The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Poverty, not lack of morals, was to blame for the riots

Evidence published by the Ministry of Justice discredits Gove's view on the causes of the riots.

By James Mills Published 25 October 2011 15:29

The Ministry of Justice's statistical report published yesterday into the riots must bring misery to the ears of those like Michael Gove who wished to argue that the root causes of the riots was a lack of morals and values and not poverty. The government's own figures show that the rioters were in general less educated, young, and ultimately poor.

It brings back the one question which could not be answered by those who made such arguments: why were there no major riots in Richmond? In fact not even one rioter arrested by the police even came from there. By his own logic, would Gove argue that the people of Richmond are more morally virtuous than elsewhere in London?

There was a level of criminal copy cat activity going on across London, but mysteriously not by large hordes of young people in Richmond. We did not see an army of rubber Wellington boot wearing, barber jacket clad, red trouser Henley Regatta types storming a Jack Wills shop in Richmond. It certainly wasn't the cast of Made In Chelsea on my TV last August.

What has made this modern utopia in TW9? Could it be the demography, which explains why Richmond was riot free? There are a quarter of 5-15 year olds in Richmond who go to private school compared to a national average below 7 per cent. Or only 12 per cent of children born into poverty in Richmond. Compare that with areas like Haringey and Hackney, where four out of ten children are born into poverty (rising to almost six out of ten if you catch a bus to Tower Hamlets).

There were a quarter of those arrested between the ages of 10 and 17. Of these children arrested in the riots, 42 per cent were also in receipt of free school meals, 43 per cent of children in state schools in Newham are on free school meals almost double the London average. Whereas Richmond has a third less than the London average of children on free school meals. There are also five times more EMA recipients in Newham than Richmond.

Furthermore, in the ranking of constituencies by no qualification there are almost 600 places between the constituencies of Tottenham MP David Lammy's parliamentary seat than say Richmond Park MP Zac Goldsmith's. Only 4 per cent of people in Richmond Park have no qualifications, compared to almost a quarter in Tottenham. There's also three times more social housing in Tottenham than Richmond Park.

Oh what about the rioters seen in nearby Ealing I hear you say? Well, yes Ealing Broadway and the near surrounding streets are a little middle class enclave with a well to do private girls school off the main drag. But if you take a 10 min bus ride away from the high streets you will find it's not so middle class; with three times the number living in families on benefits there than in Richmond and it rises to five times more in somewhere like Tower Hamlets.

For me the rioters resembled more the people I grew up with than the people I attended University with. Of course, there are poor people who do not engage in crime, I was one, but as any criminologist worth their salt will tell you, those more likely to engage in the sort of crime that we saw in the riots, are those with less to lose. And if the above evidence proves anything, it is that those with the least to lose, were certainly those who lived in areas of London where rioting took place.

Oscar Wilde once wrote that: "There is only one class in the community that thinks more about money than the rich, and that is the poor. The poor can think of nothing else. That is the misery of being poor." The misery of the likes of Michael Gove is their inability to see such misery.

James Mills is campaign director of the Save EMA campaign.

Special Offer: Get 12 issues of New Statesman magazine for just £12

Tags: Michael Gove

More from James Mills

View the discussion thread.

25 comments

Tue, 2011-10-25 15:41 — John P Reid (not verified)

So why wasn't there riots Up north Or In Wales or Cornwall, aren't they subject to poverty due to the cuts?

Tue, 2011-10-25 15:51 — A. Cole (not verified)

When people kill others and destroy their livelihood it is due to a lack of MORALITY not POVERTY.

One does not burn down buildings for lack of money!!

Tue, 2011-10-25 15:54 — Arturo Bandini (not verified)

Why wait for facts when you beat the poor with the convenient stick of prejudice?

Tue, 2011-10-25 15:55 — Arturo Bandini (not verified)

P.S. You've missed one important statistic - How many of those arrested had "turned black"?

Tue, 2011-10-25 16:03 — Ian5

Who in their right mind would even contemplate a moral person committing these acts of pure destruction and greed. There was a distinct lack of morals. A poverty of morals (can one say that).... So they were also poor in general, neither condition is mutually exclusive.....all poor people have good morals? Therefore all rich, and middle classes lack them....

Tue, 2011-10-25 16:22 — anna s

Firstly there is no excuse whatsoever for the murders,.So whatever I say now does not make that or anything else that happened right..But I think after the demise of WOMD Blair and then A very seems to do zilch Brown,The people were then prepared to give Call me Dave the benefit of the doubt,Because he said for instance 'we must look after the frail in our society.or something like that,,Well he lied.Then Clegg said he would not scrap uni fees,He lied, on top of that then came cuts to many services like the library.clubs.activities.everyone there would of known someone who had been a victim of those callous cuts.All hope was taken away from those that did not have much in the first place..And then theres the feeling of being made a fool out of on top of that for being taken in by the BIG FAT LIES, that lets face it most of it was already in the bag,,,so we have no trust, a feeling of loss,.and being made a fool of...by a bunch of stuffed shirts that promised the earth literaly one day then snatched it away the next while walking away with great big smug faces...which most of those people would of liked to slap. but could not.

Tue, 2011-10-25 16:28 — swatantra

So we have the 1% filthy rich creaming off the wealth at one end, and the 1% poor sticking 2 fingers up to the rest of society at the other end? Poverty may well explain their circumstances, but should never be used as an excuse to excuse them of antisocial behaviour.
I don't know how much money and schemes and initiatives and chances etc have been thrown at that 1% to get the out of poverty and to give them the opportunities and a better way of life to look forward to. It must be billions. But its had very little effect over the decades. Handouts handups, you name it, have been tried, but we still have that 1% of the poor and less educated not interested refusing to take up the opportunities and willing to change.
So Wilde was partly right, both think about money, but he could have added that there are some rich and some poor that think about easy money.

Tue, 2011-10-25 16:32 — FA

"The government's own figures show that the rioters were in general less educated, young, and ultimately poor."

This doesn't mean poverty caused rioting. You DO know the difference between correlation and causation?

A more interesting fact was that so many of the rioters were convicts. When this is coupled with the fact that the number of people rioting was tiny we saw that the riots were nothing more than coordinated criminality by a small number of people who already have criminal histories.

It is not only the Tories who are wrong for blaming "moral failure". Arguments blaming cuts or poverty are wrong. Some people will always have criminal tendencies. Nothing to be shocked by. Life carries on.

Time to end the moral panic.

Tue, 2011-10-25 16:38 — hindle-a

The "thoroughly decent" IDS even linked IB recipients as proof of the lack of morality in Society and the riots.Of course,all decent people realise the present Government and its supporters are misanthropic simpletons whom rely on the wider population to be the same.One example should suffice -sending letters to cESA recipients,prior to Parliamentary approval,informing them that if they are still about next April summary removal of their benefit may be enacted.Lack of civility and decency is the salient characteristic of the Government .That it "projects" this on to others is a classic tactic.

Tue, 2011-10-25 16:38 — martybee (not verified)

He's not less educated, young, and ultimately poor...he's a very naughty Boy

Tue, 2011-10-25 17:23 — The Law (not verified)

I thought the rioters were to blame for the riots? Silly me.

Question - since the poverty hasn't gone away since August, why aren't there still riots? Another one: What percentage of 'poor people' took part in the riots? If that number is less than 1%, which it is, then why did 99% of poor people not riot?

Final question - when is the New Statesman going to return to being a leading magazine for British journalism rather than a vehicle for self-satisfied narcissists?

Tue, 2011-10-25 17:31 — Anton Jury (not verified)

Looking at David Cameron and others people can also see that politicians have no morals or values.

The difference between politicians and rioters is that there is one law/rule for politicians and another for the rest of society.

Lets also face the fact that young demonstrators protested at Tory HQ in London over student fee's and other matters. People vented their anger by trashing the Tory HQ.

Later in the year students including school children demonstrated/protested in London and again vented their anger by doing damage.

Then of caurse we had the wide spread riots that were ignited by the shooting of one man by the police. These riots spread to other parts of the country.

The reality is that the youth of this country are angry and feel that they are victims of Government bashing and I believe that all this violence was easily sparked because they feel let down, being unfairly targeted buy cutbacks and in addition to this they earlier witnessed all the politicians expenses scandal, they have been exposed to all the electoral campaign lies, David Cameron's close friends being involved in the phone hacking and the list goes on and on and on !

Politicians are seen as dirty and corrupt and it is no wonder that the youth of this country are showing serious signs of No Respect because Politicians and Politics have not been a good example to the rest of society.

Lastly, People without a voice that are not listened to protest/demonstrate and in some cases sadly riot to be heard. How else do people here in the United Kingdom or other countries make their voices heard when a Government does not listen.

Politicians need to stop the blame game to hide their own failings and sit up and listen otherwise the protests/demonstration and riots will happen again.

Tue, 2011-10-25 17:32 — Flashbuck (not verified)

Another kneejerk blog post full of defunct ideology from the NS. Yawn!

Define poverty and/or poor.

In a society full of billionaires it's the millionaires who are poor, eh?

Tue, 2011-10-25 18:00 — Charlie (not verified)

Violent stupid people do tend to be poor. You very rarely see those 'qualities' mentioned in 60K+ job remits.

Tue, 2011-10-25 18:22 — Charlie (not verified)

The best way to drag yourself out of poverty is to own a tracksuit, tattoo your neck and get convicted several times. Fool proof.

Tue, 2011-10-25 18:31 — Scotty

It wasn't poverty behind the thefts - it was greed - there is no poverty in the UK, anyone who has actually seen real poverty in the third world would realise that.
The rioters just wanted something for nothing - did they pinch the essentials like food etc ? - no - designer clothes and electrical goods.
They were a bunch of self centred greed driven thieves.

Tue, 2011-10-25 19:59 — hindle-a

Charlie-Violent stupid people do tend to be poor. You very rarely see those 'qualities' mentioned in 60K+ job remits.

You are being ironic I take it? Of course the opposite is true. Unless you are IDS in "disguise"
signed vastly under 60k per year highly educated non-violent person

Tue, 2011-10-25 20:39 — anna s

Wealthy,supposedly highly intelligent people can cause absolute distruction,confusion,damage.the list is endless....without leaving their homes...if you know what i,m saying!

Tue, 2011-10-25 21:22 — anna s

Flashback,Defination of /poverty/poor,you will always know who your true friends are,you will always know that you were/are loved for you and you alone,you will mean what you say and say what you mean.you dont take anything or anyone for granted,you always have the simple things in life to enjoy like walking through a park[unless while i,ve been doing this old big society Dave hasnt decided to charge for that pleasure, and above all else as long as you behave yourself the best thing of all.FREEDOM..Definition of Rich,never truly knowing if someone wants to be around you for you only.never having anything to look forward to because you have it all.and I think the worse thing of all is the greed of being Rich/wealthy I will never understand that one you see because poor people generaly share..Its usualy the Rich that seem to spout off about dig deep in those pockets but mostly its those that have the least that give the most..which is probably 50p...but all those 50ps! when all the wealthy could part with a couple of thousand ?they would not miss it, they could help out so much especially for the ,.kids that are soon to be homeless due to new benefit rules,But they choose not to do this...so I suppose that makes them selfish as well as greedy....sorry went off on a tangent then....you may not agree but this is how i define it...

Tue, 2011-10-25 22:46 — Dickie1

So, Gove doesn't have a clue what he is talking about. There's a surprise.

The fact is though that the riots are a memory. The rioters have been roundly dealt with and even if the Gov. are wrong it doesn't matter, they are hardly going to do anything about it.

Tue, 2011-10-25 22:48 — Sir Michael (not verified)

On this site I am increasingly seeing the false analogy argument relating to poverty: "Things are really bad in Darfur right now! Therefore nobody in England lives in poverty!"

This is ludicrous for several reasons.

1. There are people now in this country unable to feed themselves, and are literally starving. I know you probably think that unthinkable, but the benefit changes have made it so that people have ended up in poverty comparable to the worst places.

2. It's a non sequitir argument. The fact that there is severe poverty elsewhere in the world does not mean that we do not need to address poverty here.

3. The argument can be turned right back around at you: "How can people here complain about high corporation tax when in Japan it is over 40%!"

4. It generally demonstrates you are a hypocrite. You want poor people to suffer (or at least accept their suffering) simply because others suffer worse, yet you are unwilling to give a little so that they can receive something to help them live more comfortably.

What created these riots was poverty. Pure and simple. Not starvation, not lack of water or shelter, but poverty of a different sort. People who have been crushed for years by the system, been constantly taunted by it. It is one thing to be impoverished in an impoverished continent which is being hit by a major drought, it is another to have nothing when there is a baron sitting on a pile of riches three miles away - has none of you right-wingers ever heard of Wat Tyler? Then, after years of such deprivation, they get pilloried in the media and press. They get blamed for the way they live, the conditionst they find themselves, and have to deal with IDS and Osborne announcing that "things will be tough" for them, all due to the aformentioned barons on the riches three miles away squandering their riches yet wanting more.

Then one night, as a group, they feel empowered. A spark, a catalyst, something happens and they aren't helpless anymore. They can vent their anger and frustrations. If this was simple theft then why the actual rioting? Why the damage and burning?

Carry on with the cuts and the punitive measures against the poor by all means. Just please don't complain when this all happens again (and it will).

Wed, 2011-10-26 22:24 — EdY (not verified)

James at no point in this article is condoning violent criminal behaviour, the salient point is about education or rather lack of it, decades of research has revealed the same inequalities in health too.....

Wed, 2011-10-26 00:40 — anna s

Yes there certainly are many people starving,because benefits have either been drasticaly cut or stopped altogether.Its a very frightening road ahead thats going to get much worse.Cameron knows exactly what he is doing as well he is almost robotic..Besides that Its in my opinion that he even stirs things up a bit and sometimes I wonder if its done on purpose...I mean anyone with any sense does not give millions to other countries while at almost the same time persecute the elderly, disabled ,and totally take away any hope of a future for the young whatsoever,,,and then sod off on a very expensive holiday,.leaving behind him a trail of destruction caused by his Nazi like rules.its like he was saying f you lot i dont give an f, and it shows.Things are really bad, people are committing suicide because of no food,heat ect . not everyone has families to help...and yes it will happen again.you can,t treat human beings like they are nothing. to end I have never felt so frightened by a governments actions as i have this lot...The way they are carrying on they are going to make the BNP a better option if not a kinder one..God help us..do we really have to put up with these nasty lot for another four years..?serious question to anyone who knows how do they get taken out of office before that..I picture the uk as a very dark dangerous place in the near future..they need to sling their hooks..

Thu, 2011-10-27 00:00 — Monty (not verified)

Not the best comment list I've ever seen Millsy - sounds like you've got a right chip on the shoulder for Richmond! On the positive side, Daemons night out in St Andrews tomorrow...

Wed, 2011-10-26 10:35 — Flashback (not verified)

@ Flashbuck- Relative poverty/ absolute poverty. I think i learned about that in school. pretty basic- u should probably look it up on wikipedia or something.

Also, why do you even read the NS? Would the Daily Mail be more suited to you? almost every article I read your below it spouting out simplistic rightwing nonsense and then usually claiming it to be a FACT.