DEAR Editor, In the wake of the various political posturing and ill advised comments relating to the acts of violence, destruction and criminality across our major cities I want to congratulate the Birmingham Post for the well argued and balanced comment on the said matters.

I would also want to congratulate John Rider on his excellent piece in your newspaper (Birmingham Post, August 11) again for presenting a well balanced argument with reference the serious economic challenges facing our region and the resulting consequences for our young people.

As a business owner in the city employing 300 people, the majority between the ages of 16 and 25 from diverse ethnic backgrounds, my employee profile reflects the Birmingham of not only the present but also the future and in the vast majority cases these young people are honest, hardworking and ambitious. Without doubt we can never accept the mob rule that we witnessed and there can be no excuse for acts of criminality period.

However, in saying this we must also seek to pro-actively address the economic cancer that continues to blight the West Midlands economy, our productivity and global competitiveness – that is the ever increasing numbers of our young people here in the West Midlands with poor education, little or no vocational training, no job or indeed any hope of getting a job and as a consequence no hope. With no hope comes a disregard for those very fundamental rules that underpin the fabric of our society, that of respecting law and order, aligned to respecting self and by so doing learn to respect others.

What is now required is an honest conversation and positive actions in addressing those economic problems that as a region we know are long-standing and getting worse. The region now demands the leadership that is now required with regards to the creation of a mix of sustainable job opportunities if we are to progress as a world class region with Birmingham being the catalyst for this recovery.

Athelston Tony Sealey OBE

By email

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Dear Editor, Prime Minister Cameron said the rioting was due to the public’s lack of respect, lack of ethics and lack of discipline.

What crass hypocrisy is this?

Both the police and the government are morally bankrupt and ethically corrupt. Their words and actions vilifying the disaffected youth are born out of a self denial and should be viewed with the contempt it deserves.

They spout pitifully about retribution against the looters – “the fight back has begun”, “we will seek you out” – assiduously persecuting them while fast tracking through the courts.

The police all of a sudden, don coats of piety after cynically committing self serving negligence in a dereliction of their statutory duties, standing back from the looting and arson.

Cameron says that society has a sickness when it’s plain to see that his government and the police are the epicentre of this contagion.

Recently the government has been embroiled in a number of “wrongdoings” and the police mired in corruption, abuse, incivility and murder charges. There is a litany of other disgusting offences ranged against them. No fast tracking through the courts and jail sentences for these miscreants.

Trust and respect is not a god given right but has to be earned and neither the police nor government seem capable of understanding this simple fact.

Alan Wright

Coventry

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Dear Editor, I don’t condone the violence, the looting, the mayhem and murder. It rips the souls out of us all.

But I understand it. Hard as it may be for many to agree, I know where they are coming from and I’m sorry, so very sorry for being part of a society that has harboured, grown and nurtured the circumstances that has led not only to recent events, but for letting down a disengaged generation.

All I can hear others talk about is how we should shoot them, stop their benefits, throw them in prison, bring back national service or send them to Afghanistan.

What planet are we on? We are all human beings; we belong to the same species, we are connected. So what sort of society wants to destroy its own children, its future? What does this say about us, me, this so-called civilised society?

I feel ashamed to be a part of something that has coerced to hide and brush their existence under the carpet.