no excuses. The youth in the UK would not know what it is to have

nothing. It brings us on to parenting. This question comes from

Emily Herrlinger. When you see some of the parents bringing their

children to court, it is clear to see why the kids do not feel they

have a chance. Is it the Government's role to tackle poor

parenting? I will answer that. That's the point I was going to get

on to, concerning the "big society". You cannot have a "big society"

picture when families are so fractured. For me, we have to

address certain things in our community. One of those things we

have to address is teenage pregnancy, which is the highest in

Europe, and has been for 10 years. This is not an attack on young

women, but the fact is, a 14-year- old girl and 16-year-old boy are

not in the right frame of mind to raise a child, because they

themselves are learning to be adults. They're still growing up.

This is not an attack. I want you to hear me out. Over the last 10-15

years, under both governments, none of them have actually had any clue

about how to address teenage pregnancy. In fact, we have, in

this society, a government which allows young girls to get the Pill

at 13 without their parents' consent. 30 years ago, that would

never have happened. I am not attacking young women, I'm trying

to build a picture. A "big society" can only be built when you have

strong families. If you have no strong families which have morals

and discipline and values, you cannot then feel that you are pot

of something. Part of the problem we have in this society is that,

unlike what my brother is saying, and I respect what you're saying,

but unfortunately, I've lived a bit longer than you, and there are a

lot of young people who do not feel the same way as you do. Let me

finish. That is not to say that young people cannot get to where

you're at. What I'm trying to say, it takes people in the community,

like myself and the people on this panel, unfortunately, there are not

enough men, as in adult men, responsible men, to take that role

to help the community to get where it needs to get to. What does the

Government do about that? Simple - the Government needs to address

teenage pregnancy first. How? have to change the education system.

It is up to us. Let me finish. I am not suggesting that is not a family

problem. It is a family problem, but the question is, what does the

Government do about it? First, they need to reverse the fact about

getting the Pill without your parents' consent, that has to be

reversed. Let's hear from some of the rest of the panel. I wish I had

the answers. The area I am from, Cannock, in Staffordshire, has got

one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the whole of

the UK. I managed to improve my opportunities to education, through

strong parenting, and had fantastic parents, I had really good role

models in school. I don't know how you can create these role-models

for people that are lacking them within their life. I do not have

the answers. But the role models kept you on the straight and narrow.

Absolutely. Parenting, I will be honest, as much as we say this

about young parents, I have got to be honest, I think parents get a

bit of a hard time. I say that because governments, they keep

making laws. When I used to mess around, clip around the ear, and

sometimes, that has got to be necessary. I'm not talking about

massive violence in the household. I'm talking about just common sense.

I believe that in this country we have gone so far the other way, so

PC... On the way down here, my mate was telling a story about how the

police came to his house after these riots, it was an African

family, and they couldn't control the son. So the dad came and

slapped his son round the head. Apparently, I do not know if this

is 100% true, but the guy got arrested. If that is true, the dad

got arrested for doing that to his son. There would seem to be not a

lot of common sense in that. There is kids going up to their parents,

and I have seen this - you can't do nothing, Mum. It has come to a

point where young people feel they cannot be told by anyone. Somebody

from the audience. My friend said something very astute, he said, if

you don't fear your parents, you're not going to fear the police. If

you're from Tottenham... It is not just fear, it is respect. I

completely agree. At the end of the day, the commissioner, David

Cameron, everybody is on the TV saying, parents, where are your

children? If you're going to take away power from them, how do you

expect them to have that level of control? It goes back to what you

said about fear. I'm sure nobody thinks you have to tremble in your

boots with your parents, it's respect. If the Government are

taking the power away from the parent, how do they expect children

to respect their parents? This lady here, you have been waiting for a

while. I would like to say, can everyone stop putting emphasis on

teenage parents? This is not the reason it's happening. Why would

that not be a part of the picture? Maybe some of these rioters are the

kids of teenage parents who have grown up without a role model?

people turn around and say you should not give pills to 13-year-

olds, if teenagers want to have sex, they're going to have sex. But does

it make it right? I'm asking you, you have to back up your statement

- are you telling me it's OK for a 13-year-old girl or boy to have sex,

yes or no? I'm not justifying when is the right time to have sex, that

is a personal choice. When you don't have morals... Come on, sex

education and the Pill is not the only way teenagers find out about

sex. If teenagers are going to have sex, we need to make sure our

government and schools are providing the right facilities to

teach them how to do it safely, and the right to say no. If you're

telling 13-year-olds, you have to get parental consent to get the

Pill, that 13-year-old is going to get pregnant nine months down the

line. I feel that offering the pill to a 13-year-old is encouraging

them. Not offering, but at the same time, you're saying, the auction is

there. Also to be having secrets from your parents. Once again,

you're alienating the parents from the child. That is one reason which

has led up to these riots, the fact that you're alienating parents from

the children. This is all very interesting, but it has very little

to do with what happened over the weekend. You want to talk to me

about parenting, how dare David Cameron blame parents when, under

him, parents are working longer hours for less money... David

Cameron is expecting parents to work longer for less pay, never see

their families, and then blame them. I would like to know about Michael

Gove's parents, when he looted �7,000... I will tell you why

you're wrong. It has got a lot to do with what happened at the

weekend, because communities are based on family. Benitez you

something, I have got two little children, and I am the law in my

yard. I don't care where Michael Gove went, what David Cameron said,

I'm the law, because I have taken that responsibility. I hope that I

will have a relationship with my daughter, and if somebody is

offering her the Pill at 13, I will tell her, you need have nothing to

do with that bill. Go on. We have moved so far away from the issue.

Wait, let me finish. Why did this thing begin? Because the police

killed a man dead, in Tottenham. Wait, wait. Of course, we need

justice for the families of the people who died. There's a lot of

things which need to be addressed. But that's not necessarily the root

cause. We are going to move on to another question. This is the final

question this evening, and it comes from Joanne Thibeault. When we

rebuild our store, what does the panel think the Government should

do to reassure us business owners and the community that this wont

happen again? Let me explain, you worked at the furniture store in

Croydon which was burnt down, and which has become symbolic of what

has happened. And we have some of the family. Thank you very much for

coming down tonight. Your shop survived the Blitz. It has been

there for 144 years, five generations of our family. I

appreciate Everybody's points. Everyone has mention some valuable

things, but what do we do? I appreciate the complex issues. I

know it is a shop, you're right, we can rebuild it. But we're just

trying to run our business. We watched our shop getting scraped

off the road today. I do appreciate that there are horrible problems

about there. But for us, the riots are horrendous. I'm very sorry

about what happened to your business. The point - what can the

Government do? First and foremost, can I say how sorry and shocked all

of us were. I think it was your dad on TV, holding back the tears. I

think there is some practical stuff we can do, I was pleased to see the

Government saying they would back up people who did not have

insurance. I have got some shopkeepers in Walthamstow who do

not have insurance. But for you to want to be built, you have got to

have confidence that the streets will be saved, and that there will

be a community of people who will want to buy your goods. In the next

couple of days, we have got to get London calm again. We have got to

get order back on the streets. After that, it is the coming months

and years. Rebuilding the community will take time. It is not a choice

between family or community, it is both. It is about supporting

businesses and young people, the two things together. Because then

the young people will be able to make good choices in life, they

will be able to get good jobs and come and buy your furniture. What

frustrates me, when people talk about young people, is, they only

talk about the riots, they do not see that we have got to make sure

young people can make good choices because of all have the talent and

potential they have. My area has lots of bright, talent people, and

they deserve opportunities. That's what we have got to get this

Part of her question was that she would like to know this will not

happen again. The only way you can really get that is if you think the

Government, really, think of some radical ideas of changing things up.

Like what? I will go back to education again because the one-

size-fits-all education system does not work. Myself, I strongly

believe that young people, let's be real, it was madness the other

night. It was madness. And I just think it is wrong. I am telling all

the people out there, calm down. Because setting fire to shops and

people in there, that is madness. Let me finish. I come from Hackney.

I was in a hostel at 15. I had nothing but I had this thing of, I

want to become an actor. I strongly believe young people can do a lot

more than they think. We live in England and there is opportunity.

Let's be real. There is more opportunity than young people might

think, but you have to have a certain head. You have to be very

focused. How we stop this happening is we go back to education and

start giving young people opportunity. If I was to listen to

my school, I would not be acting now because I would be in a college

in Hackney doing media studies or English that would not have helped

me, personally. I want to hear some more voices. There is no point

shouting. Education is part of it. There are a lot of hands up, so I

am going to come to you but I need short answers because we have nine

minutes left. Short answers. The lady there. The Government need to

understand the language of the youth. You are calling us angry but

we are passionate. We need to translate that passion into

something else. The same way they research everything else, they

should research us as youth, because we want to talk to them. We

can improve everything, we can. about giving them a stake in

society? If you have something to lose, you do not want to lose it.

Give them jobs, education, training, apprenticeships. Most of these kids

cannot read properly, cannot do basic numeracy. It comes back to

education. Adam, Adam... You have to let some other people speak. Let

some other people speak. Fine, I did have my hand up for a while.

Everyone is giving an people a bad name and everyone is Gissing the

Big Society. In Clapham, Croydon, Manchester, there were young people

helping to clean up after the riots. Was anyone here involved in the

clean-up? You were involved. We did the Brixton clean-up and peas in

the streets. -- piece. This morning we were sending out leaflets,

trying to calm things down, saying we need to condemn the criminals

but we need to confront the social issues. You need to distinguish

between an excuse and a cause. David Cameron is blending them and

saying it is just criminals. If he says that, he vindicates his

policies, because he knows that if we link it to his cuts, it is all

over for him. The riots were to do with greed and boredom. People do

not have anything to do because they do not have jobs. There is

high youth unemployment. OK, you are saying these people are poor.

They are on Blackberry phones. This is poverty! I want to hear what

everybody is saying so you need to talk one at a time. You cannot

generalise it as boredom. These kids were jumping into fires,

taking what they could. Do you think that is just boredom, to risk

their lives? With high youth unemployment, people do not have

anything to do, no way to make money. They cannot go out and do

activities because it costs money. There is nothing to do and they are

bored. It is more than boredom, but I am saying that is an aspect of it,

do you not think? Yes, we have not heard from you. I heard the young

lady at the front speaking about reassurance for business owners. I

think the whole public needs reassurance. We all need to be

equal under the law. We talked about MPs' expenses and their soft

sentences. Since 1999 we have had hundreds of deaths in police

custody and not one conviction of a police officer. It is a disgrace.

It is a question of self value and valuing those around you. If you

are taught to value yourself and think that you have something to

give to society, you can be giving back as well as taking. There needs

to be more emphasis on, you know, believing in yourself, and I don't

think there is. Especially when young people, this whole audience

is being referred to as young people, and being tied up in

violence. Yes, the gentleman in front there. I am a Diana award

Holder. I want to know when we are going to shine the light on the

millions of positive role models, young people, in this country,

because we have got to do that. only have about five minutes. Back

to the panel. Closing thoughts. Stella, have you learnt anything

tonight? Of course. I always learn because there is so much talent and

so many ideas in our young people. That is why I want to make sure we

have the support that you need. We need our police, which is why they

should not be cut, and to support and invest in youth services.

Listening to you, all of the energy that you have got tonight... There

are 50,000 unemployed young people in London and we need to get a

system in place to get jobs for you so you can make good choices. If

you make those choices, we can do something. Basically, I believe

young people, going back to your thing about role-models and

positivity, there are so many young people doing positive stuff. But

the media have a lot to answer for as well. We get called feral youth.

We are getting caught these names. No other class really guess that as

much as the young people. Hoodies, hooligans. But we never actually

dwell on the positive stuff. There's a lot of positive kids out

there. Shaw, what have you learnt tonight? Sitting here reminds me

that young people are alive and they see what is going on. Unlike

the point about millions of active, positive young people, and you are

right to bring up Mark Duggan. If you want to rebuild community, the

issue, and I do not just mean that individual but the issue, needs to

be looked at again. I accept that. Listen, I don't think, cutting the

police for me, I am not... Listen, the riots that we have had, the

police could not have stopped. For me, I have realised that a lot

of young people still have that passion, they still have the fire,

the creativity, the ideas. But what is really my concern is that we are

all in this room today, for the last two years there have been over

20 murders of young people, yet we do not hear that same fire and

passion in trying to find answers for why the killings are going on

in our community. So I think, for me, no disrespect, my prayers go

out to you, Sister, that your shot has been burnt down. I am totally

against that, but what I do not understand is how we think killing

each other is OK, but when a shop gets burnt down - no disrespect -

we want to sit and hold a national inquiry about shops being burnt

down, when a couple of months ago they 14-year-old was chased on his

bike, stabbed 17 times, six months previous to that a girl was gang-

raped. My question is, isn't society twisted? I think there does

need to be an inquiry about why this happened to try to get to the

root causes of the problems. There are lots of unanswered questions

today. Do not cut the police. I think there have been great ideas

about community issues and role models. They need to listen to the

young people. Just a minute. The panel have listened to you. We

cannot hear from every person several times. Let me go back to

the House of Reeve's family. Tell me your thoughts. You have heard

what the people have said and you wanted some reassurance. Have you

heard anything that has reassured you? I think it is so complicated

and I know that this is going to take a long time to sort out. But

perhaps today the thoughts that everyone has put forward will help

to make some headway and make sure this will not happen again, not

just for businesses but for communities and families and young

people. But all communities, for everyone. How are the rest of your

family? They are OK. It is horrible. How about Mark Duggan's family?

Look... Leave it there. It is not disrespect. I'm not disrespecting

anybody, I am merely asking why a... Who said she did? It is a question

we addressed earlier. Thank you. That was pretty much as rowdy as we

imagined it would be, but thank you. Thank you very much, and I hope

that you feel it presented tonight. I got as many of you on air as was

feasible. Thank you. That is it for this special edition of Young

Voters' Question Time. Thank you to the audience, thank you to you if

you joined in on Twitter, and thank you to you for watching. From all