Halloween, Bonfire night

[Guest long-trotter]

From a professional point of view this next week to ten days is a real pain in the rear. the level of mischief and yes criminality seems to ramp up year on year.

Yes there are some well organised events and yes it's cute to see the little kids dressed up as ghosts etc... but it really is getting out of hand. Even trying to get shops to cooperate in the restriction of the sale of flour and eggs for a day or so before is becoming a battle roll on November the 6th. I would be interested in your views on this.

[Huge_Vitae]

From a professional point of view this next week to ten days is a real pain in the rear. the level of mischief and yes criminality seems to ramp up year on year.

Yes there are some well organised events and yes it's cute to see the little kids dressed up as ghosts etc... but it really is getting out of hand. Even trying to get shops to cooperate in the restriction of the sale of flour and eggs for a day or so before is becoming a battle roll on November the 6th. I would be interested in your views on this.

Well, If you would come to bring some of your collegues down my way for the next week I could keep you gainfully employed.

[gozzer]

From a professional point of view this next week to ten days is a real pain in the rear. the level of mischief and yes criminality seems to ramp up year on year.

Yes there are some well organised events and yes it's cute to see the little kids dressed up as ghosts etc... but it really is getting out of hand. Even trying to get shops to cooperate in the restriction of the sale of flour and eggs for a day or so before is becoming a battle roll on November the 6th. I would be interested in your views on this.

 

Your being optimistic aren't you? We will be getting it for a good few weeks after that!

Edited October 30, 2006 by gozzer

[BoozleBear]

The whole problem is that its a mixture of the kids having nothing to do, their parents having no money, and a whole bunch of shopkeepers who have no scruples any more because their rent keeps shooting up and they can't sell as much as they used to due to Sainsburys and Tesco on every corner!

[UK-Fishing-Tackle.co.uk]

Sorry - we had this on the church school topic folks. Eggs and flour are certainly nothing new - and kids have always played pranks at this time of year. One point I mentioned is that the media has blown the 'teenage hoodie' problem out of all proportion over the last ten years - I mean, seriously, did kids not drink in the 60's and 70's, did kids not bugger about, obviously not.....

 

Many (many) people take a very rosy tinted view on the last fifty years - As I said - kids may mess about with the modern day banger (quieter than the caps we had in guns when we were kids), but few are blowing up car batteries or making pipe bombs and grenades - which many on this forum will have experience of from their youth. Kids may shoplift - but then people round here used to go scrumping when we had the orchards - times changing yes BUT the basic principle still the same.

 

Crimes which seem more popular are generally only more so because of reporting and shifts in crime patterns - generally through the evolution of technology. For example - car theft has dramatically risen (mainly due to the massive increase in cars over the past thirty years), whereas burglary rates have halved in the last ten years alone (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1137418,00.html).

 

Have times got worse, have teenagers got worse - probably not - but since the rise of Labour (it has to be said) we've had this fear of the 'teenager' beaten into us by the media and by the government AND this in itself doesn't particularly help the problem because people being put 'into boxes' are only more likely to stay within them.

 

IT ALSO HAS TO BE SAID that the same people that call the youth for all they are worth tend to be the 'not in my back yard crowd'. For example, Louth (Lincolnshire) is about to gain a leisure centre - something our town has needed for 20 years. However, everyone (it seems - although I appreciate I am generalising) over the age of 40 seems to want the bloody thing building out of town. Now forgive me for saying, but it's that kind of short-sightedness by the older generation who the younger look at for influence that perhaps leads to some of this angst increasing BECAUSE you simply cannot say kids need more to do, and then force them to get a bloody taxi or a bus to get to it.

 

It's not a simple debate.

[UK-Fishing-Tackle.co.uk]

Quick replies

 

1. We (virtually) all either bought drink underage or got people to acquire us drink underage so shop keepers haven't got less scruples than they did previously.

 

2. Parents with no money - The tax credit system has produced a society whereby there it is difficult to be a member of the real poverty stricken. Tax credits didn't exist in 1983, and if you were a builder (like my dad was) and you got the boot on a Friday then you were basically in the sh1te until you found something else. WE ALL SURVIVED.

[chesters1]

flocks of kids screetching in the street at the moment ,the claymores up the garden have got 3 so far so hopefully their getting the point .

heard one adult say "no not in there" (we can see and hear them on the camera) so the groin rubbing and dirty mac wearing outside the school seem to work in getting the neighbourhood talking

[s_mac]

Im just wondering one thing.

 

We dont put bullets on sale

Its illegal i guess to make a bomb.

You cant take liquids on planes.

we are more carefull of selling gas, or solvents to minors,

if one person is fataly killed while crossing the road, we put up speed cams.

 

All of the above we take strong measures to stop.

 

While on bonfire night, and the run up to it, many children are injured and loose fingers, eye sights and the likes. and stretch emergency services to the limit.

 

So why not ban the sale of fire works, unless its for a display, and by a licensed person.

 

 

sean

[chesters1]

From a professional point of view this next week to ten days is a real pain in the rear. the level of mischief and yes criminality seems to ramp up year on year.

Yes there are some well organised events and yes it's cute to see the little kids dressed up as ghosts etc... but it really is getting out of hand. Even trying to get shops to cooperate in the restriction of the sale of flour and eggs for a day or so before is becoming a battle roll on November the 6th. I would be interested in your views on this.

did anyone see the report on "mischeif" (or whatever) night ,smashing bus windows with bricks then egging and stoning the reporter.

the local copper said it was (my words cant remember the quote) sad there was some antisocial behavour in the vicinity

antisocial behavior it used to be called crime and it was destruction of property and in the case of the reporter it was common assault at the least.

crime now is downgraded to purely mischeif and the culprits left to carry on in the case of deliberate destruction of property as they like and in the case of "trick or treat" demanding money with menaces

Edited October 31, 2006 by chesters1

[kleinboet]

When this government wakes up to the fact that the prisons are crowded because they are no longer a deterent and do something that will get rid of the yobs, then there would be no objection to the little ones "trick or treating"!

I cannot go to the shops without being confronted by a yob demanding PENNY FOR THE GUY, pointing to a black bin bag full of straw? with a mask LAID on top!! Penny for the guy was for the construction of the guy!! And, try giving these little thugs a penny!!