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Friday, 15 February, 2008

  • Newsnight
  • 15 Feb 08, 05:33 PM

Tonight on Newsnight, yob culture and then on Newsnight Review, culture..

avery203x152.jpgThere have been a series of high profile stories this week involving inhuman behaviour by children. was brutally attacked because he confronted a group of young drunks relieving themselves in his garden.

on Gavin Waterhouse in West Yorkshire by a 19 year old and a 17 year old. She then showed the footage to others even after it was known that Mr Waterhouse had died.

This was the response from a local criminal lawyer: 鈥淢ore than ever before young people are turning to extreme violence, in some cases for no reason other than entertainment. This case illustrates the gross callousness some teenagers are capable of."

Also this week Helen Newlove, the widow of who was beaten to death by drunk youths has called for harsh measures for those selling alcohol to minors, and the ending of the glamorising of drinking on TV.

Tonight we devote the programme to trying to make some sense of what is going on. Why does no other country in Europe seem to have the same binge drinking nihilistic culture among it teenagers?

Why are some parents not able to exert any influence or control over anti-social behaviour? Are violent attacks by teenagers really up or is it that their ferocity distorts the true story? Is it adults who have let children down?

We hope to bring together in the studio tonight a teenager, a magistrate, a teacher, the police, a parent and the Children's Commissioner who said this week that the so-called "Mosquito" measure, a high-pitched sound used to disperse children from street corners, infringes their human rights.

Comments  Post your comment

  • 1.
  • At 06:51 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • anne wotana kaye wrote:

This will not be well received, but the sad truth is that children born out of wedlock, in families where they are the result of several biological fathers and the mother is uneducated and doesn't impose discipline will generally be the perpetrators of violent crime. Society, as controlled by this government has to contend with this situation because the judiciary, judges and magistrates, selected by government, is morally and intellectually deficient, and it suits the controlling powers to allow this situation to continue. Most of the families are on benefits, and if they vote will certainly support the party which provides their income. The only thing which will change this situation is not only a new government, but more importantly the reestablishment of marriage as the status quo for raising a family, and a judiciary which consists of decent and intelligent men and women.

  • 2.
  • At 06:52 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • Jeanette Eccles NW London wrote:

One problem is we have a very low number of stripediary magistrates most are lay magistrates and they are loathsome to ever sentence offenders,the other issue is we have developed into such a nanny state, that worries more about the human rights of the perpetrators that the plight of the victims.

  • 3.
  • At 07:37 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • Jeanette Eccles NW London wrote:

One problem is we have a very low number of stripediary magistrates most are lay magistrates and they are loathsome sentence offenders,the other issue is we have developed into such a nanny state that worries more about the human rights of the perpetrators that the plight of the victims.

  • 4.
  • At 09:04 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • Paul wrote:

With regrds to alcohol this comment isn't going to go down well either but there are far too many outlets that sell alcohol and far too much shelf space of these shops and the prominent positions in them is dedicated to it. When I was a lot younger we had many smaller shops and corner shops but few of them sold any alcohol at all, when they did it was some small selection in some pokey corner or behind the counter. Off licenses had an almost magical status as somewhere that sold a large amount of alcohol full stop. I didn't live out in the countryside, in the heart of a very large city and when I grew up was the 80s. Now, every surviving small convenience shop or small/medium surviving supermarket has an entire aisle, near the tills dedicated to 拢4 wines, 8+ multipacks of cheap beer and various other things. To survive and as a loss leader these deals are positioned and priced aggressively in the shop. Because things have changed so much and have benefitted particularly cheap wine drinkers people are in denial to the other causes to changes that have occured. Can't get hold of any alcohol from a shop? Try the other ten shops nearby. You'll always have young teenagers trying to get hold of large quantities of alcohol and those that will succeed but thesedays it is ridiculously easy by the number of outlets.

The other myth is that appear under 21 policies work. People have a very good idea whether those they are serving/selling to are 17 or younger and if pressed will admit so. Many shops happily sell to these ages whilst harrassing much older (anything upto 35) people who they allege look "young" to be seen to be doing something. Some big supermarkets are notorious for having insiders selling mass under age to their mates.

DECLINING MATURITY

Our society is increasingly structured to turn the newborn into a unit of production, wealth and consumption. When it goes "well enough" you get a nominally law- abiding citizen who is fairly bad at life. When it goes wrong, you get a confused, lost, nihilist who can get no real hold on life at all. Even the "successes" who run the show are less mature by each generation; that means less wisdom. Westminster demonstrates this perfectly. The irony is, less wisdom makes it easier to reject the above. Your studio guests will have a lively ding-dong over "corrective measures" but PREVENTION is unlikely to be aired to any useful degree. Where is Camila Batmanghelidjh?

  • 6.
  • At 09:37 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • David Coussens wrote:

Congratulations to newsnight on the first programme in a very long while to tackle an issue that actually affects Britain, rather the endless speculative drone about Islam, Iran, or hype about "terror", or the especially tedious US primaries.
Come home Newsnight, Come home!

  • 7.
  • At 11:11 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • Sam Batchelor wrote:

The country spends all this time discussing the problems of yobs now adays but very few actions are made. We have to tackle the problem head on, the government is always sure that setting up youth clubs will end or reduce the problem when people who are out drinking won't go to a youth club. Not only should we be setting up these clubs but we have to focus on the yobs on the streets.

  • 8.
  • At 11:12 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • deborah odea wrote:

My beloved ,middle class son taught me a real lesson. Teachers even in GOOD schools allow such outrageous bullying; miss it, avoid it, dont recognise it that we are brewing up trouble in opur society. i HAVE BEEN AN hr DIRECTOR IN THE NHS FOR 25 YEARS EVEN THE HR DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR - my child has convinced me that one day a suicide bomber will claim the life of my grand children and it will be for the lack of involvement I have had in this problem today. His arguement makes great sense and his evidence is absolue.

DEborah

  • 9.
  • At 11:18 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • Nigel garvey wrote:

I have to say I am glad to see a group of intelligent debaters at last asking in a pulic forum, WHY? not just legislate.
This is a growing proplem and we need the public to understand why, before reacting.
This programme won't get the answer tonight, but it's a start.
Thanks

  • 10.
  • At 11:19 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • Nigel garvey wrote:

I have to say I am glad to see a group of intelligent debaters at last asking in a pulic forum, WHY? not just legislate.
This is a growing proplem and we need the public to understand why, before reacting.
This programme won't get the answer tonight, but it's a start.
Thanks

  • 11.
  • At 11:19 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • sterotyped teenager wrote:

why dont you talk to the teenagers look at the tv a bunch of adults conplaining adout teenagers if you put the money it took to make this program into local youth groups we wouldnt have a problem.most teenagers just want to be left alone.
how would you feel if EVERY time you went into a shop the shop asistant followed you around too busy looking at you to notice your one form down the road robbing the place.
teenagers just want somewhere to go to be with their friends to chat. whats wrong with that

  • 12.
  • At 11:24 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • Mike Ledwidge wrote:

The problems with dissafected youth has been caused by Government. They have treated our public services like a factory, measuring them in a way which pushes schools into getting rid of what affects their performance. They aslo, in the 1980's treated all teachers as lazy (just as they have done with doctors) requiring them to do massive amounts of paperwork everyday to 'prove' they are working. Overnight sport and music stopped in most states schools. I write papers on this stuff. I was a police officer for nearly 30 years and I am very angry about what has been done. I will talk to anyone who is willing to listen about this.

Mike.

  • 13.
  • At 11:24 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • Terri wrote:

Having watched the show I feel very strongly about the 'mosquito repellent' they keep mentioning. I am under 25, live on my own and have to do my own shopping etc... If they ever did install one of these then I wouldn't be able to go, I have ear problems as it is, let alone to have something screeching in my ear when I have to go and pay my bills. To be honest I hate going up to the shops because of the amount of youths that hang outside, but at least it doesnt leave me in pain. A few police around the area would work wonders!

  • 14.
  • At 11:29 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • Tina Naples wrote:

The Government could make a big impact on the amount of alcohol available by following the lead of other countries.For instance; make alcohol available only in a few specified licensed stores which would need ID before it could be sold; raise the legal age to 21; make drinking in the street illegal; prosecute and take away the licenses of bar ownerw and others who sell to under age people and drunks. Finally - enforce!enforce!enforce!

  • 15.
  • At 11:33 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • Fay wrote:

Why worry about infringement of rights by using high pitched sounds to remove teens from the streets. It is just as effective to play Mozart or Brahms just loudly enough for everyone to hear it. Other passers by might enjoy it and the type of teens we don't want will get themselves off to somewhere else! It has been shown that teens find it difficult to behave badly while there is calming classical music in the background. They just don't like it.

  • 16.
  • At 11:40 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • G Freeman wrote:

Living in a nice village near Manchester with good schools etc, things have changed markedly in respect of 'feral youths'. 20 years ago, a large group of us would congregate at the age of 16 - seeking and finding alcohol (not alcopops) from the one shop that would serve us. An unwritten rule was that we would clear off somewhere out of the way and trouble no-one. There was never any criminality (beyond the beer). Tonight in the same village, the group is aged 10 - 15. Drugs, violence, vandalism, intimdation were visible in plain view in a busy place at 8pm. All wear the same clothes - a uniform disguise to prevent identification. Our group grew up responsibly with good jobs. When the new group is older, I fear the trouble will really begin.

  • 17.
  • At 11:41 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • Frank Griffiths wrote:

Binge drinking

Alcohol laws vary across the United States but as examples, California and Pennsylvania make it a criminal offence to serve or provide alcohol to any person under the age of 21 years. It applies to the serving of alcohol by parents in their own home

It is the adult that is fined or goes to jail

Full details can be found on the web very easily

This is one of many examples of where there is better practice to be learnt from other countries which the British authorities and media seem to ignore.

  • 18.
  • At 11:49 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • Roy Topping wrote:

You people on the panel do not have a clue about what is happening on our streets today.Getreal the kids today [admittedly not the majority]are out of control,no proper parenting is the problem.I went to a late shop one night and on my way back to my car i saw a group of young people up a sidestreet running up to a youth and kicking his head has hard as they could.If i had been younger i would have intervened but as i am penshioner i just went safely home.On another occasion i caught three girls throwing stones through peoples windoes on my estate the police were called but came to late i let them go.yours sincerly Roy Topping

  • 19.
  • At 11:50 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • maree millard wrote:

Well done Newsnight for highlighting this now common-place problem. What ever happened to a charge of drunk and disorderly and being locked up in a police cell overnight until you sobered up? This used to be common practice and on Friday and Saturday nights was the norm in town centres across the country. If 'youngsters' are drunk in a public place they should suffer this fate - I'm certain it would be a major deterrent, and the offenders would perhaps only need this short sharp punishment once. If parents had to come and collect their off-spring from the police station, perhaps they would wise up to what their 'children' were really up to when they go out in the evenings and realise that they're not just at a mates place 'hanging out'. Also - give the teachers in school overall control in a classroom - whatever it takes. Having worked at the local comprehensive high school, I was appalled at the amount of time and money thrown at the n'ere do wells at the expense of the more usual rule abiding student. My feeling was that anyone with a file too large to pick up with one hand - well they should have been in borstal! and not disrupting some 28 students in a classroom of students who really did want to learn something.

  • 20.
  • At 11:51 PM on 15 Feb 2008,
  • steve jones wrote:

I have just wasted 30 minutes of my time listening to three bourgeois liberals and a plastic policeman twitter on about yob culture. All three, a magistrate, technocrat and teacher, form a perfect trio of the post war liberal consensus that is now impotently observing the chickens coming home to roost with snivelling hand wringing and prescriptions of various colours. The plastic policeman - just as detached as our middle class liberal trio from the reality of being terrorised by these thugs, yobs and vermin - of all races, ethnicities and religions - on housing estates and inner city streets - performed to par. Would it not be better for Newsnight to interview the people who are REALLY HAVING TO LIVE with this problem instead of types who live in pleasant leafy areas miles away from it all and spend most of their time at desks in offices. Sometimes I think Newsnight- as with our liberal quartet - lives on a different planet. Of course, all invited speakers are as 'safe' as houses so this further reinforces the consensus propagated by the liberal elite. WE need to set some examples. If you beat a man to death, then you should know that if found guilty, you will swing from the end of a rope or fry in an electric chair. If you kick a person so that it affects his/her health for the rest of his/her life, then you forfeit the right to live in society and you will be locked away until death or hard labour until death. If you are old enough to kill or damage then you are old enough to take the consequences.

  • 21.
  • At 12:02 AM on 16 Feb 2008,
  • Oscar Lynch wrote:

I felt compelled to air my opinions on this subject after watching the debate on Newsnight tonight; and despite being the 17 year old with plenty of first-hand experiences of drinking on the streets that I am, I hope at least some of you old-timers will take note and not reach for the Mosquito device.

As an early teen weekends consisted of Friday nights cleaning my boots, Saturday mornings playing junior football and Saturday nights sat in a mate's bedroom playing on the PlayStation. When the PlayStation got boring, we'd roam the streets, maybe go to Maccys and nick a load of sauce pots to throw at buses. My apologies for turning this into an autobiography, but the sheer boredom of life at that age cannot be stressed enough. And so this leads to the first, probably primary reason for binge drinking teens: nout to do. I live in a medium sized town, with absolutely nothing for kids to do at night except walk around. There was a Christian youth club, but it was literally a joke: a bit of activity in return for an hour's worth of listening to an evangelical bloke with an acoustic guitar saying about how 'cool' Jesus was. If someone, just one person, were to invest back into the community and give young people something to do it would make such a difference. In Barrow-in-Furness we have an Astroturf pitch that my friends and I frequent enough for it to be classed as a second home. But every time we go on, even when the place is completely empty, we are thrown off because 'it isn't available to us'. Things like this just lead to anger and spite.

This leads to the second reason, in my opinion, why people of this age (myself included) drink, which then leads to violence, drugs and general degeneration.

We need somebody, anybody, to come and have a chat with us. A cuppa, a sit down, a bit of engagement. It can come from anywhere: the teachers you remember are the ones who are able to have a crack, who can develop a rapport and talk about something other than their subject. Police are lambasted by my generation because, to be quite honest, they treat us like idiots. They talk like textbooks, detailing procedure. Coppers should have a laugh, and then confiscate my half litre of voddy. It'd be interesting to see how the figures of violent crime fluctuated if communities actually communicated.

  • 22.
  • At 12:06 AM on 16 Feb 2008,
  • Rosalyn Connors wrote:

Hello to Newsnight, and to yet another discussion about yobs. It's now a daily ritual thanks to all the media outlets and I now dread turning on the news in the morning to hear more tales of woe about modern life in Britain, be it binge drinkers, road rage, or someone being kicked to death for fun.

I am done with the UK and am currently making plans to leave.
I believe the country is finished, destroyed by a cancer from within.
There is nothing to be proud of in being British anymore. Those in authority refuse to accept that there's a very real problem with the way many here conduct their lives. Perhaps they are afraid of being outed rather than face the truth.

It's all very well debating the problems of yob culture, but I see it as being given momentum by the never ending durge of 'Sun reader' style television programmes that are made by those who pander to the 'modern audience' in the quest for ratings. Hey 主播大秀, why not begin right now by setting a good example? How about banning all the disgusting swear words from ever appearing in your programmes, as these no doubt influence the way people communicate with others including the young? You might argue that the programmes are there to reflect life, but could it also be that life sometimes reflects the programmes?

  • 23.
  • At 01:14 AM on 16 Feb 2008,
  • Colin Turner wrote:

Until our government is prepared to draw it's own red lines under the European Human Rights Act that caused a number of problems, this will continue to get worse with Teachers getting sacked for trying to solve a problem instead of ignoring it. Hidden CCTV would show what happened. Parents being prosecuted for disciplining their children/teenagers who reject their discipline, so parents hold back that increases tensions and/or misunderstanding about right from wrong. Worst are citizens (you and me) risking either prosecution if trying to stop threats against us or defend our home against intrusion, if we were to cause them harm, but if injured ourselves, police say we have no proof of attack. Many councils oppose any increased hidden CCTV that would show what happened and no government will intervene against a council not doing enough as Parliament has no say over council decisions ref both my Labour MP and an e-mail reply from David Cameron's office. Can Newsnight ask why parliament will not intervene against councils not doing enough and if not allowed to interfere in council business, then why do MP's harp on about an increasingly worse problem we have when they cannot take measures to solve? Thank you.

  • 24.
  • At 01:25 AM on 16 Feb 2008,
  • Jon Manning wrote:

Tony Blair is & always will be responsible for this problem.
Prior to his term in office youth service had money to spend on this problem which has always existed without funding to give them somthing to do and guidance regarding their behaviour.
I am a strong supporter of national service although I believe we should have to do a year in the NHS or care homes for the elderly. Perhaps they would not roam the streets if they had to get up the next morning and make beds and clean old people...

  • 25.
  • At 03:51 AM on 16 Feb 2008,
  • the cookie ducker wrote:

I was a teenager once (70/80s), i never went to a youth club but did hang around in gangs and did drink alcohol; though never on the street. We never felt the need to terrorise our community other than occasionally upsetting someone with kicking our football up against a gable-end wall or being a bit loud. Never once did we feel the urge to act violently or walk about imposing our presence in a menacing manner with the behavior that we see all too often in today's youth (as well as adults) .What! you may ask has created large scale bad behavior from our young citizens with a large prison population to boot in just a generation...the answer is liberalism within the schools and the criminal justice system. This failed ideology has allowed bad behaviour to go unchecked with persistent criminal acts having no consequence other than to allow the agencies that represent the criminal and the up and coming prison fodder to thrive and prosper with bad behaviour from their 'clients' a guranteed cash cow for the yooof worker, Group 4, too the army of probation officers. Maybe the Archbishop was right in his thoughts on sharia law ; i wont complain if i see a rope from a crain with a low-life having his head covered ready for hanging. I know all liberials will pull back in shock at that statement but the death penalty is a popular form of punishment that has been denied from our justice system since the 60s. The liberials killed that ultimate punishment as they said it was "too uncivilised"... how civilised are we now with happy slapping posted on youtube as the norm for entertainment or good men murdered whilst they try and protect their property from drunken feral youths. All too often the sentence of life imprisonment for murder usually means freedom in about ten years with good behaviour. We are finding ourselves with the blood in our veins at boiling point whilst we listen yet again to the Liberials who constantly remind us that they don't live in the same world the rest of us do ... thanks anyhow for not inviting Shami Chakrabart on tonights Newsnight, i think my foot would have gone through the TV screen...it would have been an understandable act of rage

  • 26.
  • At 10:51 AM on 16 Feb 2008,
  • steve wrote:

Great Newsnight with all the 'concerned' panel from the leafy suburbs...what a mess we are in. What did happen to drunk and disorderly and a night in the cells? I was in mortal fear if a policeman came to our house to tell my father about what I had been up to, today their is usually no father figure to make anyone afraid. I had the offer of fifteen jobs when I left school, today there is a tweve month course and then it's 'make your own arrangements' and we wonder why we have madness on our streets. Sad.

  • 27.
  • At 12:13 PM on 16 Feb 2008,
  • daniel moorhouse wrote:

A good start would be to ban alcohol after all its just another drug thats tarnishing society.

  • 28.
  • At 04:15 PM on 16 Feb 2008,
  • Paul wrote:

As the programme did mention it I would like to point out a fallacy about the deployment of the mosquito. When I lived in York and the issue flared up it got people talking and it turned out that many people (not just me) over 25 could hear mosquitos. There were even examples of people substantially over 25 who could hear them. So please, stop saying that people over 25 can't hear them. It's more like anyone with sensitive ears over 25 can hear them clearly, this making a sizeable minority and it tapers off with age.

  • 29.
  • At 04:20 PM on 16 Feb 2008,
  • ted shepherd wrote:

I am a retired social Housing worker of 37 years experience. Lets stop fighting the flames of this problem and get down to the seat of the fire. The seat of the fire started nearly 40 years ago. Before 1969 you ahd to be married to be on the Housing Waiting list. This was all swept away by the Wilson Government. Single parent mothers could come on the waitign list and these grew into teh Babies for Bricks brigade. All a young girl had to do to get a flat was get laid one night. Often because of her young age she could not cope with her child. The child became a nuisance to surrounding people. As a Housing Worker I had to tell her to keep her child under control. Often I was told my child does what it......... likes and waht's it ........ got to do with you. The child recieves no discipline and grows into a feral child. Surprise,surprise. These young adults don't care about anybodies property or indeed life. Afterall all they need to care about is themselves. Until marriage is put back in its proper place and we stop giving young girls everything for nothing then the situation will get worse.

  • 30.
  • At 05:09 PM on 16 Feb 2008,
  • Mark wrote:

In the United States, the days of mollycoddling criminal youths are to some extent over. Many teenagers are prosecuted for serious crimes as adults. They are old enough to know what is right and wrong and what the punishments for breaking the law could be. I have always felt that schools should take their classes on field trips to prisons to show them what prison life is about. The liberal philosophy of treating young felons by excusing them and merely putting them is something more structured and restricted than living at home and going to school with non criminals every day is about over. They can wind up in prison, even executed at least in theory.

It is the function of the government to assure "domestic tranquility" by providing and enforcing a code of criminal justice. That is what guarantees my inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is not the job of the police department or the courts to sort out what psychological or sociological problems turned a child into a criminal. Ultimately that is the problem for politicians, sociologists, psychologists, parents, teachers, and legislators. They cannot abrogate my right to walk down the public streets, into normal shopping malls, public buildings and other public places with reasonable assurance that I will be safe from violent crime because child assailants including murderers are considered too young to be incarcerated in prison. It may seem cruel but the tyranny of street crime victimizes all of society and is far worse. The debate will surely rage on but in the US, lately the liberals who dominated this issue in past decades are fighting a rearguard action against punishment for the guilty no matter what their age.

  • 31.
  • At 07:21 AM on 17 Feb 2008,
  • June Gibson wrote:

Has anyone asked where all this money comes from? Even if the booze is cheap, it's bought nightly all week. There's the latest mobile phones which are seemingly in constant use, the latest clothes and trainers.... One would think that with all that spare dosh they could buy themselves something to do away from everyone else.
A curfew is the only answer. It would give everyone else a break and support the single mothers who are unable to stand up to the teen bullies. The younger children would never get into the drinking culture to emulate the older ones. If anyone of secondary school age was found outside say, after dark, then the police could arrest them. A parent having to pay a fine to release their child might have the desired effect. It might take a couple of years but the problem would certainly have tailed off by then.

  • 32.
  • At 10:30 AM on 17 Feb 2008,
  • Jamie wrote:

Oscar Lynch has got it spot on. There are just far too many people out there who are refusing to even bother relating to young people these days. The thing about having nothing to do isn't merely an excuse: one thing you forget once you've been working for a while is just how much spare time you have a week. You've got a good 5 or 6 hours every day during the week, then a whole weekend to fill.

Now, if you're 12-17, you have no money. You can't afford to hire out basketball courts, or football pitches etc. You can't really afford gym membership tbh. Seriously, what on earth do you do? You just hang out and lark about.

Everyone needs to understand that seeing kids out on the streets is actually _good_. It means they're developing socially. Now I agree that something is going very wrong if they're drinking, but I wonder how common this must be. I don't believe for a second all these people who think they're 'streetsmart' and talk about the 'reality' of a nation of feral children. I respond to evidence. The evidence is worrying, and something needs to be done. Above all, we need to send a clear message that under-age drinking is seriously stupid, and will not be tolerated.

  • 33.
  • At 12:19 PM on 17 Feb 2008,
  • Private wrote:

We are still being victimised 6 years later by the same youths that live down our street. There is NO alcohol involved and the parents are more than aware of their childrens behaviour, but ignore it or even laugh at it. The police ignored many incidents of anti-social behaviour down the street years ago, even when they were called due to youth running up the street in broad daylight with guns the police said "it was just kids larking about" and now these same youth are older and the group now escalated to 15-20 youth or more cause anti-social behaviour , criminal damage and doing the same to elderly neighbours and others who say the police do nothing and ignore their phone calls and these residents are now to scared to speak out as they have seen what has happened to us for speaking out. The police and councils anti-social team have done nothing in this time to resolve the issue despite the police and anti-social team being given CCTV footage of the continous problems.The police and council have basicallly said it is our problem and if we don't like it move. The more the police and anti-social team are involved the more problems we have, because we spoke out we are targeted. The youth are more than aware of the camera's and even mooney and play up to the camera's or cover their faces and come right up to our front door and bang on the glass etc. We live in prison type conditions and have lost 6 years of our lives, which we can never get back and our health and family has suffered tremedously and it is not a case of just up and moving, if it was that simple we would of done, we have lived down this street over 14 years, why should we be pushed out by mindless yobs ! Sadly most of the decent neighbours have given up and been forced to move. If these youth and their parents had 6 years of their lives destroyed and imprisioned would they realise the consequences? When I was a youth, we had little money and made our own entertainment, but we had respect and discipline installed on us. Maybe the youth of today have life to easy financially and this contributes to them having no discipline or respect for others. One thing is for sure though is they do not seem to know when to stop and keep on pushing and pushing. We have been pushed beyond breaking point and have been made so isolated by the authorities especially the police and the councils anti-social team. It is time to make the parent face up to parenthood, they made the decision to have children so why are we suffering for their decision? They should be responsible for istalling dicipline and they should have the right to punish their children after all it did my generation no harm and we grew up with respect and discipline.
Our suffering continues in silence !

  • 34.
  • At 04:37 PM on 17 Feb 2008,
  • private wrote:

It is time we faced the truth that children as young as 5 are causing anti-social behaviour which proves it is NOT just drink related. Trust me I have 6 years of first hand experience and cctv footage and YOU CANNOT TALK TO THEM I'VE TRIED AND JUST GOT ABUSE AND THREATS SO LETS TAKE THAT OF THE LIST OF EXCUSES. I'm sick of hearing "but their only children" NO they are little yobs and will continue that way unless we admit the laws needs to be changed and enforced by parents and the police ensuring any child no matter what age is made responsible for their actions and learns respect and discipline after all it is more than clear they DO KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE DOING, I have CCTV evidence of children as young as 5 saying exactly what they plan to do and then come back minutes later and commit criminal damage and anti-social behaviour. The older youth you can hear on cctv daring their friends so peer group pressure is immense. There are decent children around, I am not saying there isn't, but they too are bullied and targeted if they do not join in and then they suffer in silence. For 6 years we have regually had very young children and also youth caring out criminal damage and anti-social behaviour while a large group watch them just yards away. Most people just turn a blind eye or won't face the truth. Why do residents deserve to suffer, we will never know,the youth seem so incredibly bitter and blame us for their existance. We give them no reason to target us and nor do the elderly neighbours and other neighbours. The thing that scares us the most is they keep going day, night and weekends with no let up, they just don't stop and no one is willing to stop them.

Residents daily lives are made impossible, i.e coming and going from their house, dog walking, driving down the road, your whole life is lived in dread and fear and exhaustion from just trying to cope.But is it the same for the parents of these youth or the youth causing anti-social behaviour NO, where is the justice in that. The decent citizens are NOT PROTECTED BY THE LAW !

IT'S TIME TO STOP TALKING AND MAKING EXCUSES AND DO SOMETHING !

  • 35.
  • At 02:06 PM on 18 Feb 2008,
  • Heather Martin wrote:

I'm late (as ever) to comment but just a couple of points.

On Saturday we went to a local concert organised by three local teenagers. They will be going to Africa in the summer to spend time helping at an orphanage, so they had to raise all the money for air fares etc. Most of the acts on Saturday were teenagers, the sound engineers were teenagers, the ticket staff were teenagers and the a large proportion of the audience were also teenagers. This is in a rural community which doesn't have a lot of local entertainment for them go to (unlike a large town or city). So please don't demonise a whole generation!
In another rural estate, two youth groups have been set up. Again organised and rules set down by the youngsters themselves but it does require adult supervision to meet the terms of the village hall's terms of service. The problem has been to get any adult males to volunteer to help with the older group. This is not an area with a high proportion of single families and sells houses in the range of half a million pounds! So if the Governement are suggesting youth clubs as an answer to all youth problems where are the supervisors going to come from if even the affluent (middle class) parent is unwilling to help?

  • 36.
  • At 04:17 PM on 18 Feb 2008,
  • Stephanie wrote:

To the poster who said, "The problem has been to get any adult males to volunteer to help" -- sadly, across all classes and walks of life, men are reluctant to volunteer or enter professions working with children and youth. The problem of the 'absence of the male' (be he teacher or mentor or father) is getting worse. In the professions and volunteer sector a lot of the reluctance has to do with being labeled a pervert of some variety. Men who work with children are nowadays looked on first with suspicion and then forced to prove their good intensions or else always work under a cloud. So they shy away in increasing numbers -- and the children suffer for it. Sad, but true.

  • 37.
  • At 06:11 AM on 19 Feb 2008,
  • wrote:

This is now high time our law makers should now go back to the drawing board and see whats wrong with their laws. tese youths we are saying they are young but they are realy are problems in the society . if they can do that now ,what can stop them from doing that even when they are old. 90% chances are that they can kill again. sent them to jail for life. Drinking bear at their age means they knew what they were doing,so by killing they knew what they were doing. So stop them before they kill again.

  • 38.
  • At 02:37 AM on 20 Feb 2008,
  • Colin Turner wrote:

May I just add to my earlier comment on 16 February 2008, that proper issue and use of hidden CCTV is not the only answer by parliament intervening more with councils to produce a more effective system to catch those causing misery. Forget prison, community sentences or fines for punishment but instead for nuisance motor bike riders, remove their bikes just as DVLA can for unlicensed bikes and suspend any licence to drive for 1 to 2 years - doubled if caught whilst suspended. For loud music remove the equipment if warnings are ignored and if continued at worse with new equipment, evict the people putting them back one to two years on the housing waiting list. It won't seem so much fun anymore. Another solution although more difficult to arrange is to have what we used to call Cluster Units (that were then (late 70's) smaller accommodation units available quicker)but make these into Anti Social estates for all residents unable to behave responsibly and locate well away from responsible people. They could play loud music and ride nuisance motor bikes or whatever as anyone living there who wanted some peace and quiet of their own would not be able to have this, being compounded in this area and so would find out the hard way what it's like when they cause misery. It sounds daft, but I believe is cheaper and more effective then prison or other court punishment that is just laughed at. Surely the public deserve a televised national debate with both politicians and council workers together to let the Westminster Village know that liberalism with this problem has gone way too far and is too late when someone gets killed - for that person?

  • 39.
  • At 11:58 AM on 23 Feb 2008,
  • Dayroom Stormtrooper wrote:

This country has "lost it" when it comes to dealing with children.
Society has given over control and direction of our youth to the young themselves. This has meant that the bully element with the young has run wild, probably giddy with the power they hold. With no boundaries and no adult intervention the bullies have fought amongst themselves to claim the "top dog" position. This has lead to increasing extremes of violence.
Our youth are not all thugs but our SOCIETY has stepped back from control and guidance and allowed the thugs to terrorise the majority of our children.
How grateful our young must be for the freedoms and self control society has bestowed on them which has lead to a rule of the loudest, strongest, most violent over them?

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