Broken Britain

Broken Britain is a term which has been used by the Conservative Party[1] to describe a perceived widespread state of social decay in the United Kingdom. The Sun has run frequent stories under the "Broken Britain" theme since 2007. Whilst the phrase is essentially a political one, the frequency of these stories has decreased since the Conservatives came to power in 2010.

Political usage

David Cameron had referred to "Broken Britain" during his time as leader of the Conservative Party, and pledged to "fix" Broken Britain during the campaign for the 2010 general election. In September 2009, The Sun announced that it would back the Conservatives in the 2010 election, having supported the Labour Party in 1997, 2001 and 2005, stating that Labour had "failed on law and order". Iain Duncan Smith published two reports, "Breakdown Britain" and "Breakthrough Britain", dealing with similar themes, through the Centre for Social Justice.

By contrast, The Guardian ran a series of articles in 2010 questioning this theme, under the title "Is Britain Broken?".[1] The Conservatives also came under criticism after publishing an inaccurate figure in a report on teenage pregnancy and crime rates.[2]

After the 2011 England riots, David Cameron alluded to many of these themes while speaking on the UK's "moral collapse". Under the banner of "Broken Society", he listed: "irresponsibility, selfishness, behaving as if your choices have no consequences, children without fathers, schools without discipline, reward without effort, crime without punishment, rights without responsibilities".[3]

A number of films released from 2006 featured the theme of Broken Britain. They include Ill Manors, Harry Brown, F (film), Eden Lake, Cherry Tree Lane, The Disappeared, Summer Scars, Outlaw, Attack the Block, The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael and Heartless.[4] The 2000 AD story Cradlegrave also played with similar "hoodie horror" themes.[5]

See also

General:

References
  1. Gentleman, Amelia (31 March 2010). "Is Britain broken?". The Guardian. London.
  2. "Tory error over teen pregnancies". BBC News. 15 February 2010.
  3. "England riots: Broken society is top priority - Cameron". BBC News. 15 August 2011.
  4. Graham, Jane (5 November 2009). "Hoodies strike fear in British cinema". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 August 2011. They show all the hallmarks of the stereotypical youth of "Broken Britain" – the tracksuits, guns and dead eyes
  5. Molcher, Michael (30 September 2011). "The ultimate hoodie horror - welcome to Cradlegrave". 2000ADonline. Retrieved 2 October 2011. The Ravenglade Estate is ‘broken Britain’ as its worse.
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