IT HAS been increasingly evident for some time that there has been something hostile lurking beneath the tranquil waters of British society.

The sudden, vicious and mindless violence that erupted in London and spread to other English cities recently was a brutal reminder that the potential for near anarchism was not only real, but closer to the surface than many people imagined.

The London Metro newspaper described the perpetrators quite linguistically as 'copycat cretins' but others would have settled for more candid words like 'morons', 'thugs' and 'idiots', to describe the youths who carried out the widespread violence.

There have been strong views and opinions as well as possibly solutions - like the old Marxist who declares that an iron booted communism dictatorship is the best way to suppress such mass insurrection - or like the BNP supporter who wistfully ignores racial harmony and smugly reminds us of Enoch Powell's infamous 'Rivers of Blood' speech revealing a race war is in the offing when he sees so many coloured youths involved.

It's all very well, demanding the reintroduction of the birch rod and for more prisons to be built, but motives for these social disorders are deep rooted and complex.

Obviously there was some kind of statement intended within the looting and burning, and that is most probably a rage and perceived revenge against a consumerist society that they have concluded is designed to marginalise them.

To quote one rioter, "We're showing the rich we do what we want." Some even had the gall, if not the bravery, to go on national television demanding respect with their faces covered.

After all, they represent a disenfranchised section of society that has no respect for authority, community or property. Teenagers plundered electrical stores and raided sports shops, presumably because they believe that designer trainers and hi-tech computer games will make them happy. They will of course, but only for a day or two.

The liberalising of British 'society' over a number of decades has prevented parents smacking their children, stopped teachers strapping pupils and made the much-maligned police having to carry out their duty, often with one hand tied behind their back. This has spawned a 'you can't touch me' state.

Hoodlums looted because they believed their age would exempt them from being prosecuted.

Some of these children may be so poorly educated that they will barely give Waterstones a second glance when they are rioting, but they are undoubtedly 'streetwise'.

Many were raised where the absence of a father's guidance becomes the acceptable norm. There is often a reluctance or the motivation to do a day's work but still have the capacity to steal anything that they can't afford.

We can fume at the images of these hoodlums happily walking away from electrical stores with plasma screens, but is our post modern culture guilty of seducing them into believing that attaining earthly riches and material possessions is the key to human happiness? The blunt truth is this 'moral decay' is not something solely confined to their deprived communities.

This is not suggesting all we need to do is get these belligerent youngsters around a giant camp fire, holding hands, chanting a chorus of 'Kumbaya' and all social problems would be miraculously solved, but a reintroduction of the ten commandments into every school curriculum in the country would be welcome start.

Each of the commandments offers a protective shield against all disorder. Unlike animals, we have the freedom to say no to our instincts and impulses.

By doing so, we avoid harming ourselves and others. The greatest of all commandments according to Jesus in Matthew 22:34-40, is to love God and then as a consequence love our neighbour as ourselves.