them, what you're trying to do is get in there and work out what the problems are. emma harrison who is involved in this work, one of the things she says is that in some families you find there's just no tradition of actually sitting around and eating together and talking about problems. everything is just everything is juseverything is just on the go, in front of the tele. you never talk aboutng - pc1blems with y t live their lives in a different way where they confront problems and deal with them. and you can't really expect the hard-pressed social worker who has masses of problems about children that might need tbe taken into care because of child abuse, it's quite difficult for social workers that are currently set up to have the time to really spend with a family and actually work out how could you deal with things better, how could you help spend time together, how could you deal with your problems together? so what we find is a lot of these families have masses of contact with the state they've got the g.p. over here the social worker there they've got the child a lots of contact but no one is spending time trying to help rearrange things so that they can deal with their problems. and this is a different way to think about it. it's actuall quite -- it's what old-fashioned social rkers used to do a bit more of when there was less paperwork and form filling and less bureaucracy they could spend more time with the family. we've got to do th and i've been very inspired by what i heard about in swinden and elsewhere and where they're spending time with filies. they're reinforcing success. in every family there's brilliant things happening and it's about finding those things and applying what work there is elsewhere. it's patient and hard work but has got to be done if we're dealing with these problems. the guy with the reflector shades. >> you were talking about like, going to hop schools but how can you go to the top schools if you can't afford to go to the top schools? >> absolutely right. the problem in our country for too long is we haven't had good enough schools in the state sector and one of the things this government is changing is building on something the last government did is saying actually, just because it's a poor neighborhood and poor community it shouldn't have a really great sta sool. we're lucky here, we've got some very good schools here in witney and west oxfordhire, they could be better. but you go to the incities in our country that don have any good schools and that should not be the case. what the academy program is about is getting more sponsor into those schools putting more money in the schools putting head teachers in those schools and if you have a great idea for running a new school, you should set that up in the state sector, not the private sector, and if you can attract the peoples, you get the money. and what i've seen as the opposition and the prime minister, a lot of our schools in our country and inner city areas that actually get better results than some of the schools right here in relatively wealthy and well off west oxfordhire and it can be done but needs real rocket boosters under it to make sure we're getting those good schools in every part of our country and shouldn't depend on being able to go private and spend the money to get better education for your children. there should be really good education within the state sector that is as good and competitive and informing and education in the private sector, as best there is but we need a lot more oft. let's have one more question. gentleman over here. >> mike alexander. you talked about the social problems. up front one of the problems seems to me to be that the police did not go about the job that i would have wanted them to do in an effective way to nip it in the bud. i do hope something can be done about that prime minister. >> it's a very fair question. it was discussed a lot in the house of commons and my response was to say that i think when it first started there weren't enough police on the strts quickly enough and the police tactics initially didn't work. i said that because that's what police officers from the very top of the mass and other forces and other officers told me. and i think that is right. where i think we absolutely have to be fair to the police is that they are doing an impossibly difficult job. they are suddenly confronting a mob and they don't initially know what exactly that mob is doing, is it a political protest, is it a riot, is it anger with the police, is it looting stores, is it criminality. it's easy for everyone tolles say it's obviously what you have to do you must do this d do that. for the police they're there on the front line and having to adopt and -- ada and change their tactics as it's happening. that's what they did and did it successfully and did it with the political support and backing of the government through the cobra emergency committee. there will be lessons to learn and i'm determined we will learn them through reviews and inquiries and the rest of it but we have to not be unfair to the police who do a good job in our behave and can't be said too often enough the officers on the front line, and i've met many of them in the last week with my trips around, that they showed extraordinary bravery. we ask the every day to go out on the front line and put themselves between us and proble and to risk their lives. of course lessons have to be learned, it didn't get all get right as soon as it should have done and police will understand that and of course lessons will be learned in affect the way you suggest. i thank you all for coming. can i thank base 33 for hosting me. it's lovely to be back with you. and if you didn't have a chance, maybe we could have more questions downstairs but i tried to answer as many as i can. thank you very much indeed. thank you. [applause] >> british opposition leader ed miliband criticized the prime minister's reaction to the riots. speaking to those >> a inquiry. he also talked about the need for a dialogue about economic issues for the youth and the issue of inequality. his remarks are about 23 minutes. >> laura thank you very much. can i say what a privilege it is and pleasure to be back at my old school. and i want to pay tribute to all the young people, the fantastic young people and also fantastic teachers, some of who taught me like nicky hayden who we have with us today. it brings back great memories to be here, and i'm delighted that i can be. haverstock inspired me with great teaching and gave me a great education and at haverstock, i grew up with people of all walks of life. there's no substitute for that ed cailings and that -- that education and that experience. and i wouldn't be standing here today as leader of the labor party if it wasn't for the education, the values that haverstock taught me. everyone here will have a personal story about last week's riots and the feelings we had about what happened. mine is a week ago near the route i walked to school for seven years on short farm road as i just saw the bike shop and other places along short farm and adelaide road, there was rioting, windows were smashed and stuff was taken. no part of london and no major english city seemed immune or safe from what happened. this week, though, i did what politicians don't do enough the rest of the time. i went out on to the streets and listened to people who came up to me and talked to me about their experiences and their feelings about what had happened. people told me their stories their personal, powerful stories. i just want to start by bearing witness to them today. because it is only with the voices of people that we can begin to understand and start to solve the problems we face as a society. on tuesday i was in peckham 12 hours after the looting had finished and heard from a young woman who made her way from the university and who had been walking home that previous night and feared for her safety and said something's got to be done about this. i also heard from an old man who said well, the problem is that government and politicians have deserted our young people. on wednesday i saw the fury of people in manchester about what happened in terms of the rioting. i also saw the spirit of a thousand people who had come out that morning to show the spirit of manchester was something else and they'd come out and cleaned up the streets of manchester, cleaned up after the rioting and looting. on friday i witnessed a whole range of emotions when i went to tottenham. because that is a community that has done so much to build its reputation since the riots happened in 1985. and there people were saying to me look, our worry is the world is going to turn its back on us after what happened in tottenham. what's going to happen to the reputation of tottenham. and i met people like allen moore, a jeweler, and i went to see what was left of his shop. he spent 35 years building up his business. and you know all that was left was the safety deposit box standing emits rubble. and statement i visited the ledger center in tottenham and that was an inspiring site because actually it was about people volunteers coming out to say we're going to help people who need to rebuild young people who represent the vast majority of young people right up and down this country law-abiding young people and politicians need to say that because we don't say it enough. saturday i heard from people from hackney shopkeepers who had seen their businesses atacked and people searching for answers. so i've seen and heard as i'm sure you all have done, anger aggressive and fear but also seen -- grief and fear but also seen home and determination as well. but also as laura said, i've heard nothing but condemnation for what happened, no excuses, no justification because nothing excuses and nothing can justify and that's why it's right tough punishments are being handed out. but i've heard, and you must have heard as well something else. a deep desire to understand a deep need to explain what happened. and what we first said 20 years ago, we need to be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime that speaks to what people have been saying to me on the streets too. everywhere i've been, people are discussing the same measures, why did this happen? what does it say about our country? what can be done now to prevent it happening again? >> there's an easy and predictable past for politicians. it might even be the more popular path in the short term, and yet i heard some people demand it on the streets. it says the riots are criminality, pure and simple and it stops there. it says that to explain is to excuse. if others wish to tread this path, that is a matter for them. but not the one for me. and i'll tell you why, because it's not strength, it is an absolute abdication of responsibility to the victims our communities and the country. but if we follow that approach, we run the risk of disturbances happening again. in fact, it is bill bratton the former police commissioner who said you cannot arrest your way out of this problem. and there's another path simply to blame others, blame the parents blame the so-called underclass, blame the police. we've certainly seen a lot of that in the last few days haven't we? our police force already being undermined by cuts in officers and an unseemly attempt by government to take credit for operational decisions that went right and blame the police for those that didn't work out. so wrong. and the approach of blaming others, so simple and yet so simplistic. instant and simple judgments in response to these sorts of events bring bad solutions. of course the public says we want quick action. but a new policy a day knee-jerk gimmicks not thought through, they won't serve the problem. and let's be honest about the politician's instinct in this, a appointed new advisor we allow your old prejudices but that won't meet the public's demand for lasting solutions. we've heard it all in the last few days, water cannons supercops, a daily knock at the door for gangs and today more gimmicks. a prime minister who used to say the answer was to hug a hoody now says the answer to reform health and safety laws. a crisis like this tells something about our political leaders. day by day the prime minister has revealed himself to be reaching for shallow and superficial answers, not the lasting solutions the country needs, that comes from the wisdom and insight of our communities. the rule to restore order must be followed by real change but to do that we must answer the most basic questions. why are there people who think it's ok to loot and vandalize in their own neighborhoods, who seem to hold no loyalty to their communities, who think they have everything to gain and nothing to lose from doing things like this? the small minority who did this are not one race, one age group, one community. they are british people from brixton to gloucester, croiton to manchester,. and to answer what has happened, i say this, we have to state the most inconvenient truth of all. yes, people are responsible for their actions. but we all bear a share of responsibility for the society we create. governments, labor and conservative, powerful elites in politics, business and in the media. and all of us, me and you as well. only by starting with this truth can we get to the honest answers our country deserves. i'm here today at haverstock because the national conversation we need must start with the communities affected. in every place i've been to, there is the knowledge to solve these problems and the overwhelming desire to be heard. but i have also heard the suspicion, perhaps legitimate suspicion, that this will be another example of politicians arriving at the scene of trouble and then melting away when the world moves on. people have seen the way my profession works before and are underably cynical. can we be different this time? that is the challenge for political leaders. only if we give people who have been affected by this the chance for their voice and views to be heard. after every major disturbance from brixton to olden we've had in our history we had a commission to look at the causes. we must have this one as well. a genuine, national conversation, not a group of m.p.'s focused on policing and criminal justice as the government proposes, not a review of government policy conducted by civil servants, not a standard judicial inquiry made up of elites such as we're having over phone hacking. we need an answer which comes from people themselves that listens to the victims, that build on their own experiences. if the prime minister wants to know the solutions he should come to these communities and have the humility to listen and should have nothing to fear from the truth. and the people leading this commission of inquiry must include those young people we talked about those people with experience of being in gangs, people from across the community and hearings shouldn't happen in white hall or in the palace of westminister, by the areas which experience the riots and those that did not. now, what are the issues that this national conversation needs to discuss? let me today, and i'm looking forward to your questions about this, let me put some issues on the table. let's start by asking the questions of what values we saw from the looters and rioters. greed, selfishness and immorality. above all gross irresponsibility. and the irresponsibility is not just confined to those who took part in the riots. we note there are big issues of personal responsibility, too. i was appalled to hear about the parents who didn't turn up to court when their 14-year-old was charged with looting. somebody i met in hackney on saturday said to me, angry about parents not taking responsibility, when the riots began, i made sure my kids were at home. why weren't other parents doing that? the reality though, the truth behind this is not simply p. some people say it's all about family breakdown. but there are single parents across this country the vast jofert them doing an absolutely brill -- vast majority them doing a absolutely brilliant job. there are rich families unable to control their kids and the vast majority of poor families who do control their kids. we must avoid putting out the old stereotypes and president clintons in this debate that suit one party or another. and we need to ask deeper questions about what cause this is irresponsibility. about why some parents are not teaching their children the difference between right and wrong, not setting boundaries. i've heard on the streets a lot of times let me be honest about this people saying to me, you can't tell your children off anymore. who is telling parents they can't tell off their children anymore? certainly not me. we should ask why the young people don't have the role models that can put them in the right path in life. and we need to understand something we don't tend to talk about, the linth between the problems in our society and the economy we have in britain. we need to ask what we can do about an economy where children don't see enough of their parents because they're working 50 60, 70 hours a week, during not just one job or two jobs or three jobs and not there when their kids get home, not there in the evening. and the solution won't be simple either. one of the most important things government can do is back families up with programs like family intervention partnerships family nerve partnerships, proper support to help parents do their duty. but as we talk about what happened in the riots we've got to be honest with ourselves. children's ideas of right or wrong don't just come from their parents. and we can't honestly say that the greed, selfishness and irresponsibility we saw is confined to the looters or even to their parents. it's not the first time, after all, we've seen this kind of me first, take what you can culture. the bankers who took millions while destroying people's savings, greedy, selfish and immoral. the m.p.'s who fiddled their expenses greedy, selfish and immoral. the people who hacked phones to get stories at the expense of poor victims greedy, selfish and immoral. people who talk about the sick behavior of those without power should stop talking about the sick behavior of those with power as well. let's not pretend that the crisis and values in our society is confined to a minority only at the bottom. we see the morality of millions of hard-working people under siege at the top as well. let's talk about what that does to our culture. too often we've sent a message from the top to the bottom of britons 's -- britain's society, anything goes you're in it for yourself, as long as you can get away with it, who cares? we hear lots of talk now about role models for communities but what role model has really been provided by the elites in britain in the last few decades? so no, the values crisis is not confined to a so-called underclass in britain. our whole country is held back by irresponsibility wherever it is found. it can only be solved by addressing the issues right across our society from bonuses to benefits. so the culture of our society does matter. and just as those on the left who dismiss arguments about culture are wrong so are those on the right who dismiss the importance of opportunity and hope. it's true, as some people say the people from comfortable background took part in the riots. a lack of opportunity cannot explain all of what happened. but come on, just because it can't explain everything it doesn't mean it can't explain anything. this is where a leader of the opposition needs to speak frankly. of course, not everyone who grows newspaper a deprived neighborhood turns to crime. just as not everyone who grows up in a rich neighborhood stays on the straight and narrow. individual