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Kids Today

We demand curfews to curb violence, say public
Jonathan Oliver and David Leppard

A nationwide youth curfew to help combat knife crime was backed by the public and senior politicians last night.

In the strongest sign yet of the growing fear of violence on Britain’s streets, a Sunday Times poll reveals today that nine out of 10 parents would back legal restrictions on their children going out after dark.

A report from a House of Commons committee will say this week that a national curfew on young teenagers could curb anti-social and violent behaviour. Keith Vaz, the Labour chairman of the home affairs select committee, said: “I have sympathy with the view that children should not be out after 9pm.”

Last night Phil Woolas, the environment minister, admitted that the legislation targeting teen violence was failing. “There are parts of the country where for periods of time, you should be able to introduce curfews,” he said. “We need a heavy police presence and fines for parents.”

A No 10 source said there were no plans for a national curfew, but added: “It is something we might consider trialling in hotspot areas.”

Last week six people were stabbed to death in under 24 hours. Among the victims was London’s 20th teenage murder victim this year.

.......

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/p ... 322650.ece
 
Or perhaps the parents should look after their little darlings? Perhaps even the councils should make sure the kids have some amenities, rather than closing them all down due to penny pinching. Perhaps we should focus on why kids are so disaffected, pissed off and lacking hope in our society. Then perhaps we can focus on the tiny minority who fuck things up for others.
 
I totally agree that the parents are the ones largely at fault in most cases, here.
 
Mister_Awesome said:
I totally agree that the parents are the ones largely at fault in most cases, here.
Yes, obviously Social Meltdown must be somebody's fault.

It really is appalling. Something must be done.
 
Pietro_Mercurios said:
Yes, obviously Social Meltdown must be somebody's fault.
The trouble is, the 'fault' may stretch back a couple of generations.
It’s also true that at long last people of all persuasions are beginning to recognise that this social breakdown is due in part to the abdication both of authority and of personal responsibility that began some time after the war. Some are inclined to emphasise the demoralising paternalism of the welfare state, others the permissiveness of the 1960s, but few now question this abdication, at all levels. Not only that –- taking personal responsibility is sometimes forbidden, or punished, as when misguided adults try to control delinquent children in the street.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/commen ... 322604.ece
But we cannot go back and unstitch those earlier 'wrongs'. We have to start from where we are.

And I suspect that will require some measure of 'tough love'. The softly, softly approach has clearly failed.
 
rynner said:
Pietro_Mercurios said:
Yes, obviously Social Meltdown must be somebody's fault.
The trouble is, the 'fault' may stretch back a couple of generations.
It’s also true that at long last people of all persuasions are beginning to recognise that this social breakdown is due in part to the abdication both of authority and of personal responsibility that began some time after the war. Some are inclined to emphasise the demoralising paternalism of the welfare state, others the permissiveness of the 1960s, but few now question this abdication, at all levels. Not only that –- taking personal responsibility is sometimes forbidden, or punished, as when misguided adults try to control delinquent children in the street.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/commen ... 322604.ece
But we cannot go back and unstitch those earlier 'wrongs'. We have to start from where we are.

And I suspect that will require some measure of 'tough love'. The softly, softly approach has clearly failed.
There's also the possibility that crude economics and the dismantling of the Welfare State have also played their part.

There's not much point in demanding Social Responsibility from the Socially and Economically Excluded, when they look on, only to see what they lack, rubbed in their faces, as Social Immobility becomes the order of the day.

Curfews and bigger prisons may be the answer, that's become the rule in the USA and there doesn't seem to be much doubt that Britain is going the same way.

However, Britain doesn't have quite the same wide open spaces that the USA has. Suburbs tend to be built a lot closer to sink estates and only the relatively wealthy can afford to live far enough away, in the country, these days.

I know too, that a lot of popular coastal and rural touristy destinations, have extra problems, because out of season, 'temporary' B&B accommodation tends to attract DSS case, social rejects and the junkie classes, spreading the disease of criminalised poverty, far and wide, beyond its inner-city, de-industrialised town, roots,
 
Pietro_Mercurios said:
It really is appalling. Something must be done.

Pietro_Mercurios said:
Curfews and bigger prisons may be the answer...

mordesert.jpg


:nonplus:
 
theyithian said:
Pietro_Mercurios said:
It really is appalling. Something must be done.

Pietro_Mercurios said:
Curfews and bigger prisons may be the answer...

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/yithian/mordesert.jpg

:nonplus:
rynner said:
We demand curfews to curb violence, say public
Jonathan Oliver and David Leppard

...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/p ... 322650.ece
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7128181.stm

New 'super-prisons' to be built

BBC News Online. 5 December 2007

Three "super-prisons" each housing about 2,500 offenders are to be built, Justice Secretary Jack Straw has said.

Following a review of overcrowding in jails, he said a building programme would take prison place numbers up to 96,000 from the current 81,000 by 2014.

...
Do try to keep up.

I didn't say that they were the right answer.
 
And from the other side as it were....

Mother of gang member: "Every time I've gone to court with my kids, especially [son's name] because I've been to court more times with him than I care to bloody remember yeah? You go in there and there's all these bloody solicitors and all these magistrates or judges or whatever. And all these people are snobs. They've been to private schools, they've been to… They have no real idea of our life, they have no real idea about being poor. Whether you're poor and white, whether you're poor and Asian, whether you're poor and black, they have no idea. They've no idea to know what it's like to wake up fucking hungry and cold. They've no idea about having no clothes or shoes on your feet. They've no idea whatsoever. So all they see is a criminal. You've done something wrong, you've got to be punished. Do they not think they've been punished enough? What they need is fucking help, not punishments."

Source

The government's drive to curb street gangs and knife crime is challenged today by research suggesting official tactics are fundamentally misinformed, frequently failing, and sometimes actively strengthen the gangs they target.

Based on two years' close work with members of six gangs in an English city, the research finds that schools, health services and prisons are "grossly unprepared to collaborate or respond adequately to the problems brought about by gangs".

And police mistakenly target individuals who, though gang members or associates, are not themselves engaged in criminal action - thus cutting them off as potential sources of help, driving them into gang membership, and confirming the status of gangs.

Source
 
It does look like Britain is polarizing into 2. On the one hand, the insecure middleclases, using the full force of the law, sometimes indiscriminately, with increasingly repressive, knee-jerk popularist, legislation, on the other, the sink-estate poor, tooling themselves up and slinking into the shadows, to avoid the CCTV cameras that watch their every move.

And nobody trusts anyone, anymore. Parents fearing for their own children whilst fearing other people's.

"I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation."

Prime minister Margaret Thatcher, talking to Women's Own magazine, October 31 1987
Well there certainly isn't, now.

I think that we can consider the 'Monetarist Experiment,' a complete success. 'Mission Accomplished.' so to speak.
 
She's getting a State Funeral!

You click on the link and expect to find she has died.

Not yet.

Ingenious ways to celebrate the occasion may occupy a few of us ruddy veterans, as we dig out the words of "Ding, Dong, the witch is dead" and brush up on our grooviest grave-dancing moves.

But these selfish modern kids will take the day off and perform none of these solemn duties, as they don't know who she was.

Kids today! To be honest, I hated Churchill, whose State Funeral cancelled my Saturday morning picture show. However, I think I can say that I had some sort of idea who and what he had been. How couldn't I? All those newsreels replayed on tv left some impression.

Meanwhile, I browsed the Guardian articles which try to represent the authentic voice of the underclass. And the longer you listen to that, the further away you want to live.

Curious how the oratorical device of the list of three reappears in this odd context together with the fashionable mantra of racial inclusion and the rhetorical question. The formal inversion of word order for the rhetorical question. "Do they not think . . . " is not an intentional parody of legal jargon but a confident appropriation of it. It's only when she gets to the "no clothes and no shoes" bit that your tears dry up abruptly as the departure from reality becomes total. For anyone to wake up hungry and cold is a terrible indictment of our society so I suppose her kids keep stealing bread and kindling? There is a cunning deployment of misty but emotive historical injustices here, sidestepping any precise statement of what her recidivist kids were actually doing to be hauled in front of the beak time after time. No bread on the table and no shoes on our feet but knives in our pockets and stolen phones under the bed.

I have watched the growth of this underclass. Hardly anyone denies it exists or pillories you for using that word now, though it used to be thought very incorrect. What distinguishes it from previous incarnations is its size and confidence, fuelled by a tabloid-telly nexus which reflects its habits and manners to entrench them. The young are most vulnerable to its influence and I have never seen downward peer-group pressure so pervasive and widespread.

The young are certainly the main sufferers too. Knife-crime is clearly a hot media topic right now and we need to try to look beyond the headlines which encourage panic. I don't see many hopeful signs, though, dealing routinely with the offspring of irresponsible kidults, whose own minds are entirely the by-products of a horrible market experiment. Its failure is becoming more evident daily even to those previously insulated from its brutality. :(
 
JamesWhitehead said:
It's only when she gets to the "no clothes and no shoes" bit that your tears dry up abruptly as the departure from reality becomes total. For anyone to wake up hungry and cold is a terrible indictment of our society so I suppose her kids keep stealing bread and kindling? There is a cunning deployment of misty but emotive historical injustices here, sidestepping any precise statement of what her recidivist kids were actually doing to be hauled in front of the beak time after time. No bread on the table and no shoes on our feet but knives in our pockets and stolen phones under the bed.(
I'm glad you wrote that, James! (Despite my own experience of youth work, I seem to be regarded by some here as a Daily Mail reading reactionary! ;) ) After the "no clothes and no shoes" bit, I was awaiting the entry of the top-hatted big bad mill owner!

Any way, back to what passes for reality:

Youth crime plan to be unveiled

The government is to set out its first ever cross-departmental youth crime action plan for England and Wales.

The initiative is expected to extend the targeting of parents and children who cause most anti-social behaviour.

There will also be proposals for better support for crime victims and help for young offenders to settle back into communities after custody.

It comes as the Chief Inspector of Probation warned there are no "simple solutions" to reduce offending.

In his annual report, Andrew Bridges expresses scepticism about what he described as "spectacular innovations".

He says it is "very hard" to identify effective measures.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said more than 110,000 "problem families" will be targeted as part of government's action plan.

As many as 20,000 families could be evicted from their homes if they fail to control their children, Mr Brown said.

Research published last week suggested there had been significant improvements in parenting skills and school attendance among many of the first 90 families to complete the scheme.

There is also likely to be more investment in non-custodial sentences, involving intensive fostering and community supervision of young offenders.

Greater support will be offered with housing, education and work for those leaving prison.

Mr Brown said at his monthly news conference on Monday: "Too many people, young and old, do not feel safe in the streets, and sometimes even in their homes, as a result of the behaviour of a minority.

"We need to make it absolutely clear to everyone, but especially young people, that in our country there are boundaries of acceptable behaviour [and] that it is completely unacceptable to carry a knife."

Ministers have been accused of making a u-turn over plans to make young people who carry knives meet the victims of knife crime.

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said the government had used "gimmickry" to try to tackle the problem.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith denied the plan had ever been to take young people to A&E departments to meet victims.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7506618.stm
 
rynner said:
JamesWhitehead said:
It's only when she gets to the "no clothes and no shoes" bit that your tears dry up abruptly as the departure from reality becomes total. For anyone to wake up hungry and cold is a terrible indictment of our society so I suppose her kids keep stealing bread and kindling? There is a cunning deployment of misty but emotive historical injustices here, sidestepping any precise statement of what her recidivist kids were actually doing to be hauled in front of the beak time after time. No bread on the table and no shoes on our feet but knives in our pockets and stolen phones under the bed.(
I'm glad you wrote that, James! (Despite my own experience of youth work, I seem to be regarded by some here as a Daily Mail reading reactionary! ;) ) After the "no clothes and no shoes" bit, I was awaiting the entry of the top-hatted big bad mill owner!

Any way, back to what passes for reality:

...
Even my eyebrows started doing a Roger Moore, when I read that bit.

After all, everybody knows that the Salvation Army keeps bundles of second-hand clothes and shoes, for just those sort of emergencies. No one, or their children, need go about naked these days.
 
rynner said:
...

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said more than 110,000 "problem families" will be targeted as part of government's action plan.

As many as 20,000 families could be evicted from their homes if they fail to control their children, Mr Brown said.

...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7506618.stm
That's the bit that I have a bit of difficulty in grasping. Where are they going to go? Will they take to the highways and byways, as sturdy beggars? Or, will there be special internment camps, for the families of the feckless poor? Could it be the return of the workhouse?
 
Hmmm, Brown does seem to be talking up the moral panic a bit. I would dearly love to see how the system can cope with the 110,000 problem families.

Out of interest, how bad is knife crime now compare to 10,20,30 and 40 years ago? Do we actually have comparitive figures? How many kids have been killed by knives compared to those killed as a result of domestic violence (estimated 2 deaths per week caused by domestic violence according to the last figures)? Does that get news?

I'd agree whole heartedly that bits of society are badly fucked over, but sadly its the same bits which have been fucked for decades and which no government (or society itself) are willing to fix. Punish yes. Help, no.

How about the social circumstances? Barely mentioned? Gap between rich and poor is increasing (apparently speeding up since labour came to power)?
 
With video! :D

Grandmother fights off thieves with a broom
By Rupert Neate
Last Updated: 8:03AM BST 18/07/2008

A grandmother fought off hammer-wielding thieves with a broom as they attempted to rob the shop where she works.
Brave shop assistant Ann Withers, 55, swept a gang of hammer-wielding robbers out of her store - with a BROOM, helping owner Guljinder Hayer .
Ann Withers, 55, chased off the three teenage robbers with the 4ft plastic broom after they started to attack her boss, Guljinder Hayer.

They fled the convenience store in Worle, north Somerset, empty-handed. The incident was caught on CCTV cameras.

"They turned pale and ran away as soon as I started hitting them with the broom," she said.

"They weren't going to get anything out of this shop. It was horrific the way they were hitting Guljinder round the head with the hammer.

"I was just waiting for the right time to grab the broom and take them on."

She was opening up the shop at 6am on Monday when the hooded youths burst in wielding claw hammers and demanded cash.

"How dare they come in and try to steal money? If you want money you have to go out and earn it like everybody else and get some self pride," she said.

"If they ever come back it won't be a broom, it will be a baseball bat that I'm hitting them with."

Mr Guljinder said he feared the gang would kill him and praised Mrs Withers for saving his life.

"Ann is a real hero," he said. "She was throwing the broom towards them to get them off me. She really saved the day."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... broom.html
 
Today I caught the back-way bus from Helston to Falmouth, which takes an indirect route via outlyng villages.

It was also a school bus, picking up first at Helston school. I expected quite a few kids would get off at the Royal Naval Air station, but none did. Most got off in Gweek and Constantine, and in Constantine more kids got on from the school there.

Most of the kids were lively and talkative, without being raucous or troublesome, and there were none of the sullen louts that you often see nowadays in the streets.

But the thing that impressed me most was that, having been on the bus with kids for at least an hour, I didn't hear a single swear word!

Now this may be a social-class selection effect, in that most of those living out in the sticks (which is generally pricey, around here) would be from middle-class homes, not from slums.

Nevertheless, rynner's faith in the future of our young people is somewhat restored! 8)
 
Hmmm... Discuss!

Chocolate 'makes pupils better'

A Norfolk headteacher has said there have been no exclusions from his school since he started rewarding pupils with chocolate for good behaviour.

Dr Andrew Sheppard began the scheme in 2005, since when exclusion days at Redcastle Furze Primary in Thetford have dropped from 65 a year to zero.

Critics said he was contributing to childhood obesity and dental problems.

But Dr Sheppard said: "It has improved behaviour, they are polite and... they have a sense of responsibility."

In September 2005, Dr Sheppard pledged to give all 240 pupils a bar of chocolate if they made it to the half time break without any exclusions.

The scheme proved so successful it was extended term by term. Since then discos, picnics and Easter eggs have been handed out.

Internet poll

"We had people saying how terrible it was that we were bribing children and it was unsustainable," he said.

"We had complaints saying we were contributing to childhood obesity and rotting teeth.

"But the children really liked it and it really works."

Dr Sheppard said he hoped other schools would follow his lead.

Earlier this year in an internet poll of 2,581 parents, 27% said teachers were giving their children sweets and three-quarters thought it was a bad idea.

At the time the School Food Trust said it would be better to use healthy food as a reward.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/norfolk/7513320.stm
if they made it to the half time break
Did they mean Half-term?
 
Dumb cops, or what? Well, it's about kids today, anyhow...

Photographing thugs 'is assault', police tell householder snapping proof of anti-social behaviour
By Neil Sears
Last updated at 9:44 AM on 21st July 2008

A householder who took photographs of hooded teenagers as evidence of their anti-social behaviour says he was told he was breaking the law after they called the police.

David Green, 64, and his neighbours had been plagued by the youths from a nearby comprehensive school for months, and was advised by their headmaster to identify them so action could be taken.

One of Mr Green's pictures shows two hooded teenagers, one making an obscene gesture towards the camera

But when Mr Green left his £1million London flat to take photographs of the gang, who were aged around 17, he said one threatened to kill him while another called the police on his mobile.

And he claimed that a Police Community Support Officer sent to the scene promptly issued a warning that taking pictures of youths without permission was illegal, and could lead to a charge of assault.

Last night Mr Green, a television cameraman, said he was appalled that the legal system's first priority seemed not to be stopping frightening anti-social behaviour by aggressive youths, but protecting them from being photographed by the concerned public.

Mr Green, a father-of-two, lives with his programme-maker wife Judy in a penthouse flat close to Waterloo station.

He said: 'We've had problems with this group shouting abuse and throwing stones for months, and were asked to identify them.

'When I went to take photographs of eight of them throwing cans of Coke around, six of them ran away, one threatened to kill me, and another one started phoning the police.

'A couple of hours later, a Police Community Support Officer told me I had been accused of assault, though no such thing occurred, and told me I was not allowed to take photographs of teenagers on the street.

'I think it's wrong that when teenagers are running riot and the police are called, it's about me, and I'm treated like a criminal.

'In South London we all know how many stabbings there have been, and I think the police should be busy catching the real bad people.'

Mr Green said he handed his pictures to a deputy headmaster at the nearby Nautical School, and was promised the matter would be investigated.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the force had no record of the incident. :roll:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... viour.html
 
Britain's youth 'blighted by crime'

Britain's youth is increasingly affected by violent crime, depression, stress and drugs, a survey shows.

The poll of 1,000 16 to 24-year-olds shows they feel they are facing more personal and social problems than they were a year ago.

Key results of the study, conducted by Media Research in June, revealed 20% of males under 24 have been threatened wi

th a knife or weapon and 47% of all participants said this has happened to someone they know; 11% have been asked to join a gang; 15% felt pressured into carrying a weapon and 27% know at least one person their age who carries a weapon; more than 50% feel the UK is less safe than a year ago and 78% do not feel safe walking the streets.

A majority of youngsters also said they feel they have to deal with these worries alone. Almost a quarter, 24%, said they felt they could never talk to their parents about their concerns, 8% have sought help in chat rooms and only 6% have sought professional help.

Almost two thirds said they feel the media misrepresents the issues facing young people.

The study also revealed young people are generally dissatisfied with life. Almost half (41%) said they are unhappy - girls more so than boys; 28% said they 'wish they were someone else'; 63% think young people are more depressed now than ever before and 29% think young people in the UK have a tougher time than those in other countries.

Following the survey MTV has launched MTVi, an online service offering support for young people affected by these issues.

Georgia Arnold, senior vice president of social responsibility for MTV networks, said: 'While violent crime is clearly a concern to young people, our survey indicates that it is only one factor that leads to increased levels of depression and stress.

'With up to a third feeling that they have to deal with their problems alone, we hope MTVi will become both a useful online resource where our audience can find relevant and useful information on issues that affect them and a portal to expert support beyond the site itself through our partners.'

The site will be supported by organisations Big White Hall, Frank, Urban Concepts and the Terrence Higgins Trust which offer advice on anti-violence, drugs, and mental and sexual health.

http://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/nationa ... 4306903.jp
 
And he claimed that a Police Community Support Officer sent to the scene promptly issued a warning that taking pictures of youths without permission was illegal, and could lead to a charge of assault.

And the large numbers of CCTV cvameras? Could being photographed by one of those lead to a charge of assault?
 
lupinwick said:
And the large numbers of CCTV cvameras? Could being photographed by one of those lead to a charge of assault?

No, I suppose for the same reason that if you get sent to prison they don't charge the governor with kidnap. That said the article seems to be misreporting the facts of the case. Mr Green claims the PCSO merely informed him he had been accused of assault though not neccessarily with a deadly camera.
 
lupinwick said:
And he claimed that a Police Community Support Officer sent to the scene promptly issued a warning that taking pictures of youths without permission was illegal, and could lead to a charge of assault.

And the large numbers of CCTV cvameras? Could being photographed by one of those lead to a charge of assault?
My guess is that the 'Police Community Support Officer' in question, was pulling dubious law out of his rear end. We have seen this before, on these Threads.

It would certainly save paperwork, if you could put the fear of the law into the citizen recording any possible crime with their camera. But, it would not be very good 'community support.'

That's why it's always important in such circumstances, to either get the officer's number, or at least ask that they identify themselves. That way, it would be possible to clarify any dubious points of law with their commanding officers, with reference to the particular case, in question. ;)
 
As I thought, the PCSO was spouting a load of old tosh.

On a different note though a colleague at work had a run in with the police for taking photos of a group of teenage girls during some kind of public event. The parents asked him to delete the photos and then the police turned up some time later that day to peruse his house and vet his personal website. While in this case he may have been in the wrong it feels as though we're being slowly engineered to view every one as some kind of criminal (kids as well as adults).
 
Curfew 'successful' before launch

Organisers of a voluntary curfew in a Cornish town have claimed success before it is officially launched.

Operation Goodnight, which begins on Friday, is part of an ongoing campaign to reduce anti-social behaviour in Redruth over the summer holiday period.

Parents are being encouraged to have under 10s home by 2000 BST and 16-year-olds off the streets by 2100 BST.

"We have seen parents in the park with their children, which has never happened before," Ann Mitchell said.

The chairman of the local Helping Hands Residents' Association said there had already been fewer problems with children late at night.

"That is what we are trying for - to get parents to be responsible for their children," Ms Mitchell said.

Letters explaining the scheme, which will run until 7 September, have been delivered to about 600 homes in the Close Hill area of Redruth.

Ms Mitchell said problems in the area have included foul and abusive language and vandalism.

"Elderly people have had stones thrown at their windows and balls kicked at their doors," she said.

"The majority of youngsters are lovely, but there is a handful which are the problem.

"It does not help that the area is one of the most deprived in Cornwall."

Redruth town councillor Clive Bray said Operation Goodnight appears to have had an impact ahead of the launch.

Human rights

"A lot of parents have been talking about it - the general consensus is it is a good idea," he said.

Multi-agency patrols will be out on the streets from Friday and will talk to parents and carers of any young people found out on their own after the curfew times.

Extra activities, such as football coaching sessions, have been organised.

However the scheme has been criticised by teenager David Callahan.

The 17-year-old, who is a member of the Youth Parliament in Cornwall, said it was a breach of human rights and unjustified unless young people were causing a nuisance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7523084.stm
 
In this BBC article on an idyllic community on a remote Pacific island, Anuta,
( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/f ... 525252.stm )
I found these comments on child raising:


....

Island harmony

The Anutans have their own word for this, "aropa", which means love and compassion.

It is an ideology that is applied to almost everything they do.

You can see it at work in the way food and tasks are shared, but it goes further than this.

Bizarrely they even adopt each other's children.

Joseph's oldest daughter was adopted by a couple who gave him their son in return a few years later.

When I asked Joseph about this, he simply said that it was not an issue as Anutans saw children as communal.

What was important was that everyone who wanted a child had one.

So if a couple was childless for any reason they would be perfectly entitled to ask another family member or friend if they could have their next child.

Both mother and father have to agree but requests are seldom refused.

...

When I asked Joseph what the biggest changes have been in the last 20 years he said "young people playing ukuleles".

Was this a problem? I asked rather jokingly.

"Well," he replied more seriously, "before the ukuleles the younger generation would dance every evening. Now it is rare."

I got the same response from at least half a dozen other adults.

As trivial as this sounds it does make one think about our own, supposedly advanced, society.

We worry about our children getting in with the wrong crowd, taking drugs, drinking, teenage knife crime. Anutans worry about their kids playing homemade ukuleles.

:shock:
 
Welsh police could adopt curfew

The voluntary curfew in Redruth could be adopted by another police force.

Officers from Barry in South Wales have been observing the scheme in the Close Hill area of the town and said they were impressed by the idea.

Barry officers said they have similar anti social behaviour problems in their home town and were considering trying the voluntary curfew out.

Operation Goodnight is part of a campaign to reduce anti-social behaviour over the summer holidays.

Parents have been urged to have under-10s home by 2000 BST and 16-year-olds off the streets by 2100 BST.

Some have said youngsters' rights are being infringed, but police said the scheme was about developing a greater sense of parental responsibility.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7527804.stm

But perhaps the best answer would be to hand out do-it-yourself ukelele kits or instructions in these troublesome areas! :D

http://www.ukulelehut.com/build-make-an ... /index.php
 
Teenagers cause havoc for tourists punting on Cambridge river
Tourists in Cambridge are being targeted by menacing gangs of youths who are attacking visitors punting on the city's famous waterways.
By Nick Britten
Last Updated: 8:29PM BST 29 Jul 2008

Groups of teenagers as young as 10 are loitering on bridges over the River Cam and stealing the poles used to steer the boats as they pass by.

They then demand a ransom to return the sticks, and sometimes even capsize the vessels by diving into the water beside them.

Paul Holland, 36, said he saw more than a dozen teenagers "running riot" by the side of the river.

"They were divebombing people, splashing them, and nicking their poles and holding them to ransom," he said.

"Something must be done to stop it."

One victim, Lara Mackenzie, 25, landlady of the Green Man pub in Granchester, a village just outside Cambridge, went out on a punt on Monday with her husband Barry and six-month-old baby Sadie.

She said: "There was a really nasty-looking group of yobs on the bank who were shouting and swearing at us.

"They looked like they were about to attack and were talking about hitting and stabbing people as we moved past them.

"I actually hid my six-month-old baby because I felt at any moment something was going to go wrong.

"From the way they were behaving and glowering at us I thought we were going to get stoned.

"These people are not innocent children having fun. They are a gang of youths ready to wreak chaos."

Husband Barry, 36, added: "There was a real element of intimidation. These idiots are up and down the river everywhere. It's such a shame because it's spoiling such a beautiful place."

Rod Ingersent, the manager of punting firm Scudamores, said: "Many customers were coming back quite shaken up, and some of them cut their trip short because they said it had been spoilt. I had to deal with a number of complaints."

Police said they had received complaints and were increasing riverside patrols.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ ... river.html
 
That must be a sneaky joke; if so it's a good 'un.
 
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