Tony Blair said after his election victory that he would listen to the people. Is he deaf? The word he claims to have heard most during the campaign was “respect” but what he failed to perceive was that it was in reference to the lack of it which people have for him due to the lies he told to engage the country in an illegal and unwanted war. But Tony has interpreted it entirely differently and says it was referring to yobbery and not his elitist snobbery.

According to the media, anyone who sports a baseball cap and sweatshirt with a hood is guilty of anti-social behaviour or causing fear and insecurity in society. Michael Moore, Prince Harry and Madonna must be included in this category, as it is their preferred mode of casual attire. Apparently they are all thugs whose very presence on our streets makes them suspects and fair game for police harassment. Expect record numbers of ASBO’s and arrests.

Unfortunately for Tony, it’s almost summer and we are anticipating a heatwave. Hooded tops will be shed like snakeskin and teenage offenders will not be so easily identified. This latest drive to criminalize all youth will backfire as corporations see retail sales plummet. Perhaps bare feet and nudity will come into fashion, since wearing expensive trainers automatically makes you a thief. What will be outlawed next, string vests, bare chests, or just existing?

It is an insane initiative, but it is not about clothes, or protecting old ladies from what is a description of their own grandchildren, it’s about preventing citizens from obscuring their face from CCTV. To make community service more visible, the government is proposing felons should wear a distinct uniform, black and white stripes worked for the chain gangs! Although orange, with the word ‘YOB’ emblazoned on the back would leave no room for terror, or privacy!

From a party which has no shame, this is ‘naming & shaming’ taken to the extreme, humiliating people into blind obedience and conformity with the state. The stigma is equivalent to the stocks and one slippery step away from (televised) public gallows. Are we supposed to crochet and cackle as ‘thugs’ are executed for our entertainment during ‘HateWeek?’ Tony Blair has no concept of respect, it means granting all human beings dignity, not violating them.