ChrisB

Just caught most of this on BBC1.

Most of the ones arrested seem to think a good night includes twenty pints, brawling in the street, going two rounds with a Policeman (Ladbrokes had the copper as odds-on to win all every bout) and a night in the cells.

Never mind an £80 fixed penalty, chuck 'em off a cliff!

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

The shocking bit was at the end: almost nobody was prosecuted for the stuff you saw, including stabbings, beatings, assaults etc.


M

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Yes please - or shoot them, gas them, hang them, deport them to Iraq. There was a time when I thought that this was only localised to where I live. Sadly not

How did the UK social culture end up like this?

Pitiful state of affairs IMO, it's not the drink, most "normal" people I know can quite easily get bladdered without smashing somebody's face in. So blaming it on drink and banning/control will never answer the problem, it's only part of the big picture. It may be a fuel and an aggrevator. But there's a much bigger and more important reason as to why people are like this.

Is this country salvageable?

Answers on a postcard to Mr T.Bliar. 10 downing Street, London

vindaloo

FPT or 30 days in the slammer and I don't mean sitting on their ***** nursing their regrets and egos. Make the ****ers work off their debt by cleaning off graffitti or similar.

J.

_Meridian_

iTrader: (1)

English culture has ALWAYS been like that - drunken brawling has been an English pastime since at least 1700.


M

SJ_Skyline

I would have put it back at least to 1415 - Battle of Agincourt!


I am sure I caught a glimpse of Telboy down the front in Southend

the moose

When I was at university (20 years ago) the locals' Friday night wasn't complete without giving a couple of students a good going over. As I was at a garrison town, this meant you had both townies and squaddies to look out for.

Nothing's changed, only that we're starting to think that it's rather less than acceptable.

Brendan Hughes

I certainly remember an identical attitude from my teenage years (20 years ago). As said, nothing's new

Come to southern Europe - no-one gets drunk and aggressive as they can't be bothered

supertouring

And that was just the girls

darts_aint_sport

Why/How did this bollox get on BBC1? Isn't this sort of stuff for the likes of Sky One and Bravo?

TelBoy

It's like that most weekends, not just Bank holidays. Utter scum, the lot of them. Alcohol has to be one of society's biggest evils. Smashed-in bus shelters, toppled street signs, vandalised cars, personal injuries - it's regular Sunday morning viewing.

davegtt

its always happened and always will. the only reason its becoming more socially unacceptable because the youth of today take it further than it should. a simple beating is fine in my book, who ever wins wins who ever loses loses. fine, but now every man and his dog gets involved, knifes get involved and sometimes worse...... the old ole days where 2 people could have a simple fight and it'd end there, not anymore

davegtt

majority of this is down to bored teenagers hanging around on street corners though

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

But don't you think there's MORE of it these days?

I mean, by back in the day it was only associated with certain few pubs and clubs. Or ano-go area in council estates in a few cities or large towns. Now it's almost every pub and club, and every city and town big enough to have at least one club.

Whereas once in a small town, you may have had 15 to 20 people spoiling for a fight. You now have close to a 100.

TelBoy

It's down to alcohol, irrespective of who or where they are.

Karl 227

I think a slightly dim teenager and his slightly dim mates will carry on doing this as long as they know they'll not be properly punished. At least over here in Germany when the police catch them they stick a pistol to their temple which usually results in the spotty oik wetting himself in front of his slightly dim mates.

Jap2Scrap

See I don't understand this.

When I was a teenager, only 15 years ago , we had much LESS to do of an evening. No late shops, no internet, no real social scene, no skate parks, no Xbox/PS2 etc., no cinemas with special teenage rates. Do you get what I'm saying? Sundays were even worse. Absolutely nothing to do full stop.

We used to work on our various Capris, Cortinas and Escorts then go for spirited country drives (then spend 2 hours by the side of the road fixing one of them).

Nothing winds me up more than the "There's nothing for them to do" sentiment.

Bollox.

davegtt

I aint agreeing with ya. I was a teenager 10 years ago (blimy now I do feel old saying that) and all we wanted to do during the light was play football but when the evening came, xbox/ps2 what ever, u wanted to be with your mates and unless your parents liked headaches there was noway 10 of you was gonna cram in the house. so what do you do. go out. hang about on the street corner dossing around. OK we never went to the extreme of smashing bus shelters cause I was brought up with some respect for the community (well most of it anyway ) IMO alot of it is all down to upbringing, the weaker we get on kids now a days the worse it'll get, for example, its got considerably worser since the strap at school was stopped and smacking a kids has been stopped so is it gonna get worse when children dont know what disipline is?

555wrx

Quite a few years ago now, I used to live in the middle east, the coppers over there used to take a dim view on anything realy, but unruly people where normaly greeted with a beating from a bloody great big cane. If that failed then back up in the form of a pistol was relied upon.
I blame the lack of proper punishment avaliable by the authorities, not only for drunk and disorderly, but all crimes.

Jerome

Reminds me of Bracknell town centre over 20 years ago. Brackhell's reputation was such that people would come down from Reading on a Saturday night to join in the "fun". The McDonalds in the centre was between 2 rather choice pubs and was the only one in the country (at the time) to have a direct "panic" button to the Police station.

Aldershot has had a problem with alcohol related violence at least as long as squaddies made it their home.

Although not the only reason, the ridiculous licencing laws in place since WWI have contributed to the yob culture. The whole attitude of necking down as many pints as possible before 11.00pm is unique to England.

The Zohan

Yep!

SJ_Skyline

Maybe, maybe not - I think there is definately more publicity and media coverage of it these days!

Edcase

It's been happening as long as bars have existed.

The difference now is that it is considered an entertaining programme format for televisual consumption.

SJ_Skyline

aye, and to think people complained about Jerry Springer the opera!

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Yep, it's needed IMO, it's the only group powerful enough to pressure the goverment/police to do something about it.

So far we have high profile policing, which is one step.

I see the "caught on camera" van quite alot in my local small town centre ....not much use when I'm getting my head kicked in the alleyway or underpass where there's no CCTV

warrenm2

I think it's down to Daily Mail style knee jerk reactions.....

andy1505

Chav All In Street Brawling.

Should this be a new sport. You would get my entry fee. Put em in a cage and let em kill each other.

TelBoy

Sorry? I live there!! Either they're staggering around aimlessly just for the fun of it, or they've been necking Carlsberg till they puke. What has the Daily Mail got to do with it??

warrenm2

Hehe

Daily Mail like to make sensational statements like its "all down to alcohol"..... I get pissed most weekends but the last time I hit someone was 4 years ago and it was an accident.... but surely if I'm pissed I should be puking in the streets, or staggering around aimlessly... Oh hang on....

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

According to my poll on. Of people of adequate intellegence and wealth to be capeable of using and access a computer: Most aren't violent when drunk, work that one out for yourself