Thursday, July 17, 2008

Time for a change / New Statesman, 17 July 2008
http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2008/07/young-prison-crime-life-health
David Blunkett
"One invaluable benefit from having agreed to do the programme has been the proximity to the young men involved and the renewed insight it has given me into youth culture. Many of the young men shared an interest in, and a cultural affinity with, a genre of music called "grime". Let me confess that to me the word meant only my mother's concern to scrub me clean at the age of four! But music, expression and the communication of anger and pent-up frustration go together with young men uncertain of their own masculinity and what the future holds. They came into the prison with a bravado that one would expect and ready for a laugh. They were, after all, going to be on television."
["Banged Up" is on channel Five on Monday 21 July at 9pm and concludes on Monday 28 July.]