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Hug a hoodie?

Much as people often take Margaret Thatcher’s ‘There is no such thing as society’ out of context, so now people quote me David Cameron’s ‘Hug a hoodie’ line somewhat incorrectly.

The former, unlike the latter was a genuine quote, but with the context missing. The latter was never said at all but somehow it seems to have stuck.

So why the confusion? Well, Mrs Thatcher followed her famous quote with:

“There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then also to help look after our neighbour”

Of course there is such a thing as ‘society’, but we cannot blame society for our collective ills, we need to take responsibility individually to help ourselves and our neighbours

But what on earth was Mr Cameron talking about? Well he actually said that youngsters need love. This seems a fair point to me, who is going to grow up stable without people around them who care for them?

I was talking a few months back to a police officer who told me about a very young criminal who had admitted to a string of burglaries and who had been running riot in a council estate in our constituency. After a brief spell in a youth offending institute (aged 12) he was released and residents feared the one-boy-crime-wave would continue. His mother doesn’t care for him and spends her days drinking and smoking drugs. Father? Who knows, but he’s nowhere to be seen

A difference has come about though. This lad has been taken under the wing of a local police officer and now an adult is showing an interest in him, he is transforming. He’s desperate for acceptance and praise from an adult and is trying hard now to transform into being a decent member of society. He has much ground to make up

So do I think we should hug hoodies? No, I’ve not gone all soft. We have to remember that some of these young thugs have left vulnerable elderly people petrified, even inside their own homes. But what we do need to do is to get to these kids preferably before they run off the rails and encourage them to take part in society. Join a football team, join a club, do something useful in the community and belong. Even if their parents show no interest in them

There is a wonderful scheme in Leeds called Mentoring Leeds. Many teenagers are bright, good kids, but are starting to trail off at school and are at risk of achieving nothing in their lives. This scheme matches professional people with a teenager so they can provide the advice and support a parent might normally give. This could be a word of advice on dealing with an issue and giving the teenager someone to tell when they got an award or a good grade on an assignment. Someone who cares even if no one does at home

If you feel you could give up an hour or two every couple of weeks to help someone make a good life for themselves, please e-mail mentoring@educationleeds.co.uk, call 0113 214 4080 or go to http://www.leedsmentoring.co.uk/. There’s lots of support on offer from Education Leeds if you think you can help

All the best and a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

Matthew Lobley

Roundhay Ward Councillor

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