Analysis: Policy - Crime and Disorder - Blair vows to eliminate yobculture

The early days of the Labour government's third term in office have been full of talk of "respect". In his first press conference after being re-elected, Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke about "a loss of respect, in the classroom, on the street corner", adding that "people are rightly fed up with the street corner and shopping centre thugs, yobbish behaviour, sometimes from children as young as 10 or 11, whose parents should be looking after them".

The issue of respect and antisocial behaviour hit the headlines again a few days later, when the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent announced it was banning young people from wearing baseball caps and hooded tops on its premises (YPN, 18-24 May, p3). Blair and his deputy John Prescott both spoke out in support of the move, and Hazel Blears, the minister for policing, security and community safety, waded into the debate by suggesting that young people on community sentences should wear coloured uniforms to identify them (YPN, 18-24 May, p2).