by Martin Jefferies

The Archbishop of Canterbury will use his New Year message to accuse British society of letting down young people.

In a speech to be broadcast on television this lunchtime, Dr Rowan Williams will say the country fails to provide enough good role models and "drives youngsters further into unhappiness and anxiety by only showing them suspicion and negativity".

He will reflect on the "angry, destructive and lawless" riots of the summer, during which dozens of homes, shops and businesses in London were destroyed.

Dr Williams will also talk about the importance Christianity places on young people and urge older generations to support youth facilities and activities in their local area.

"Quite a lot of the images we're likely to remember from the footage of the riots in the summer will be of young people out of control in the streets, walking off with looted property from shops, noisily confronting police and so on," he will say.

"It all feeds into the national habit of being suspicious and hostile when we see groups of youngsters on street corners or outside shops and bus shelters. We walk a bit more quickly and hope we can pass without some sort of confrontation.

"The events of the summer were certainly horrific. They showed us a face of our society we don't like to think about – angry, destructive, lawless.

"But it's crucial to remember that what we saw on the streets in August was just one facet of a bigger and much more heartbreaking problem.

"The youngsters out on the streets may have looked like a big crowd but they are a minority of their generation – the minority whose way of dealing with their frustrations was by way of random destructiveness and irritability.

"Most people of their own age strongly shared the general feeling of dismay at this behaviour."

Dr Williams will admit young people are "not infallible" but will say "being grown-up doesn't mean forgetting about the young".

"A good New Year's Resolution might be to think what you can do locally to support facilities for young people, to support opportunities for counselling and learning and enjoyment in a safe environment," he will say.

"Above all, perhaps we should just be asking how we make friends with our younger fellow citizens – for the sake of our happiness as well as theirs."