Any chance of something more innovative from our thinks tanks?

As the riots were unfolding across England’s cities Inside Out Jaxxland made the point about parts of the Welsh press being disappointed by the lack of looting and rioting in Welsh town and cities and the fact they had nothing to report from a Welsh perspective during such a major story and I would agree, but the Welsh press aren’t alone, it seems the need to get in on the post riot action has spread to what passes for Welsh think tank land.

In the past few days we have had the Director’s of the Bevan Foundation, the Institute of Welsh Affairs and the Centre for Regeneration Excellence offer their analysis on the causes of riots and their predetermined lessons for Wales. It’s no surprise the articles and posts contain the same well trodden path of blaming poverty, a lack of jobs and investment, a lack of education and petty crime as causes for the problems we face as a society.

And it’s not that I would disagree that these are serious issues that need tackling, but it’s depressing that the same tired old cliches about the causes and how you tackle them is all that’s on offer at a time when social and economic policy is front and centre in the news and new ideas could be aired and at least be discussed, if not implemented straight away.

The whole idea behind Think Tanks is that they generate new ideas that challenge current thinking on social and economic issues and start debates that politicians often can’t – its something Wales think tanks have yet to develop the capacity to do on a regular basis and its a shame for them and the wider development of Welsh politics and political engagement.

At a time when Wales is in desperate need of new innovative thinking to tackle decades old problems that break through the limited horizons of a stale political climate in Wales, further highlighted by our First Minister using the riots and the UK Government’s knee jerk response to it for some political point scoring claiming Wales is now more unsafe and more vulnerable to unemployment because of the Lib Dems and Tories in Westminster despite many of the social policy levers to mitigate the worst effect are already under the Assembly’s control, our think tanks have been show to be threadbare, both intellectually and financially, maybe its time for a change of leadership?
Any source