Conservative leader David Cameron may be known for his love of doom-rock band Radio Head, but this may not single him out as that unusual after all. While we tend to think of youth-orientated music and fashion as hedonistic, materialistic, and modern, it can be conservative, it seems, even at its most outrageous. Some ten years or so ago, one study of British fashion compared the Goth youth culture to Thatcher, noting that, very surprisingly, they espoused the same beliefs, e.g., independence of thought. A more recent study by Sussex University has shown that young Goths will most likely one day end up in such professions as medicine or law.

Strangely, although Britain’s image across the globe was once as much punk, skinhead, and Goth as it was red telephone boxes and the Queen, the so-called “liberal” media has long portrayed those who wear such “alternative” fashions as criminals and dropouts. Fashions and clothing represent ideas or portray values, this is certain. The traditional suit is literally tailored to the ‘upright’ male figure, arms to the sides, chest out, stomach in. The man who wore it was supposed to be ‘upright’ himself – morally speaking. Today we call it the ‘business suit’ and the wearer need only do business of some kind. Morals are optional. Like the rest of our cultural, visual vocabulary, the suit has lost its traditional, ethical, spiritual meaning.

What happens when a society loses its traditional, cultural vocabulary? When its religion crumbles alternative religions appear. When the traditional vocabulary of dress disappears fashions take its place. Alternative religions and alternative fashions are usually much less subtle than their traditional counterparts, and they can sometimes seem a little shocking, but they often mean to express the same values. It is as if they are attempting to force their way back into tradition by their exaggeration, staking their claim to some religious idea or moral code that is now out of vogue. A decade ago Celtic and ‘tribal’ tattoos were all the rage for those who wanted to show that they sympathized with non-materialistic, and supposedly more ethical, fairer societies.

Like many conservatives, youths attracted to alternative dress often locate their vision of the perfect society in some past culture, and this is hardly surprising. Modern, materialistic society, which has trampled tradition and continues to trample it, offers nothing to the young, who are, if nothing else, idealistic. In a modern society that gives the young absolutely no moral, ethical, spiritual, religious, or philosophical guidance they are left to find their own way, and that way is likely to be through fashion and music. Still, in every film or television drama the skinhead is a neo-Nazi thug speaking in grunts; the punk a drug addict (or a prostitute if female), the Goth a suicidal weirdo. Not surprisingly, this has become the public’s image. In January a bus driver in North Yorkshire refused to allow a young Goth couple to board the bus, because, to use his expression, “we don’t let freaks and dogs like you on.”

According to the Sussex University report, however, Goths “are refined and sensitive, keen on poetry and books, not big on drugs or anti-social behaviour.” Their curiosity about art, symbols, and things medieval, means that they are also one group in Britain that still finds the imagery, if not the ideas, of Christianity intriguing and appealing. In Cambridge, Reverend Marcus Ramshaw even holds Church services especially for them, and in 2006 he held a service at a popular music festival at the town of Whitby. This in itself would make Goths utterly alternative to the vast majority of British youths, who seem to be descending further and further into a life of despair, acted out in drunkenness and violence.

Nevertheless, if you haven’t read any British newspapers recently, you might be wondering why I’m obsessing about alternative fashion. A few days ago five youths pleaded guilty to the charge of grievous bodily harm with intent, with one also pleading guilty to the murder of Sophie Lancaster (20). The youths, who cannot be named (but who are all between 15 and 17 years of age), spotted Sophie and her boyfriend, Robert Maltby (21) as they walked home through a local park. As both were Goths, they were no doubt easy to spot – and, indeed, the youths have admitted that the couple’s clothing was the sole reason they attacked them.

The youths approached Sophie and Robert and struck up a conversation. Then, without warning, one of them struck Robert with a flying-kick to the head. The others now joined in, egging each other on and laughing as they inflicted further suffering. The five boys kicked and punched Robert’s head until he lost consciousness. Sophie cradled him and pleaded with them to stop, but instead they turned on her, kicking, punching, and stamping on her head. The assault was so ferocious and relentless that Robert’s skull was cracked open, shoeprints were stamped into Sophie’s body, and her face so badly damaged that paramedics were unable tell if she were male or female. A girl who called the emergency services told them, in panic, that blood was coming out of their eyes and noses.

Photographs of Sophie and Robert that have appeared in the press in recent days reveal the kind of people that Sussex University describes Goths to be. Their pierced lips and dyed hair seem to indicate a youthful creativity and a liking for such things as poetry and art. Notably, Robert is an art student, and Sophie was a gap-year student, about to go on to study English. They look sensitive and sweet, and perfectly harmless. A picture of Robert holding a teddy bear at Sophie’s funeral betrays a young man that eschews violence.

Every day another senseless murder seems to appear in the pages of the British tabloids, though the ferocity and unprovoked nature of the attack on Sophie Lancaster and Robert Maltby single this out as especially heinous. In August of 2007 David Cameron began his speech, calling for more police on the streets and less tolerance for criminal behavior, by invoking the name of Sophie Lancaster:

Sophie Lancaster was walking in a park when she was attacked and beaten to death.
Andrew Holland was outside a chip shop when he was stabbed and killed.
And Rhys Jones was walking back from playing football when he was shot in a car park.
Everyone in our country is rightly asking: how have we let it come to this?
These brutal and tragic murders of the past couple of weeks must serve as a line in the sand: the point at which British politics and society declare that enough is enough.

Since her death, Sophie’s family and friends have set up a memorial fund called Stamp Out Prejudice Hatred and Intolerance Everywhere (S.O.P.H.I.E.), which they hope will provide a lasting memorial to her, and will, moreover, help to make Britain a less violent place to live. Lets hope so; we need more creativity and intelligence, not more violence.