One of the things that I’ve found most difficult about the discussion following the horrific murder of Rhys Jones has been the seeming dismissal by much of the media and many commentators of the possibility of change. The wilful misunderstanding of those who ridicule the home secretary for proposing more acceptable behaviour contracts for young people on the brink of crossing over into serious criminality is infuriating: no-one is suggesting replacing prison sentences for gun crime with agreements not to misbehave, but there surely is a place for trying to nip bad behaviour in the bud long long before it gets to the stage of an 11 year-old being shot, presumably by another young person. I don’t believe that anyone is born a criminal (one of the reasons why I’m on the left); I think that society makes it possible, and thus can prevent it. That’s no comfort to a grieving family in Liverpool; and there’s nothing we can do now to change the course of the killer, who is rightly heading for decades in gaol. But can we do anything to make sure that this doesn’t happen again? The kids who these days are tagging walls or skipping school, can we make sure one of them doesn’t end up killing someone someday? I think we can - and that Jacqui Smith is right to think about that too, as well as catching and punishing the killer of Rhys Evans.

I grew up in Croydon, south London, and my family still live there. I hope they’ll forgive me for saying that although Croydon was a pretty good place to grow up, it’s got a bit of a reputation to live down. For many people, the best thing about Croydon is that it’s less than twenty minutes on the fast train to central London; the town has such a poor reputation that it’s given its name to the infamous croydon facelift, and even the Facebook group “I heart Croydon” has as its group description “If you come from Croydon, you’ve probably been mugged, shot or stabbed but we love it anyway! Upload ur Croydon photos! Drunken antics welcome!“.

All the same, I have an affection for the place, towering office blocks and all, and was utterly dismayed to read today’s Guardian article about my home town’s huge trafficking problem: apparently Croydon is one of the biggest ports for human trafficking in the UK, precisely as a result of its excellent transport connections, as well as the presence of the immigration agency in the town. (one of the characteristics of Croydon that I gather hasn’t changed was passing the snaking queue of people outside Lunar House waiting to see immigration officials). So good on the organisation CCAT - Croydon Community Against Trafficking - for raising the profile of the issue, doing the research and getting the arrests. When they rang saunas, massage parlours and escort agencies in Croydon, every single one offered sex; one of the researchers said:

“When you call the brothels, your options and the girls’ descriptions are read [out, as though you were] ordering a pizza”

.
They want three actions: the police to close down brothels; Croydon Council not to license saunas, massage parlours and escort agencies; and the local papers to stop taking ads for “adult services”. Good luck to them on all three counts. A few years ago, after several women were rescued from a brothel off the Botley Road in Oxford, one of my friends made a similar point, and it’s still true: it is incredibly hypocritical to condemn the trade in women on the news pages, and profit from it in the small ads, in the Croydon Advertiser, Oxford Mail or anywhere else.

And well done CCAT for daring to say the unsayable: it’s rape to pay for sex with a trafficked woman. The page “For men” lays it on the line:

You may have chosen her, but she definitely didn’t choose you. [...]
Man to man, we think you can be better than that. If you are a guy who pays for sex with women in Croydon you are part of the problem. To free the slaves that are ‘shipped’ in for your pleasure you can take action.
Contact CCAT and we can put you in touch with a counsellor who can chat you through the best way to deal with your ‘desires’. Contact Crime Stoppers and tell them about the women in the brothels you have been to and what you have seen. This is a confidential and anonymous hotline.
Be a man. Give freedom to slaves in Croydon.

Hello readers - are there any of you left? Extraordinarily busy at the moment, unaccountably. Thought August was supposed to be a quiet time of year… Anyway, readers might like to wish my lovely co-councillor Mr Turner a happy 30th birthday. What good news to celebrate it too: it appears that the government is riding to our rescue on the matter of the massive homes shortage in Oxford:

The Oxford Mail has been told a top-level report due to be published next week would recommend a fundamental review of the Green Belt - particularly around Oxford - as the county is singled out for development.
Whitehall is tipped to suggest a 10 per cent increase on already-proposed housebuilding targets in the region over the next 20 years [...] in Oxfordshire, the Government wants to see 9,440 extra homes built on top of the already-proposed 47,200, sources said.

Wonderful news. Anyway, here’s a dreadful photo of me and Ed to keep you amused.

Dear Cllr Mitchell and friends at the county council,

I see your party’s leader, Mr Cameron, has today accepted that inequality between the rich and the poor matters. He even noted in the Guardian (which you may not have seen, so I’ll quote), “there are parts of affluent Oxford, for instance, which rival parts of Liverpool in terms of deprivation”. We’ll forgive him a little hyperbole, but it’s close to the mark.

Mr Cameron (thankfully) doesn’t have any power to put his proposals into action. But you do, running schools, youth services, Sure Starts and social care services for our city. Perhaps, following Mr Cameron’s lead, you could take some action to start implementing the vision: withdrawing the threat to funding for the advice centres on Blackbird Leys and Rose Hill, for example. Picking up the funding slack at the Dovecote Centre for families on Blackbird Leys, maybe. Opening up a bidding cycle for new voluntary youth provision for young people on our estates, perhaps. Or even just making sure someone from the county council turns up at meetings of the regeneration partnership on Rose Hill, like all the other agencies do, perchance.

None of these are state interventions, which I know you’re dubious about. None will change the world, but they’d be a start. And Mr Cameron needs a bit of a boost right now, I gather.

I remain, etc.