For years both Charles Murray of the American Enterprise Institute and the former editor of The Sunday Times, Neil Andrew, have pointed to the emergence of a new underclass. Murray has warned of a range of conditions in Britain 'associated with the growth of a class of violent, unsocialised people who, if they become sufficiently numerous, will fundamentally degrade the life of society'.
Murray points to the increasing proportion of children born out of wedlock (40%!), the rise of violent crime and a dramatic increase (50%) of young aged between 18 and 24 not in work in the past ten years. For the first time politics in Britain has acknowledged the existence of Britain's underclass and Jack Straw, the home secretary, is about to act. It remains to be seen, if he can do anything at all.