Sorry, I just need to rant! (not for the faint hearted!)

[rpbert1]

Beth__WDW23/6/02
My BIL works in a young offenders center in our town. They have all the facilites you mention, when they need clothes they, are taken out and bought all the best of gear, things i could not have afforded for my kids at the time, some have been taken abroad for holidays, for their good behaviour, and are quite often took, for holidays here in Ireland.
All this for being good in a detention center.
And he says , quite a few of them reoffend anyway when released.
I wonder why

 

[scottishsue]

two words Human rights !!!!!!!!!

way to much emphasis on the rights of the perpertrator and absoloutly NONE on the side of the victim

my answers

bring in id cards- ive got nothing to hide ( i dont think they should cost too much though )

bring back the respect for teachers etc by being able to properly punish the guilty !! prison is a soft option in my opinion and it wouldn't cost so much to keep them if they were not cosseted when they were in there

I totally agree with you there Natalie. Teachers these days have to put up with so much, but aren't allowed to do anything about it. A teacher friend of mine was physically bullied at school by a 7 year old boy - and had to have a few months off as a result of it, as she was so shook up.

I don't know what this country is coming to. It was far safer in my day... we could walk the streets with no fear, but its impossible now.

 

[eyoreaud]

Well Done Obi!

You have mirrored my thoughts almost exactly. These days it's disgusting to watch all the dole bludgers, drug addicts, hooligans and drug dealers walking (or should i say strutting) around our town as if they owned the flippin place!
It makes my blood boil! Everyone around here knows who they are, lots of people have told the police who they are but they can't prove anything so the scum gets away with it!

You should see some of their houses, it really would be laughable if it wasn't so wrong, they mostly all have satelite dishes, cars, designer clothes etc... their kids want for very little (except a decent upbringing, manners, and respect for others ) they brag about what they've got and will readily tell you their parent or parents get lots of money for dealing drugs

It has become "the norm" to a lot of youngsters around here, and it's only going to get worse. A child i know used to go to our local corner shop (with a pocketfull of money!) buy loads of junkfood, walk outside and chuck ALL the change into the bin! I asked her what she was doing one day and she replied, quite matter of factly that she didn't need the coins as her dad gives her lots of paper money That wee girl is now 18 years old, 2 of her brothers and 3 cousins have all died of drug overdoses. Kids in our area see things going on all the time, but they are so used to it they have become de sensitised(sp?)

Some of the things we have been witness to would make the average persons hair stand on end.

So. what is the answer?

I honestly don't know

 

[hildasmuriel]

The only thing that gives me hope is the fact that we are all so shocked by it. MOST people are good, MOST people are honest and MOST people hate the low lifes that seem to be out of control.
Seriously, if you think about your family and friends I bet they are nice, decent people who live their life by the rules. Unfortunately the sad and tragic news are the the things that sell the newspapers. There is no money to be made from a headline that says "Nice family celebrate another year without anything bad happening."
I don't think I bury my head in the sand, I know the 'bad' people are out there, but I do try to celebrate the good I see (thinking of the people who go that extra mile for others - my daughter's Brown Owl springs to mind, lovely lady. )

 

[Lizzy Lemon]

Another one here who quite agrees. I longed to have my children and went through a lot to have them but my God I sometimes wonder what's in store for them, especially the younger one with Special Needs, I suspect a lot of unkindness is in store in the next few months when he moves back into main stream education from some very cruel children.

What worries me about the bad teenage element in society is that in a few years they will be parents themselves, if they have no discipline in their lives they are certainly not going to be giving any discipline to their offspring. Something must be done soon, its just got to be.

One of our nieces has got in with a bad crowd and has recently been sentenced for theft, the boyfriend got a year inside and she has received curfew orders and community service. Her parents are beside themselves with worry and have tried to get help to get her off drugs, only the GP has helped out, the mum couldn't find anyone else to help. At the end of the day the niece has got to help herself sort this problem out but she's not willing to try, she's just waiting for the boyfriend to come out. She is the only person in either of our families to ever get into trouble like this, I hope she is the last.

 

[kev kendall]

Another supporter here, Obi.

I'm also concerned that the police don't (or can't ???) enforce orders. For example, I "taught" (I say taught - he just came in to throw chairs around a bit) a boy who had an asbo, but everynight broke his curfew and perimeter orders and regularly boasted in front of the police and NOTHING was done!!!

I'm probably doing it wrong, but I wont have any bullying or swearing or physical violence in my school, so I exclude and try to make it the parents problem. The last boy I excluded for intimidating behaviour was seen in a toy shop with his mum!!!

Parents should be sent to parenting courses if chn are trouble.

Having said that, we live on a very "nice" street and have had one of those families move in and the police have been round everyday we've called them.

Having seen the state of chnm social services should be held more accountable too. I've regularly referred children who I suspect are being beaten by their parents to have the answer unless I can prove it they don't want to know........

Were things better 20 years ago?

I like to think that we hear about bad things but there must be loads of good things going on out there..

 

[Tron[ADS]]

Obi....stand at the next election...i will vote for you !

 

[Lisash]

I'm with you all the way Obi

 

[jharrowell]

Well I consider myself a Guardian reading, tree hugging, vegetarian lefty and I've only one thing to say.




Good on you!


However much I hate to admit it, this has gone to far to be fixed by a "ticking off" of the kids or the parents.

It's reached a point where the previous generation is scared of the current one.

A sad, sad state of affairs indeed.

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

I agree with, and applaud, everything you say, Obi.

Sadly, my DH and I were only having a similar discussion this afternoon when we went down to the village to watch our annual carnival. My DD (14) was on the green with her friends, but we opted to wait for her and walk home with her because there are a certain outside element who come to only make trouble - the drink flows freely and so do they.

Because of this, this year there is no beer tent, there is no live music on into the evening, because the police have decided that the non-locals are the trouble makers and therefore need to be stopped. So we all have to miss out

We feel we are a bit behind the times here, but it's only a matter of time that modern life and society catch up with us.

Around 7 years ago, we had the opportunity of moving over to the States, but were talked out of it by friends and family who couldn't understand why we would move over there "with all the drug problems and gun crimes"; a health service which you have to pay for; poor education.

I would counter that now with how our drug and crime problems seem to be as bad; the health service is degenerating into a black hole (my DH had to wait 3 years for an operation, we now pay for Bupa) and more and more English students attend universities and colleges in the US because of the high levels of success.

Do we regret not moving - you betcha!

Something HAS to be done about this society - perhaps we should send a copy of this thread to our hopeless prime minister to show him what we really think.

 

[Vicki1971]

Obi - I can't fault you on your words - I totally agree.

A few years back we lived in Ipswich, that was before my DD3 was born. My DDs were 4 and 5. Everything was great, we had a long garden, toy equipment for them to play on. Their friends lived all around and they'd come and play. Then a family moved in - lived close to the botom of our garden - they were renting the house. The father didn't seem like he was all there, so to speak. He started shouting at my girls, saying some horrible things. His favourite was how he would wait and catch them alone and then he'd take them away and peel their skin off etc. We were so worried.

I couldn't attend uni for a month, put on valium based products, the girls wouldn't play outside - nor any of their friends in their own gardens. My neighbour once jumped over the garden fences to go and have a word with the man. He'd also wait until my DH was at work and start banging on the door, shouting threats through the letterbox.

We had the police involved and all they could do was "have a word with him". The crux of the matter came to ahead one day and we deicded to leave, my DH was promoted and we moved to Coventry. It was good to be away.

There's too much crime in this country with little or no rights to the victims. We have a dog to protect our house. If someone breaks in the dog will attack - but I think that's fair. I remember an article years back where smeone protected their property and the burglar sued them for damages - I'm sorry but if some breaks in you should be allowed to defend yourself!

My freind and her BF were walking down a street- well lit, not late or a bad part of town, when he was jumped on from behind and had his ear lobe biten off. Why? Well the chap was high on drugs and thought it would be funny to do it?! The druggy never even went to prision - first offence and all that rubbish.

We are the most lilly livered country going! We give rights to the criminals and when they're off to prision its more of a holiday. And don't get me started on the 1,000s of people who live off the social. I know there are expections to evey case but I know of several families who admit that they will never work as they get so much free. One family I know of got driving lessons and a car free, it was supposed to encourage them to find work - nope they got free car and that was all they wanted, then there's the free holidays each year.

I had an interesting conversation with a friend who lived in South Africa. Her husband was a wife beater - seriously big chap who loved nothing more than hurting her. She moved out and he continued to try to get her. When she spoke to the police they said if she shot him, just to make sure one of his limbs was in the house - that way she'd be okay - she would be defending her home etc. It didn't come to that - she sneaked out of the country and back to the UK without him knowing. Perhaps this is going to far BUT at this stage I'd welcome a heavy hand to this scum of the UK.

I'm with you all the way Obi and I didn't realise replying to say that would mean I went on for so long either.

My final thoughts, I really believe that if a person harms a child they should be given over to that childs family to do with as they see fit.