The text is an article called “Kenneth Clarke blames English riots on a ‘broken pedal system’ in the newspaper “The Guardian”. The writers are Paul Lewis, Matthew Taylor and James Ball, and the topic is the riots in England.

I will start out giving the paragraphs headlines, to help summarize the article;
• Line 14 to line 32: Kenneth Clarke says that the riots are caused by a ‘broken penal system’ and that 75% of the young rioters have been in criminality before. It’s the feral underclass.
• Line 32 to line 34: David Cameron does not agree with Clarke and says that the riots were not about poverty.
• Line 35 to line 53: The empirical study of the causes will involve researchers interviewing hundreds of people who had something to do with the riots.
• Line 54 to line 67: A battle between Davis Cameron and Kenneth Clarke.

The article is about the riots in England. Kenneth Clarke blames a broken penal system for the riots, because people don’t get punished enough for their crime, and says that it’s mostly the people with no money, who are into crime.
David Cameron on the other hand, doesn’t blame any system or anything, he says that it’s “just” crime, nothing else.
The article ends with Clarke saying, that it’s about having a job, a strong family and a decent education. And last but not least, a positive attitude.

In the article there are quotes from the justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, and quotes from the Prime Minister, David Cameron. The quotes is used to support a claim, which shows us, the readers, that it’s not just something the journalists have come up with, but they’ve actually researched.

The language in the article is a bit of a fine language, but mostly there are just quotes of what others have said.
There are arguments in the article and not just sentences that have come from out of the blue. The arguments are supported by data