i Editor's Letter: Lack of 'remores'

Amid all the gloomy news on the economy, horror stories about mistreatment of our elderly and shocking behaviour by the tabloid press, one item struck a nerve with many readers this week: the teenage burglar who refused to say sorry to his victim in what was his forced letter of apology.

As reader Ben Hall from Hull wrote: “What kind of society have we created where burglars feel obliged to rob homes because their owners didn’t ‘draw their curtains’ ?” You cannot help but notice the appalling standard of literacy in the youth’s letter (he is 16 years old). But it’s the absolute lack of “remores” displayed that made it so thoroughly depressing.

It is shocking, but is it surprising? For those who argue “it wasn’t like that in my day”, I urge you to read our story about the worrying rise in the number of our young who are NEETS (not in education, employment or training).

It is a huge increase inside one year. If taken together with news that a million young people are now out of work, we are staring at a ticking time-bomb of social unrest and crime . The added danger of nihilism is that people start casting around for someone to blame. Hence, the significance of today’s news on immigration.

The prime reason for the record net figure is a fall in the number of Britons emigrating. In difficult economic times who will notice that? Andreas Whittam Smith wrote eloquently yesterday about the growing disparity between haves and have nots.

I worry that many feel they are “never will haves”, and wonder if anyone in power really has any sense of what they are feeling? And, on that cheery note, I will see you in Saturday’s.