The true test of family values

According to the Liverpool Daily Post, so-called 'pro-family' campaigners are up in arms at the city council's decision to employ ex-offenders, many of whom are former drug users and alcoholics, to act as tour guides during Liverpool's tenure as the European City of Culture in 2008. There have been calls for those responsible for the decision to resign; the plan has been denounced variously as, 'dangerous', 'irresponsible' and 'unacceptable'. One protester said that he would be very uncomfortable at the thought of his children coming into contact with such people.

As well as being ex-offenders, they will also be brothers, sons, uncles, nephews and husbands - and no doubt wives, aunties and daughters as well. So it seems singularly perverse for organisations purporting to support the institution of the family to be railing against attempts to help people back into the community and reconnect with their families.

The second thought is how would anybody know that their tour guide was an ex-user? Would they be expected to wear a badge saying, 'Hi, my name is Dave and I used to be a smack head'. This goes to the nub of the stigma and isolation that so many people in this position feel. And it is why any future drug strategy has to address this by doing much better at paving the way for people to get back some dignity and self-esteem through education, training, a job and somewhere to live. People with drug and alcohol problems are not outsiders, they are part of our communities.

Hopefully Liverpool council officials will ignore the protests because giving ex-offenders this kind of chance will say more about Liverpool as a City of Culture than all the art galleries and concert performances ever could.