this city is getting worse

i was walking my dog along the canal towpath yesterday, when i got to about a hundred yards away from where it passes under a road bridge. i could see some people under the bridge, and could hear some shouting. sometimes, a few of the local youngsters hang around there with their buckfast, so it's not an uncommon sight. but something caught my eye. a something that looked like someone being thrown into the canal, but from that distance, and without my specs, it was impossible to tell.

where i seen this from, was where some student flats face onto the canal, and there was a car sitting with a woman driver. the car had sounded its horn shortly before this, and i thought it might be a taxi for one of the students. i asked the woman if she was taxiing, but she said no. i told her i thought that the two people now moving towards us had just thrown someone in the water. she kind of sn****red and said dont be daft, those are my boys. i asked if they were dumping rubbish, but she replied that they'd been fishing.

i felt sort of foolish, and reminded myself to wear my specs more often. still, i was curious as to what they'd thrown in, so i walked towards the bridge. as i passed the two boys, i seen that they were indeed carrying fishing gear. and when i reached the waters edge, i also seen that they had indeed thrown someone into the water. the pair of dirty bastards had thrown some drunk guy in, who was by this time not doing a very convincing job of trying to hold on to the side. i shouted at the woman that her angels had thrown someone in. by the time i had hauled the guy out, the car was already moving.

i dont doubt that the drunk was being an arsehole, and gave the boys some cause to assault him, maybe even defend themselves. but throwing him in the water then walking away knowing there's a good chance he wont get out ffs. it's s**t like that, that gives us good anglers a bad name.

LOL, love the end to the story :biggrin:

Seriously though, thats pretty lame of them, Scotland's youth really are little s**theads these days.

ReNo said:
LOL, love the end to the story :biggrin:

Seriously though, thats pretty lame of them, Scotland's youth really are little s**theads these days.

Everybodys youth in this country i'm afraid... Health, Education, Iraq, The Economy are the issues for the political parties to take on - nobody gives Law and Order a second glance nowadays :/

We had some vigilante action the other day on the local council estate, when 7 or 8 local young lads/youths took it upon themselves to go and beat (with bats, nonetheless) a local supposed wife beater up to within an inch of his life :sad: Not defending him, but their actions arent out of character for them, dirty social underclass types :sad:

Also not exactly what you expect in a countryside village of about 2000 population, with local nuisances, but not serious crimes.

This country is perpetuating it's own decline, yobs rule the streets in far too many places now.. :sad:

People in general are getting more violent just for the sake of it in my opinion. As you know, i've recently moved to Lincoln (and was hoping that the thuggish culture of my home town was left far behind). I had some friends come up to visit one weekend and we were having a wander round the town centre only to be confronted by a group of lads. They were picking on me in particular calling me a freak and such like. I consider myself to be fairly normal in appearance compared to a lot of people from a punk/rock kind of background...i.e no piercings, tattoos, extreme haircuts, bonus facial hair and the like :wink: Especially when my mate Joe (CK2K2) was stood right next to me with his dyed black long hair, collarbone skimming goatee and suitable attire!

Bunch of bastards! Luckily we managed to carry on walking through their 'wall' and ignore them as best we could.

To be honest though, I think I have a 'come hit me' face! I've had (and still) got a dislocated collarbone from 2 years ago, just cos I refused to drink some c**ktail a guy was trying to force down me. I didn't know him and I sure as hell didn't know what was in the drink...so I said no. Got the crap beaten out of me as a reward!

It's the Margaret-Thatcher-generation causing it imho, and there is a problem (not just us bitching about things like every other generation has), my friends mum is a teacher and is quitting after 30~ years because kids are just too rude and their parents are s**t heads these days :/

kids have been getting into trouble since time began.. prolly you all are only now getting to an age to where its noticed.

when i was 18-ish, i never gave it much thought.. now all i think about is, my wife is at home , mostly by herself, when i am on the road :/

priorities change as you experience more.. most of you kids who are hardcore government bashers now, prolly won't give a rats ass in 5 years or so.. children,debt, and inflation.. those are much closer to home issues.

ok..... that is why townies should be deprted to third world contries, or abandoned islands....

lets talk about what my friend tony had yesturday..... one of his employees/my friend cat went over the road for 5 minutes to get some food, when she came back she saw a guy in the back of the cybercafe attempting to break the door.

2. he was walking along a road near his cybercafe and turned round to see a guy, only in a shirt wan*ing,right in front of his window.

3. as my friend was walking near the shopping centre, he saw a guy just standing in a phone box taking a piss, with out the slightest descreation.

This my friends, is why i hate brighton...

sounds kinda minor sloth, unless i missed something.. cities have far worse crime issues than whizzing on the street.. that sucker coulda been after you to do you.. anymore, crooks don't seem to mind if its the opposite sex they wanna rape :/

still as i said.. its been going on for a very long time :sad:

Hmmm... Life in my house if going to get very interesting when my mom passes the bar.

That is, assuming that Baltimore is really as tough as my mom says. We don't live in a city, but the people in my neighborhood still aren't the best people around. Consisting of:

1. A old mean lady, and when she noticed that her window was chipped, and saw rocks by it, she immeadiately assumeed that it was my freinds and I... She threatened to call the cops (and it WASN't us...) From her rotundieness, and grey hair, she earned the nick name from me "dog lady". :biggrin:

2. A short scrawny kid who looks like he doesn't eat enough meat. Been in a pain the arse to me ever since I was.... hmm.... 4 or 5 I supposed... And his extrordinarily rowdy freinds.

Yippie Ki Yay!

G.B, if your neighbourhood consists of no more than one scrawney kid and one mean old lady, then you're in for a bit of a culture shock when you move to Baltimore. i dont know exactly where Baltimore is. i dont even know roughly where it is, or come to that, anything about it. but i do know that greeting any of your new neighbours with a shout of "Yippie Ki Yay!" will most probably result in you spending most of your first few summers there in plaster.

or at very best, they may adopt you as a local 'ned flanders'.

be very careful.

:rolleyes:

fishy said:
G.B, if your neighbourhood consists of no more than one scrawney kid and one mean old lady, then you're in for a bit of a culture shock when you move to Baltimore. i dont know exactly where Baltimore is. i dont even know roughly where it is, or come to that, anything about it. but i do know that greeting any of your new neighbours with a shout of "Yippie Ki Yay!" will most probably result in you spending most of your first few summers there in plaster.

or at very best, they may adopt you as a local 'ned flanders'.

be very careful.

:rolleyes:

We're not moving to Baltimore :biggrin: My mom will work there, that's all. If you drive, it's about 30 - 45 minutes. Not a big drive really.

And I don't greet my neighbors with Yippie Ki Yay!... mutter mutter

Yippie Ki Yay!

Orpheus said:
kids have been getting into trouble since time began.. prolly you all are only now getting to an age to where its noticed.

when i was 18-ish, i never gave it much thought.. now all i think about is, my wife is at home , mostly by herself, when i am on the road :/

priorities change as you experience more.. most of you kids who are hardcore government bashers now, prolly won't give a rats ass in 5 years or so.. children,debt, and inflation.. those are much closer to home issues.

Naaaah Orph, this isnt "kids getting into trouble" at all. This is kids being raised badly, then drinking in large amounts, then starting fires, assaulting members of the public (with ferocity, and for no reason) - the UK is developing a massive social disorder problem..

Strange how it has a direct correlation with the decline of morals/decency, the upsurge in television and the watering down of culture, the standardisation of education and creativity being crushed, and parenting skills becoming almost non existent.

It is foolish and blinkered to blame, or lay the reasons for this youth downturn on one thing, because it isn't just down to one thing.

Leprous: amen to that, my parents are both teachers and increasingly come home disillusioned despite a joint service in the career of around 60 years :sad: Parents don't know how to parent, they arent prepared to discipline. The kid is the schools responsibility (OF COURSE?!!) and all behaviour problems stem from there.

Not because their attitude to discipline is ramming a happy meal down a kids throat to shut it up, of course.

An apathetic society which perpetuates it's own decline with excessive greed, and selfishness - and all too often scapegoats are made when people don't want to blame themselves. Sadly, nothing will change, because as long as people have money in their pockets, cars on the drive and IKEA in the living room, the issues of the world are a million miles away from their middle class utopia.

Rant over, this country sucks.

I don't think it's the problem of society going the way of the Dodo or
whatever, there's still plenty of good parents out there. The problem
is how Townies (or scallies as they're called round here) breed like
rabbits. Case study, a family which lives about 200 yards from me;

8 members of the family, 1 dad, 1 mum, 5 brothers, 1 sister.

The Dad is in jail for drug dealing.

The mother is leeching off social benefits. She doesn't work, yet they
can afford a car and the newest mobile phones for all their kids
(although this might be due to theivery or whatever) and she can afford
to be a chain smoker.

The 3 eldest brothers are in prison for various offences.

The 4th brother is a particular s**t, and is about a year older than
me. I've had a scrap with him before for no reason whatsoever. Again he
doesn't work, just sits around all day smoking.

The youngest brother is 2 years younger than me, and has already been
expelled from one high school for burning down the sports hall. He's a
royal little s**t. Bad-mouthed, loud, thinks he owns the place, throws
his weight around. The fact that only dogs can hear his voice is
hilarious...

The sister is about 13/14 and she's pregnant.

That says it all really.

I'm sick of scallies and the sooner they're taken care of the better.
I've had a major scrap with a bunch of them about 2 years back. For no
reason whatsoever, a bunch of them started crowding round me, and
before long it descended into a full out scrap. I'm glad that my mate
who's about 5 times the size of any of them was around at the time. I'm
pretty sure if he hadn't been there I wouldn't be typing this right
now. He was literally pulling the scallies off me and throwing them 5/6
feet. I managed to get out of the fight with my eyesight ruined. I used
to be able to read car numberplates at about 150m away, now I struggle
to read them at 50m. Naturally I called the police, and they took the
scallies who did it in. The scallies then got about 300 of their
friends to testify that WE started the fight. The scallies got off
without even anything on their record.

We're not all drunken idiots. Sloth might find this humerous:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=townie&f=1

Sadly I've never been threatened by morons on the street. I guess I blend in too much with all the wiggers and hicks?

Yak_Fighter said:
Sadly I've never been threatened by morons on the street. I guess I blend in too much with all the wiggers and hicks?

:eek:

Yak_Fighter said:
Sadly I've never been threatened by morons on the street.

uhh, care to rephrase this yak? in its present context, it sounds like you want to be accosted

KingNic said:
I don't think it's the problem of society going the way of the Dodo or whatever, there's still plenty of good parents out there. The problem is how Townies (or scallies as they're called round here) breed like rabbits. Case study, a family which lives about 200 yards from me;

8 members of the family, 1 dad, 1 mum, 5 brothers, 1 sister.

The Dad is in jail for drug dealing.
The mother is leeching off social benefits. She doesn't work, yet they can afford a car and the newest mobile phones for all their kids (although this might be due to theivery or whatever) and she can afford to be a chain smoker.
The 3 eldest brothers are in prison for various offences.
The 4th brother is a particular s**t, and is about a year older than me. I've had a scrap with him before for no reason whatsoever. Again he doesn't work, just sits around all day smoking.
The youngest brother is 2 years younger than me, and has already been expelled from one high school for burning down the sports hall. He's a royal little s**t. Bad-mouthed, loud, thinks he owns the place, throws his weight around. The fact that only dogs can hear his voice is hilarious...
The sister is about 13/14 and she's pregnant.

That says it all really.

I'm sick of scallies and the sooner they're taken care of the better. I've had a major scrap with a bunch of them about 2 years back. For no reason whatsoever, a bunch of them started crowding round me, and before long it descended into a full out scrap. I'm glad that my mate who's about 5 times the size of any of them was around at the time. I'm pretty sure if he hadn't been there I wouldn't be typing this right now. He was literally pulling the scallies off me and throwing them 5/6 feet. I managed to get out of the fight with my eyesight ruined. I used to be able to read car numberplates at about 150m away, now I struggle to read them at 50m. Naturally I called the police, and they took the scallies who did it in. The scallies then got about 300 of their friends to testify that WE started the fight. The scallies got off without even anything on their record.

Scallies are a result of societies decline, just a product of moral decline. This issue has so many contributing factors it is like I say, blinkered and foolish to lay the blame at the gate of one social group or problem.

Also KingNic, the eyesight thing - I was attacked by 5 scally/social underclass types and now have permanent, albeit partial blindness in my right hand eye. The worst thing is, my ability to drive full stop is in danger, the vision loss is going to get worse and I am now half metal on my skull and have a permanently clicking jaw. Huzzah!

So, you can see it would be very easy for me to blame them just like you, but like I say.. it is not wise to just use them as the scapegoat.

It's more like I want a free hand to beat the s**t out of someone. Plus if I were to lose, it would teach me a lesson to watch out in the future and avoid conflict. See, I'm not scared of fighting if it comes to that, which will probably be my downfall when I get into an argument with someone who has a gun or something. The last time I was in a bad situation between people I stood up to 8 guys who wanted to attack a friend of mine for some stupid revenge or something. There was an altercation between three people I knew and some jackass in my dorm hallway, and he brought people up afterwards to get back at the three. My other friends were sorta cowering sitting on the floor and there I was standing between them and the target telling a large angry group to shut the f**k up and let me talk. Not the smartest of things, but there was no fight :biggrin: .

Violence is never an option for me tbh. Plus, these are unprovoked attacks usually with an element of surprise and larger numbers.. not fights :sad:

Fights are fine, if youre stupid enough to start or get involved one in on your own back then you deserve to get the crap kicked out of you. But getting beaten up without any reason when all you try and do in life is be good to people, sucks. Big time.

Gwil said:
But getting beaten up without any reason when all you try and do in life is be good to people, sucks. Big time.

True, which is why humanity sucks :/

Orpheus said:
sounds kinda minor sloth, unless i missed something.. cities have far worse crime issues than whizzing on the street..

I was sorta refering to more of a "how sick people are getting" when they can't even keep there thing in thier pants in front of thier window, and hey, i might even need to use that phone sometime :rolleyes:

Gwil said:
Violence is never an option for me tbh. Plus, these are unprovoked attacks usually with an element of surprise and larger numbers.. not fights :sad:

Fights are fine, if youre stupid enough to start or get involved one in on your own back then you deserve to get the crap kicked out of you. But getting beaten up without any reason when all you try and do in life is be good to people, sucks. Big time.

Pretty much, there are roving gangs of f**ktards about. I've been victim of it once or twice, there's no "avoiding it". I wish there were, but sometimes you have to go outside. There is a serious problem, maybe not with the frequency of stuff happening, but the increasing severity. I can deal with a mono et mono fight with a good reason, but ganging up on someone for any reason is horses**t and shouldn't be. There are hardly any people with respect or honour for their fellow man lately. I got randomly attacked while walking home by some guys in a car with a screwdriver, they hit me over the back of the head, said some bulls**t wigger garbage, jumped back in and drove off. Of course the police weren't of any help, even in a seperate case where we IDed 9 guys who held a knife to a friend's throat in front of me. They've gotten off pretty much scot free. Being a guy who's come from playing hockey for over a decade and honouring the classic fight what these kids do pisses me off to no avail.

So what can be done about them? The entire UK is fuming about the state of scallies, and the government is burying their heads in the sand and not listening. The problem is escalating, and the media is only just starting to pick up on it. The government can't continue to ignore it forever, if this happens for another 10-20 years we are literally going to be overrun by them.

Seems rather surprising to me that this sort of stuff happens over in the UK. In the US it has been my experience that people on the street rarely act violently to "start a fight", but more for the purpose of robbing you. I mean, I could walk around Seattle all night past the homeless and bad neighborhoods etc and not worry about getting physically assaulted. Of course Seattle is a pretty tame city when it comes to violent crime, but the idea that random people would walk up and start fighting you for just for the sake of a fight seems rather bizzaire, and it sounds like a lot of you in the UK have had that sort of experience.

People usually don't really start fights here unless they're drunk and angry little turds, along with the usual worldwide-reasons (e.g. gangs, mugging etc.). Drinking is more a part of our culture I think, which oft leads to much mayhem.

In Manchester, the scallie problem is almost epidemic in some areas, where people will taunt and attack you because you wear black clothes or don't have a short haircut. It's not as bad in the city centre, but in a few suburban areas, it can get pretty scary just walking around. You never walk alone in those areas, or if you can, you take a taxi or get a lift. Public transport is just as bad really. I'm just glad I don't live in one of those areas (and even then some streets are almost deemed No Man's Land), but I know a lot of people who do, and they are usually reluctant to walk around alone. It's just something you learn to live with really.

KP, its just as bad in brighton, about a week ago, me and 3 of my friends were outside my friends house, just before going to judo, and we were playing with his nunchuks, then 3 drunk towines came over and thye wanted to use them,we let them, and they nearly attacked us, but they were to drunk to,then, on thw way back from judo, 2 others came up to me and friends and they knew one of them because he goes to thier school, so they were 'walking' with us and then they started getting really annoying, i accidently trod on one of thier shoes on the back, and then he got really pissed of, but the funny thing is, he is 3 years younger than me, yet he was acting like he thinks he could beat me up, the problem really is, they are stupid.

You recognised them as drunk townies, and you let them use your nunchuks?!

Denying them the pleasure would just have caused trouble, normally its
best to just let them have their little bit of fun and bugger off. Of
course, there is the chance they will try and do a runner with whatever
they were having a shot of.

How about use your 1337 jud0 skillz to go medievil on their ass? Ya'know, a bit of vigalante-ism, the crime: 'being a townie' :wink:

But this is nunchuks for god's sake. You don't just give anyone nunchuks, especially drunken townies you've never met. And if things get ugly, you have nunchuks. :smile:

Leeds is pretty bad. You can't walk 20 metres through the town centre without walking past a Scallie. Admittedly they generally don't do anything in the town centre, but they're still there sat on the street corner drinking and smoking.

Seacroft is dreadful. That's one of those places everybody avoids, and if you MUST go through seacroft you only go in groups of 5+. Carrying some sort of self defence weapon is essential. Personally I prefer my 0.5 joule SOCOM BB gun :smile: .

Gipton is even worse from what I hear...

jonesboro itself is way to small to have this problem at 55,515 people its barely a burg :heee:

but seriously, most southern cities would never tolerate this issue, most would prolly go vigilante and the issue would be short lived at most.. little rock had a gang issue in recent times.. the problem might have been solved cause i have heard nothing about it in the last couple years.. little rock is slightly bigger so that might have accounted for it even making the news that short time.

my solution would never receive favor, cause i have no patience for kids looking for trouble.. around here they would find much more than they could digest i promise :biggrin:

i feel for you UK bunch.. i bet you could have solved this issue, long before it got this out of hand..

<DIV>Round Melbourne, Australia, it's pretty safe. There aren't all that many areas where you need, as KingNic said, a group of 5+ - only the seedier parts of Broadmeadows. Actually, you could probably survive anywhere fairly safely in a pair. However, due to new laws passed, if you use a weapon in public in self-defence it's counted as a premeditated attack, so it's a bad idea to pull a knife on a guy. Even the worst places are usually only dangerous to people who pick or become involved in fights (being in gangs is particularly dangerous - we recently had 11 people killed near one nightclub).</DIV>
<DIV>.</DIV>
<DIV>My views on this might be a little skewed, though, as I come from the eastern suburbs - all good and clean, if you ignore Springvale, which serves its purpose anyway as a handy supply of fireworks (everything good and "dangerous" is banned here). One of my friends became fed-up with his school on our side of town, and briefly tried out Preshil - massive culture shock, but no harm other than psychological. Preshil is, as Rick put it, "The last resort for crazy kids whose minds have been warped by excess amounts of welfare-class food." - probably the worst school in Victoria.</DIV>

Typically the problem people are too young to do anything to - most
neds/townies that cause people grief are about 15, so if you beat them
up, you'll get done for assaulting a minor. Even if you could get away
with it lawfully, they all have older brothers (or more typically,
uncles / cousins) who you certainly don't want to get on the wrong side
of.

Orph, as for your town being too small, size really isn't an issue.
North Berwick has a population of about 12000 perhaps (I'd be suprised
if its even that much), and yet we have plenty of problems with neds.

scary_jeff said:
How about use your 1337 jud0 skillz to go medievil on their ass? Ya'know, a bit of vigalante-ism, the crime: 'being a townie' :wink:

Hehehe :biggrin: might just try that, but ill have to wait til there on there own, i wouldnt exactly start on a group of 15-20 townies.

I'm lucky enough to live in a part of Melbourne where I even feel safe when taking a walk after dark, I wouldn't say this if I was living in some suburbs, 10min from here.

ReNo said:
Orph, as for your town being too small, size really isn't an issue. North Berwick has a population of about 12000 perhaps (I'd be suprised if its even that much), and yet we have plenty of problems with neds.

my apologies, i meant over here duncan.. cities of less them a million, seem to be spared anything near what you discribe..

we see stuff about chicago,NYC and other similarly huge cities, but nothing ever of note from smallish places..

also, damned few southern cities.. even places as huge as kansas city, or atlanta, both very large towns, seem to have low street violence.. yeah sure, crime is high everywhere, but kids actually roaming the streets, looking to bash heads??? not happening.

The only kinds of people to which I don't give my total trust are: vegetarians, Diplomacy players, and pacifists. In fact, perhaps moreso than any other idiocy I've ever encountered, I'm rather opposed to the doctrine of never fighting for anybody.

There's two sides, as I see it: people who use violence wantonly to boost their ego, and people who talk about not using violence to boost their ego. Some people find they can get a rise out of hurting people, and their victims often find they can get a rise out of proclaiming their superiority.

related example? perhaps... my brother and his wife, raised their 3 kids according to dr.spocks advice on child raising.. all 3 kids are extremely violent tempered.. one has to wonder if there are a whole generation of these type kids about to hit the streets as adults :sad:

when i asked them, why don't they properly correct/discipline their children.. they looked at me as if i just spoke french, and said something along the lines of, "they must be permitted to express themselves"

anywho's.. i have noticed since, that this idea is not isolated to my brothers home.. there are a s**tload of heathens about reach adulthood.. i fear this next generation may be something to keep ones eye on.

As I said the problem is definately getting worse, and I hate to think what it's gonna be like when they all reach adulthood. There's plenty of adult bad eggs around, but I'm 100% certain that our generation has at least four times the current amount. Crime is gonna be rife, and it's one of the many reasons I'm getting the hell out of this country as soon as possible.

I would never, ever, hand a drunken person a weapon.

Biological Component said:
I would never, ever, hand a drunken person a weapon.

i've learned my lesson :sad: but luckily they didn't actually get us :biggrin:

a drunk with nunchucks is probably more likely to knock himself out or break some fingers than anything else. even someone proficient in their use would be a danger to themself using them while drunk. i'm a danger to myself with them period. hah, reminds me of the time i seen a guy lose a lot of blood and nearly a finger while trying to show of his leet butterfly knife skills.

and Orph, i don't know too much about dr. spocks methods, but "they must be permitted to express themselves" has a fairly familiar ring to it. roughly translated as 'we're going to bring up a pair of spoiled little brats that think they can do what they like all their lives'. not that i'm against individuality, but is teaching children how to express themselves acceptably such a bad thing?

things really started going pear-shaped in schools here when they banned the belt*. i was no angel at school, but i never done anything with the intention of being a bad person. the time i set the little girls hair on fire was an accident. honest. but mostly getting into trouble for playing the fool out of bordom. i knew the consequencies, and had to be prepared to accept them. but i also knew there was a line that had to be drawn, because in special cases, the teachers were allowed to call on the services of one of their larger, hairier, slighty more skilled in the art collegues. a frightening enough prospect to keep 99.9% of the pupils (myself included) from going too overboard.

is it just not 'cool' these days to be a nice person? but hmm, don't ask one of those townies/scallies/neds/whatever that, or you'll get done over.

*the belt was normally a pliant leather strap about 18 inches long, 2 inches across, 1/4 inch thick, with the end 6-10 inches cut into three long tails. the recipient would stand with both arms streached out in front, hand over hand, palms facing up. oh, and fingers together. (cant have a misguided swing taking a finger of now, can we?) good ol' Teach would stand directly facing the perpitrator of whatever terrible crime had been commited, and place the thonged end of the belt on their palms. shuffle back slightly, untill the distance was just right for a full over head swing of the belt (some even had names) to arc perfectly onto the waiting palms. there was a maximum limit of six lashes. though the minimum time limit between seperate punishments was never clearly defined. i think they had to let you have a seat for a little while between them. it never really got that bad for me. :biggrin: that is, unless i've supressed more horrible memories than i care to remember.

anyways, "BRING BACK THE BELT FOR SOCIAL REFORM!!!"

and maybe national service. and and and ......public floggings. and... uhm.....yeah, you know. :biggrin:

The cane/belt may help, but it certainly isnt the answer.

Libertarianism, extension of freedom/political correctness, misguided
immigration policies, moral decline (divorce rates, sexual inhibitions
shed, the rise of what could be viewed as "questionable material), the
use of media (television particuarly), the dilutation of culture, the
standardisation and watering down/"systemisation" of education are just
some of the issues affecting this rise in yobbishness and general
street violence.

As I will say until i'm blue in the face, there is no one solution to
the problem. Society has created a better life for everyone they can
say, but with affluence and loosened morals comes self appointed
freedom and isolation from authority and the rule of the state.

Which in turn goes hand in hand with voter apathy... and lots of other
things. It's just that people cannot, and will not (ie refuse to)
accept that their own national development and social change is to
blame. Scapegoats and one stop solutions are easier to apply, but they
are just paving the cracks over a system that is shaking at the
foundations...

The cane/belt may help, but it certainly isnt the answer.

That's right.

1. Parents need to learn to spank their kids.
2. Parents need to lay down the rules. (and see #1 when the rules are ignored)

/2 cents

Yeah... I was smacked as a kid, only occasionally when I overstepped
the mark too far, and I've turned out normal and undisturbed.. bringing
in the argument of smacking etc just inflames all the hippies who think
all violence is wrong against children.

In moderation (ie ONLY when needed), and used as a demonstration of
"actions have consequences" it can be beneficial for developing good
behaviour, IMO.

The no violence mentality is pathetic. It induces more violence upon others by allowing their kid free range to do whatever they want. Even when I was at 7-11 the other day, these kids were chiding the clerk to let them eat this candy for free, they were yelling at him, with their parent right there! If I had done something like that when I was 10 I would have been smacked upside the head so harsh, told to apologize and pay for my damn food. Parents need to combine positive and negative reinforcement because like politics, no single system works. Maybe in theory, but life ain't perfect. I think this craze of saying every kid has ADD or ADHD is bulls**t too. Kids are hyper, it happens, all they're doing is giving the kid a backdoor excuse "It's okay, I have ADD, I can rip your carpet up." They need discipline and control, not an excuse.

Amen to the comments on ADS ADD etc.... just another example of my spot
on analysis of a society ready to scapegoat but never analyse their own
values.

sigh :/