Talking to Ayesha and Sam, Professor Richard Sennett, Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, says he recognises the similarities between the approaches taken by Keir Starmer and Blair on crime and anti-social behavior but fears that the economic circumstances make effective action much harder today.
He describes the last 14 years of Conservative government as a “fantasy” that imagine that communities can thrive without support and believes that Keir Starmer understands the value of communities more than New Labour did.
“We are in a very different place to 1997,” he says citing the dire economic circumstances and state of public services in Britain today, but urges Labour to prioritize investment in local communities and infrastructure as part of its wider social policy to tackle youth offending and disorder.
“Starmer is really a Bevanite rather than a Blairite who has a clear idea about cohesive communities. He has an instinctive feeling that New Labour never had.”
In a wide-ranging discussion, Ayesha talked about her work in her community in Brixton in South London to campaign for greater action from the police and local authorities to tackle low-level anti-social behavior which she says is blighting the lives of local people.
She said that this was a major issue up and down the country and that Labour was right to focus on it as one of its six pre-election pledges. The way her community had come together on this issue showed the strength of feeling people had and a powerful movement for change.
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