Hoodies for Cameron

"Dave" Cameron seems to be turning out not to be the genius political strategist some feared. He seems to have missed the point that the idea behind triangulation as practised by Blair and Clinton was to take the policies where you were previously weakest and most out of tune with public opinion (defence, tax, crime in Labour's case in the '90s) and pitch your tent firmly on the centre ground. Cameron in contrast with his "let's be understanding to hoodies" gaff has positioned the Tories as at odds with Labour policy on ASBOs that resonates not just with the core Labour vote but with the core Tory one as well. It's easy for him to say "let's be understanding" when he represents a leafy bit of Oxfordshire where the height of ASB is probably some under-age cider drinking in the village bus shelter. For the people in my council ward, particularly the elderly and young families on estates who are terrorised by crime, vandalism, and "neighbours from hell" the problem with the Government's respect agenda is not that it shows insufficient "understanding" of the causes of bad behaviour but that it isn't being rolled out fast enough.