London - Xinhua
British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday promised to mend Britain's "broken society" after the worst riots the country had ever seen. In a speech on Monday in Oxfordshire, England, Cameron vowed an "all-out war on gang culture" and said his government would review its social policies in a bid to tackle the causes of the violence. Cameron said the blame lay with "children without fathers, schools without discipline, reward without effort, crime without punishment, rights without responsibilities and communities without control." He said a "family test" would be applied to all domestic policies. "If it hurts families, if it undermines commitment, if it tramples over the values that keeps people together, or stops families from being together, then we shouldn't do it," Cameron said. Cameron was damning in his criticism of the corrupt moral examples set in the past few years by politicians, bankers and journalists. "In the highest offices, the plushest boardrooms, the most influential jobs, we need to think about the example we are setting. Moral decline and bad behavior is not limited to a few of the poorest parts of our society," he stated. "In the banking crisis, with MPs' expenses, in the phone hacking scandal, we have seen some of the worst cases of greed, irresponsibility and entitlement. The restoration of responsibility has to cut right across our society," he added. Arrests continue in the wake of the riots with police saying there have now been nearly 3,000 arrests. Courts have been working around the clock to cope with the number of offenders, even staying open on Sunday. About 1,300 people have been charged, and 1,000 of these have appeared in court. In Birmingham, where serious rioting took place Monday and Tuesday night last week, a peace rally was held on Sunday. The rally was in memory of three Asian men who were killed when hit by a car as they stood on the pavement protecting their community. Police have arrested and charged two men with murder in relation to the incident