Comment: A few home truths from the Tory leader

The Tory leader attacks the language of ‘moral neutrality’, and dares to say that many of our social problems are ‘the consequences of the choices people make’.

Brave words indeed from a party leader who has been often stigmatised for his politically progressive views.

Uphill battle: Mr Cameron touring the Glasgow East constituency yesterday

And, dare it be said, a message of which Margaret Thatcher would be proud.

Now nobody likes being told they only have themselves to blame for being fat, poor or addicted to alcohol or drugs.

And, of course, there are those in genuine need of help, such as children who, through family breakdown, poverty or parental substance abuse, have yet to be given a chance in life, and deserve all the help the state can give them.

But, for far too long, society has been crying out for the restoration of personal responsibility.

There is now an insidious belief that people become overweight or penniless through absolutely no fault of their own, as if they were simply the victims of disease or freak weather.

They are told they are ‘at risk of obesity’, rather than that they eat too much.

Consequently, they reach out a hand for incapacity or other benefits which a Labour Government, wedded to the culture of dependency on the state, has been ever-willing to provide.

Society cannot afford for this to continue, either morally or financially. So we must hope Mr Cameron believes what he says, and has the determination to help people to help themselves.

A judge of character

Decent, independent-minded and grounded in reality, the incoming Lord Chief Justice, Sir Igor Judge, gives every indication of being the right man to restore battered public trust in the judiciary.

Take his recent warning that knife crime had risen to ‘epidemic proportions’, and must be punished severely.

Yes, it’s simple common sense, but we have heard precious little of that from our senior judges in recent years.

But the aptly-named Judge Judge should be under no illusion that his task will be easy.

For starters, he inherits, from his predecessor Lord Phillips, stewardship of the Sentencing Advisory Panel.

Yesterday, this interfering quango of so-called legal experts decided that victims of crime should be allowed a say in the way criminals are punished in court – but only if they call for leniency rather than for harsh sentencing.

In a system which has long cried out for the public to be given a real voice, this is a real kick in the teeth.

We trust a man of Sir Igor’s impressive track record will see fit to strike this proposal down at the first opportunity.

Sharing the pain

The Mail has consistently argued that it should be Britain’s largest banks – not the taxpayer – which should come to the rescue of fellow financial institutions in peril.

Last night, it emerged the so-called Big Six are preparing to do just that, by buying up a large chunk of the shares that crippled lender Bradford & Bingley needs to sell to survive.

To this we give two cheers. Bradford & Bingley is not yet out of the woods. But it is only fair that banks whose greed did so much to cause the current financial turmoil should be made to carry some of the burden.