GORDON Henderson, who was the Conservative parliamentary candidate at the last General Election, has backed David Cameron’s call that we should not judge young people by the clothes they wear.
‘Let us be quite clear,’ Gordon said, ‘not every youngster who wears a hoodie or a baseball cap is a thug, in the same way that not every youngster who wears slacks and sensible shoes is a saint.
‘That was the message that David Cameron was trying to get over recently, the problem is that his words were distorted by the spin doctors and the press and he was lumbered with the “hug a hoodie” headline.
‘It is equally clear that many of those who cause trouble in our community do wear hoodies and baseball caps, because for them it is a kind of uniform.
‘So we have to recognise the fear that some people feel when they see groups of young men dressed in this way.
‘What we have to do is ensure that those youngsters, whatever they might be wearing, who intimidate law abiding citizens, are brought to book. The notion that sucking up to them will turn a bad youngster into a good youngster is plain daft.
‘Of course we need to try and steer misguided young people in the right direction, however, our first priority is NOT to “hug a hoodie”, it should be to protect the law abiding majority - young and old.’
…ends…..