THE scenes of rioting and mayhem endlessly replayed on the global TV screens have sent shivers through our society.

The tough sentences handed out for these crimes are spot on and we should applaud the efforts made by police and magistrates in swiftly arresting and prosecuting those involved.

But the longer-term problem we face is the absence of social cohesion among sections of British society today.

Giving someone a sense of social responsibility is not an overnight task but creating a bond between individuals and their communities can happen more quickly.

Initiatives like the new National Citizenship Service will help, as will plans to make those convicted of crimes get involved in local restorative justice.

But ultimately what we need (and what I think we are seeing) is a welcome shift in emphasis from our rights as citizens to our responsibilities.

I also hope that some good will come out of the recent tragic death of a young man who was a close friend of our family.

The whole country knows the name of Horatio Chapple who died in Norway as a result of a bear attack but only relatively few are lucky enough to know the brave, kind, warmhearted and inspiring person behind the headlines.

Horatio planned to study medicine and, like both his parents, would have been a magnificent doctor. He had volunteered at the Duke of Cornwall Spinal Treatment Centre in Salisbury and donations in his memory, which can be made online at www.ssit.org.uk, will help to fund a Jubilee Garden at the Centre to hugely improve the quality of life for patients at the unit who come from all over Southern Britain.

This would be a worthy way to commemorate this wonderful young man.