Britain is, like much of the world, in a bit of an economic slump. The governments generous welfare system has had to be quite dramatically cut, and, as a result, lots of people who had been living comfortably with the help of the state have had to cut back on their standard of living. There is a lot of sympathy for the people who want to work but can't. There is little sympathy for those who have made it their careers to get money from the government handouts that are now in short supply. This, I'm sure, is a familiar feeling in many developed economies with such welfare systems, I know I have heard similar sentiment here in the US.
Landon Thomas Jr.'s article, titled "For London Youth, Down and Out is a Way of Life" makes real and valid points about the hardship that young people in Britain face in getting on the career ladder. He highlights the need for greater investment in apprenticeship programs and explains (but offers no solutions) that some young people have had to leave university because they could not afford to stay. This is fine and good journalism. People need to know these things so governments can be pressured to put things right.
The praise for the article stops there. In trying to reinforce his message he seems to try and use the hardships of the youth of Britain as justification for a spell of riots that occurred last summer. This completely misses the point of the riots. We're talking about good for nothing, lazy layabouts with no respect or consideration for anyone other than themselves. These are people who burnt out their neighbors cars and burned down their local shops. These are people who assaulted local shopkeepers so they could loot goods and threw petrol bombs at police. This might seem a little strong, a little one sided; and it is. But this is a reflection of the view taken by those not participating in the riots. This was the view taken by the press, the government and the courts. People generally think that however bad it is, behavior like the behavior that happened in these riots simply cannot be justified. I know people think this because I was there.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/business/global/for-london-youth-down-and-out-is-way-of-life.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=london%20youth&st=cse
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