Cromwell: Tackle greed, don't issue guns...

There are very few things that annoy me more than what irked me last night and would compel me to write to my local newspaper.

One of them was the disgusting spectacle of the Royal Wedding, which prompted me to write to the Wimbledon Guardian in April. They were kind enough to feature it as part of an article and I’ve asked them to grant me the privilege again.

I’m writing again because of this week’s Editor’s Comment which advocates bringing back corporal punishment, capital punishment and arming the elderly as “simple solutions” to combating the recent scourge of rioting in London.

While I appreciate the article’s obvious sense of anger, felt by most sane people who saw those awful scenes last week, I think it completely misses the point about what is lacking in our society that has allowed such mass lawlessness to take hold.

The answer is definitely not re-arming the state against its own people by giving it back the power to harm or kill citizens as a means of deterring crime. We tried that for thousands of years and it simply didn’t work.

Mine is not a simple solution. It is to cure that most infectious and dangerous disease of all – GREED.

Greed makes people value their lives in terms of what they’ve accumulated instead of what they’ve accomplished.

Greed makes people make decisions based on what they can get away with instead of what it morally right.

And, last week, greed literally destroyed many of our town centres.

But why do politicians never talk about the need to cure greed? Because they can’t – the economic system we’ve created is dependent on people consuming more and more trinkets and gadgets that we simply don’t need.

So is the political system – who and what do you think funds these political parties and pays for their TV ads and leaflets? Rich individuals, trade unions, and corporations – all buying influence for their own special interests.

It’s a crying shame because it’s the duty of those in power to set the example. The MPs’ expenses scandal exposed politicians who thought they could get away with fleecing the taxpayer. The banking collapse crippled our economy because of spivs who literally gambled away our money. Now the phone-hacking disgrace is shaming journalists who thought they could get away with creepy and illegal behaviour.

How long will it be before another part of the elite is thrust into the spotlight for their greedy little secret?

And it’s all so shocking for most of us because, for the most part, we were brought up to treat others how we would want to be treated ourselves, not to grab what you can while no one’s looking.

What many people have now noticed is an aggressive minority of underclass has emerged that, like much of the equally self-serving elite, has become so insulated in its own greed that they no longer try to consider how warped their actions seem to most normal and decent people.

These kids and young adults that burned down department stores and blew up police vans made no secret of their greed; they revelled in it. The only thing that mattered to them was what they could get, no matter what the cost to society involved in taking it.

Of course curing greed is not a simple solution and, even if there was the political will to do it, would take a good many generations. All of us are born with an innate sense of wanting to achieve happiness, but the spread of greed has distorted that desire into an insatiable appetite for accumulating wealth, even at the expense of others.

So, how about each of us start off by contributing something to society, no matter how small or trivial?

My tiny contribution is to write to my local newspaper and I would welcome anyone who reads this to do the same. I believe it helps because it will encourage others to think about a difficult problem and maybe offer their own solution.

Slowly but surely, all these tiny contributions put together add up to a society in which people really do respect one another, even if we are from different backgrounds, have different talents and different levels of wealth.

Too few of us actually respect other people, but the one thing we all respect is money. That must change.

If we learn to respect each other and show this respect by reaching out a hand every once in a while, then even the most stupid and angriest members of our society may just be persuaded there are better things to do on a Monday night than trash a PC World.

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