Forum Topic

This Mad  Mad world

What is happening to law and order in this country, are the elderly and vulnerable meant to be kept prisoners in their homes. Is it any wonder that feral youths are now in charge of our streets. Please comment on:- "A pensioner who used a plank of wood to chase off yobs throwing stones at his home is facing jail after being arrested and charged with possessing an offensive weapon.Father-of-two Sydney Davis dialled 999 when his home came under attack, but was forced to take action himself when officers failed to arrive more than two hours later."He grabbed a section of wood from a broken-up old sofa in his front garden and chased the youths down the street - just as police officers finally arrived.But to his horror, the officers arrested him while the group of youths ran off down the street.

Andrew Michael John Atkinson ● 6696d20 Comments

andrewunfortunately fear seems to sell more papers now than good news does, but im sure youll find some upbeat tales in this country's wonderful media, even if the daily mail and the sun want you to feel like a prisoner in your own home.ive never seen a gang of feral kids in the street and i travel by bike from brentford thru brixton to dulwich and back everyday.what i do see is a country afraid of its young people because they are totally out of touch/ dont make the effort to understand them.

Jamie Halliday ● 6692d

James,You are being a bit niave imo.Yes,fear of crime is sometimes more real than crime itself,but by cycling through these areas in the day time you are unlikely to see these scum.They sleep during the day because they do not have a job to go to.Try cycling at night,after about 11.30 and you might get a different story.

Keith Iddon ● 6692d

...'because they are out of touch/don't understand them'.What's to understand,a world of drugs,knives,guns and criminality? I know it is a minority of kids who get involved in this sort of behaviour,but it is not a small minority in some areas but a sizeable number of kids. Gangs used to be about football and violence or music /fashion and violence. Now they are about drugs and money and control of criminal activity in certain areas.We are in danger of sleepwalking,in a trance from wooly minded liberalism,into a Clockwork Orange society.I am talking about 10-15 years if we don't get tough now.

Keith Iddon ● 6692d

"what i do see is a country afraid of its young people because they are totally out of touch/ dont make the effort to understand them."What you really mean James, is after they have mugged you, give them a hug. I will go along with Keith's perception rather than your rose tinted view, I wonder what planet you live on, from your naive view of the world, it is obviously different to the one I have lived on for well over 70 years!tell me James. what would you have done in this poor mans predicament........light a joss stick?

Account suspended ● 6692d

coff *jamie* coff.nope. i think the people you highlighted deserve a proper kicking. my point is that it seems you think the press's view of the world is real. when was the last time a feral gang threatened you?btw, im not a hippie, i just think the UKs glass is half full not half empty.

Jamie Halliday ● 6692d

Fair point Jamie but you throw the baby out with the bath water if you totally ignore what the press is saying.'when was the last time a feral gang threatened you'...well, about 5 mths ago,as it happens.Is that recent enough to be taken seriously?Have a walk back home from any of the pubs in Brentford after closing time and have a couple of hoodies  dressed in black cycle past you silently from behind then stop and watch where you are  going and see how you feel.

Keith Iddon ● 6692d

"when was the last time a feral gang threatened you?"What has that got to do with anything, I haven't been run over by a lunatic drunk in chargs driver either, does that mean they don't exist! Tell me Jamie, what paper you get your pukka information from?

Account suspended ● 6692d

What does it have to do with anything? Andrew, your outlook seems to be jaundiced by fear whipped up by a biased media.take knife crime. no worse than it ever has been. in fact much better than it was in the bad old days of proper football violence and even mods and rockers knocking seven shades of sh!t out of each other on the coast. but we seem to be hearing about it a great deal at the moment. yeah, grim reading when teenagers are killing each other, but its a very small percentage of the population doing these things.hooded youths are to the naughties what single mothers were to the late eightes and early ninties.keith, we have all had experiences of intimidation in this city. im very sorry to hear about yours, but i will never let my outlook be coloured by the actions of a minority.

Jamie Halliday ● 6691d

"take knife crime. no worse than it ever has been. in fact much better than it was in the bad old days of proper football violence and even mods and rockers knocking seven shades of sh!t out of each other on the coast. but we seem to be hearing about it a great deal at the moment. yeah, grim reading when teenagers are killing each other, but its a very small percentage of the population doing these things."So! Jamie, the police have got it all wrong have they?; 6 murders in in less than 24 hours! How old were you in the "bad old days" of football violence? And were you born in the teddy boy era, I recall that they knocked 6 bells out of the rockers with bike chains and knuckle dusters, and this happened when they clashed at Brighton or Southend, very rarely was wnyone stabbed. Tell me Jamie about where you get your information from, were you around in the 50s and 60s?........yes I am very fearful for our society, the way it is going with all of these youngsters losing their lives, we have never ever witnessed this level of violence within my memory. Perhaps you can give me some comparative figures......yes?

Account suspended ● 6691d

teddy boys were on the same side as rockers. Rockers were 'descendants' of teddy boys. They knocked seven bells out of the mods.

Helen Martin ● 6691d

Oh! The good old days - of Bank Holiday punch-ups at the seaside!On another tack about his mad world we live in, what do people make of the holier-than-thou Registrar who refused to preside over Civil Partnership ceremonies, what were the people on that I.T. on? She should have resigned if she didn't like it - where would we be if we all went down the path of refusing to do what we are employed for, for some personal reason?

Vanessa Smith ● 6691d

VanessaQuite agree, but what about the Muslims, who have refused to sell alcohol when employed in supermarkets, they also know that they would be exposed to alcohol. I'm not sure about it, but was the lady who refused to conduct these ceremonies, employed before civil ceremonies became legal? If so her religious beliefs should be recognised. You could also include the young Muslim woman who applied for a job as a hairdresser, and got a tidy sum for refusing to take off her headscarf, also I  believe on religious grounds. If we want equality, then let us ALL share the same rules.

Account suspended ● 6690d

The point is they are CIVIL ceremonies and are not allowed by law to have any religious readings, hymns or anything. Being a Registrar is about upholding the laws of this land, and we all have civil rights, imposing your beliefs however sincere, on others who may not share them is not tolerable, and civil rights must come before personal considerations. I have no idea whether this bigot was a Registrar before the law changed, I only know if I was asked during any employment to do something that was fumdamentally against what I thought was right, I would take a hike, I think the employment tribunal was really wrong on this one.

Vanessa Smith ● 6690d

andrew, this society is safer than it ever has been. but because we have every type of media pumping out fear 24 hours a day, its too easy to come to the conclusion that it isnt.and as you keep pointing out, you are quite old. so you may have witnessed at least a bit of the second world war? maybe the first?ultimatley, what this country needs is a great big dollop of common. like the post above this, the tribunal seems to have its priorities totally skewed. as do the media. all of it. its easier to write about bad things than good things.

Jamie Halliday ● 6689d

"andrew, this society is safer than it ever has been."What bloody planet are you from....Zog? Typical left wing rubbish, I will ignore your insults, I was born years before the second ww, so I witnessed the whole of it. Neither of you commented on the other example that I gave, why was that? wasone right and the other example wrong? You have also not mentioned what newspaper you read to get accurate information from.....Pravda?  What period of your obviously short life did you witness on the medium of TV, endless families coming on, and tearfully asking why their (usually)son has been fatally stabbed/clubbed/kicked to death. This type of crime was unheard of when I was growing up, fists and sometimes knuckle dusters were the only weapons that I had heard of. Also unlike you, I had respect for my elders,and particularly teachers, and I had never heard of a pensioner being beaten to death in their own home, or a family man kicked to death outside of his home, and in front of his daughters by drunken yobs......that's what you call a safer community is it? Take off the blinkers, and take in what is going on in this country, at least I have a benchmark to draw conclusions.....whats yours?Try not to be rude, it only serves to show your immaturity!It is worthy of note that you seem to only want newspapers to print good news, can you suggest any?I also feel very safe when I witness what these scumbags, who we have imported into our country, whose only intention is blowing us off the face of the earth, some are home grown, and the tragedy is that there are many more sleeper cells, just waiting to do a 7/7 and get themselves 20 virgins........Yes Jamie that makes me feel very safe, especially on the Underground or in an aeroplane!

Account suspended ● 6689d

"this society is safer than it ever has been. but because we have every type of media pumping out fear 24 hours a day, its too easy to come to the conclusion that it isnt."YUP - and there's no credit crunch, house prices  are on the increase, M&S reported record profits,  Robert  Moogaarbay  of  Zimbarbway  won the election fair and square and the President of the Sudan hasn't done anything wrong at all .  Oh and I almost forgot  - South Africa never really had apaardhide and Nelson Mandela wasn't really locked up for 27 years.  Its all right wing media hype to make us brainless citizens panic and come to ridiculous conclusions.This is all clear evidence that Jaqcui Smith isn't a buffoon,  the media have it all wrong. Gordon Brown will win the next election by a landslide because he has absolutely chosen the right cabinet and he is on the right track to lead us for another ten years of security and prosperity because everything we witness on the street is clearly a figment of our over-active imaginations.

Steve Taylor ● 6689d

SteveCouldn't have put it better myself. Jamie lives in his little fantasy world unaware of what is going on around him......sad really!

Account suspended ● 6689d

Jamie"tw, im not a hippie, i just think the UKs glass is half full not half empty."I'm sorry to disagree with you yet again, but the glass is neither of the perceptions that you have of the UK....the glass I'm sad to say is broken, and it will take an autocratic government to fix it, but sadly not in my life time!

Account suspended ● 6689d

Jamie,I know it is not as bad as some people paint,but you need to take your own advice and use a bit of common. To think this society is not getting more violent is daft. Have a look at how the incidence of murder has increased over the last 25 years. It's easy enough to get the stats.

Keith Iddon ● 6689d

"this society is safer than it ever has been. but because we have every type of media pumping out fear 24 hours a day, its too easy to come to the conclusion that it isnt."Well I guess all the media coverage of the latest teenager stabbed to death last night is simply more media hype pumping out fear. The mind boggles as to why the Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair and Mayor Boris are leading a drive to tackle a problem which doesn't exist. Surely they can understand that this society is safer than it ever has been?

Steve Taylor ● 6686d