What is going on in Britain???

What is going on??

Seriously... i don’t get it... society/TPTB/Government/People seem to have thrown common sense out the window and replaced it with a strange mix of warped liberalism and misguided nanny state Orwellianism!!
Sounds like a contradiction... but that’s how i see it!!

Look at this story...

news.bbc.co.uk...

news.bbc.co.uk...

This woman and her severely disabled daughter were hounded by a local gang for YEARS!!! Again and again complaints were made to the police about this bullying... It got so bad that the mother would switch all the lights in the house off and cower with her daughter in a dark corner just to avoid the constant abuse from these teenagers!!
Eventually the strain became too much and the mother killed herself and her daughter.

Then we have this more recent story...

news.bbc.co.uk...

This time a 64 year old man with severe learning difficulties dies in his front garden after suffering YEARS of abuse from local gangs...

The police were well aware of what was happening and had installed CCTV at the house... So the youths just wore hoods when they harassed and abused this man. Eventually the abuse took its toll...

These are just two stories of what is sadly becoming an epidemic in Britain!!! For too long have we taken the liberal approach to youth... offering them “respect” instead of discipline and excuses instead of responsibility!!!
Is it time to adopt a more old fashioned approach and clean up our streets?? Is it not time for adults to reclaim their place as leaders???

Parents of these little thugs need to be held accountable... all too often the parents are either apathetic regarding their Childs discipline or they are just as bed and are actually disruptive to the Childs education and social growth!!

But what happens when parents do stand up to their Children??

news.bbc.co.uk...

A man who was arrested and cautioned for slapping his 13-year-old daughter across the face fears he will no longer be able to work with children.
Jim McCullough, of Manchester, hit Jess after she banged a neighbour's window at midnight, and she called the police

Now, whether you agree with this man slapping his daughter or not, the fact remains that he has been arrested for trying to discipline his daughter who was harassing a neighbour!!!!

What is going on??? personally... if it was my daughter, i would have done the same... the only difference would be that i wouldn’t apologise for it. I have NEVER had to smack my daughter... but she is well aware that, if she did something serious enough, it is one of the weapons in my arsenal!!!

Now you can shout “That’s abusive” or “violence only begets violence” but the fact remains that none of my children bully or harass our neighbours(or anyone else for that matter) They have never played truant from school, talked back to adults, committed any crimes and are also well balanced and happy!!!

I have heard of cases where parents have been threatened with having their children put into care because they have smacked a Child!!! Ridiculous!! Especially when you consider this...


news.bbc.co.uk...

This beautiful little girl was forced to stand naked in the rain as punishment... Beaten regularly for minor mishaps, and starved to the point where she eventually died. The police and social services were aware of this... But no one was arrested until this little girl died!!!!

So you can beat and starve you daughter to death for your sick and twisted amusement... But if you are a kind and loving parent, who one day smacks your child for being abusive to neighbours, you get arrested?!?!?

Where is the common sense??? What is going on???

S&F for you
i agree the entire system is wrong
its as tho TPTB want gangs on violent, obusive unruly out of control teenagers runing riot.
on a side note, i once reported some kids for threatening to burn my house down, the police responce was and i quote, ' we cant do anything until they actually commit an offense'
basically, come back when they burn the house down
when i was a kid, if you threatened someoen like that, they would likely smack you round the head, or worse tell your parents, and they would smack you
these days, liek you said, parents are frightned of thier own kids, isnt that backwards somehow?

we spend 10 Billion on offenders who go to jail only to come out and commit more offences, it would cost the same as to put these people through Eaton or some other private education. something seriously wrong.

not much you can do about it all really.

I disagree, the parents don't need blaming. This country is too soft on "child rights", when the little darlings are out terrorizing the streets and smashing windows then imo they have NO rights, especially to do that.

If they cant do the time they shouldn't do the crime. There old enough to terrorize a OAP, there old enough to rot in a cell to think long and hard about their life (or lack of it.)

[edit on 12/3/10 by ROBL240]

Originally posted by ROBL240
I disagree, the parents don't need blaming. This country is too soft on "child rights", when the little darlings are out terrorizing the streets and smashing windows then imo they have NO rights, especially to do that.

If they cant do the time they shouldn't do the crime. There old enough to terrorize a OAP, there old enough to rot in a cell to think long and hard about their life (or lack of it.)

[edit on 12/3/10 by ROBL240]

We have the largest prison population in western europe, which means its failing and costing the british Tax Payer billions. We need to look at the root of these crimes, poverty being the largest contributer.

reply to post by Muckster


Man I have looked at this and I just wonder. I love my kids but have exlained in great detail I will never be their friend but I will always be their Dad. If I see them doing *Snip* then I will be on them like a ton of bricks but my kids and I have such a bond and they are good people now. I wasn't a tyrant but I brought them up "Old school westindian style".

I feel so bad for those people that suffered with yobbos.

When I was younger and more socially concerned I was a youth worker in Clapham Junction -down the Hill and the attitude of pro drug and pro drink youth workers was significant. They left me as the much hated lawmaker having to confront the weed smokers and later the crackheads that were trying to turn the club into a drug den.

Everyone wants to be "right on with the kids" as opposed to giving them a swift boot up the jacksie when they deliberately mess up if necessary.

I think things went wrong when parents were prevented from chastising their kids as that weakend the arsenal of disciplinary tools available.

I tried it on with the my parents and knew that I would be punished if I got out of line so would go so far and no further. Nowadays there are no boundaries as the parents just don't seem to be able to cope.

Hopefully the system will wake up before too many vulnerable people die.


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[edit on 3/13/2010 by semperfortis]

Sounds like something out of "Clockwork Orange" to me. Never thought it would get that bad.

They need to be taught that "rights" have responsabilty, and respect is earned...

A firm hand is needed...

My platoon sergeant in basic training turned me from a wussy Jewish mommies boy into a soldier... Even in live firing attacks he would boot me in the ribs for not moving after every two shots to make myself an harder target... He was a total bastard... But I love him.... He taught me how to be a man and how to responsibly lead them.... He is why myself and those under my command are still alive... That hard bastard from Manchester... He also instilled character into me, and through many hard runs up Pen y fan in Wales wearing a respirator(gas mask) and carrying a jerry-can of water too, made me realize that the only limits I have are those I put on myself...



UK men today are a generation of mummies boys raised by women because their dads were the same...

We need to go back to our traditional roles... It obviously worked...

reply to post by expat2368


I was thinking exactly the same thing.

Fear of repercussions. I know I'm probably gonna get flamed for saying that, but look around. There are very few penalties at all, and what ones do exist the kids know the loopholes.

I never know whether to laugh or cry when I hear the rhetoric about protecting children, nurturing them etc. Yes it is vitally important given our increased awareness concerning developmental issues.

But there are other developmental issues as well, and they also need to be addressed. I see the kids that my friends have and it is disturbing; when I was that age there may have been 1 kid in 100 who had the types of problems that 1:3 have now.

The world has changed yes, but the strong-tone path of discipline has failed, just look, it is impossible to argue otherwise.

Time for the pendulum to swing back a little bit.

Time to be parents again.

[edit on 12-3-2010 by [davinci]]

reply to post by Muckster


You see I'm a man now, but grew up as a boy. And growing up sometimes (as a boy) you do dumb stuff or bad stuff and the only way not to get a kid to not do something is apply a negative consequence to those actions. As long as the consequences aren't out of control like starving your daughter. Personally, I approve of all the discipline I went through, it taught me that my actions have conequences and if I want to walk around doing what I want I'm going to have to anwser for it sooner or later.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


That's simply not true. Poverty does not cause crime or produce criminals. Yes, you could say that alot of crime is concentrated in poor areas but that does not necessarily mean poverty is the main cause of it. IMO crime is born out of boredom, desperation, lack of understanding and improper education.

reply to post by Muckster


I've read in the last couple of days an English newspaper's account of a high commission of some sort had passed down the recommendation that burglars should not be given prison time if a person was not harmed in the act.

I'm going assume that the justice system there is faced with full prisons and a falling budget. At least, those are the reasons California says it will be releasing non-violent criminals.

But Jeez! No prison time? Most offenders won't have the cash for bonds or retribution, so if prison is out, what happens to them? Back on the street?

People are still animals whether you like to admit it or not, and we, just like all others, respond best to violence.


its almost like training a dog, you cant just sit there and yell at him and expect him to care at all about what you say, but when you yell no and give him a smack, it gets your point across well and shows who is the boss.


now granted some people take it a little too far with beating kids, and thats not right, but a swift kick in the ass never hurt anyone.


and the sudden social taboo of disciplining children years ago is the explanation of the worlds sudden pussification. when these babied generations get older its only gonna get worse

I remember my mom slaped me once in public but i can't imagine being taken away from her for that reason.

I mean Im a good kid now, and I didn't know what i was doing causing my mom to be angry. Sometimes a kid needs a little wake up call. And if i had been taken away back then i would probebly be F***ed right now.

This is just appalling...that's the only word for it.

I was brought up by a single mother with a strong hand. I got out of line, smack upside the head, I got mouthy in the car, I got the reach around pinch that mothers can do that bring tears quicker then anything I've ever encountered.

She was also one of those "neighborhood mom" types. If some other kid was being rude, evil or what have you, you can bet she was giving them what for. I once saw her break up a fight between 3 kids. She pushed through the 15 kids surrounding the fight, grabbed two of them (would have gotten the third if she had another arm) and pulled them by the ears (no exaggeration) to their parents. One of the parents was like "boys will be boys" and you should have heard the words coming from her mouth. The other she was acquainted with and pretty much shamed the boy with the whole "I KNOW you know better" line.

She wasn't the only one who did this either

What happened to those days? It wasn't that long ago, I'm only 22.

My little brother is about to hit high school, and she is still the same kind of parent. Yet, the parents of the other children,some of which had kids that went to school with me and their parents were just the same, let the kids run a muck. At school functions, they look at her to discipline everyone. She finally got to the point where she tells the parents to fix their own damn kids.

It seems like in a matter of 10 years people forgot how to parent.

Edit to add: I can't even begin to count how many times I was slapped upside the head IN CHURCH for simply not paying attention. In fact, one sunday she sent us kids alone because she was not feeling well, and this elderly lady who sat behind us nearly every week saw me talking to my sister, and she tapped me on the shoulder and said "I know your mother would not approve, and if I have to, I'll do just what she would" I got angry with this, told my mom when I got home, and all she said was "As well she should, you know better"

[edit on 3/13/2010 by iamsupermanv2]

[edit on 3/13/2010 by iamsupermanv2]

The system is broken and no one knows how to fix it.

Meanwhile, kids grow up understanding little respect who then become parents.... their kids then have even less respect.... cycle continues... society breaks.

Basically, there is no respect. We also have people in places that make decisions who have no idea at all. They push for very open, free, anything goes type mentality. Offenders get treated like they are at camp because some clueless official (who probably had a rough time growing up) makes it wrong to be strict.

There is no fear of authority. But then does the current authority deserve to be feared or respected when they are two-faced, corrupt etc.

It has to start at the top, with good, honest but strong people leading and no hidden agenda.

Outlook - seems impossible to me.

reply to post by Muckster


Some people may call BS here but it's the truth. Your kids and you are owned by the corporate government, if you strike a child you are damaging private property and not your own, that is the crime. The child protection laws need to be repealed. As for gangs and the police response, if there is no crime we wouldn't need police would we? They let it happen to give them the control and the job, they actually don't care. They NEED it to be that way.

My father would knock the crap out of us if we ever did anything wrong, it only took one time to get the picture. If you did something wrong, it was over the stool you go, pants down and a huge leather strap across the backside. It worked. My sisters didn't get it that often but us boys did. My older brother was a career criminal from about 6 yrs. old. When my father would beat him it only made him more resentful because he didn't "get it". At age 17 he came home really late, all of use were at the dinner table in the dark, he snuck in and my father turned on the lights, busted, my father called him over to the table and then stood up and DRILLED him square in the face, knocked him out, my sisters were crying and me and my little brother were in shock. Point made, my brother straightened up after that. My father was a police detective too, you couldn't fool him.

Point being, most definitely discipline your children however you see fit, screw the government BS. Sad that many people have children for the "fun" of it and never think about the future. Same goes for pets. Most people shouldn't breed period!!

[edit on 13-3-2010 by daddio]

Whole heartedly, I agree! It is everywhere and fastly becoming a very major problem (it has been for a number of years now, but steadily seems to be getting worse rather than better) The parents of these pack animals should be held accountable in many instances..and i've often encountered the same where the parents tend to sugar coat their childs behaviour with 'oh their just kids' type of attitudes, or they are just as bad as the kids themselves! I have been noticing/observing over the past years the steady decline in any common sense of the human races youth, especially.. This is a topic that always hits a nerve with me..there are two seperate threads i have tried to start on this topic on my page here, there are many possible causes to this 'trend' for example, the dumbing down of society as a whole, food additives to help said dumbing down process, along.. mind numbing television, its fake realities, the effect of radio waves emitted by mobile phones/wireless internet/television frequencies etc.. but i dont think we will ever know for certain. Its nice to hear your children have grown so well, and i thank you for bringing more decent beings into this world.. it seems to be lacking a lot these days.
My 8 year old son has never had to be slapped either, but he does know he will get a slap if he really pushes it.. and no, that isnt child abuse. thats discipline which is fully understandable. The example story you gave of a true abuse case was sickening.. the difference of course, clearly understood... one would hope anyhow. But the question does remain, what can be done?

It's all police state BS, the gov has no right to tell you how to discipline your kids, there is a big difference between and spanking or a slap along side the head and beating the living crap out of a kid. The gov just wants to take your kids and turn them into drugged up zombies and they probably get more abuse from the sicko's running the child care services than anything.

I don't know if they allow you to have guns in England or not, but if everyone had a gun on themselves even in the US, the idiot gang members would think twice about attacking or threatening someone because they could end up dead themselves.

Bring back the stocks for social crimes (like vandalism etc) and make prison somewhere that people would rather not go to instead of a rather cushy place to stay for a few years while you tone up your muscles and pass a degree in how to sue the council.