TURNING A BLIND EYE
The recent distressing report of a single mother cremating herself and her disabled daughter after a hate campaign by local youths is yet another instance of a sick and deeply flawed society. It also brings sharply into focus two recurring themes: the feral street culture spreading like an epidemic to every corner of the country, and the inability, or the unwillingness, of the police to do anything about it.
The facts make for depressing reading. The hate campaign was launched because they were an easy target, and couldn’t fight back. It lasted seven years. There were repeated reports of stone and bottle throwing, rowdy and abusive behaviour and constant verbal threats. Not one arrest was made, despite thirty three distress calls made by the mother, thirteen in the last year of her life. And the response from the police? Too little, too late. Of those thirteen calls, five resulted in no one being available to attend the family home, seven led to a visit from a single officer and one from a community support volunteer, also known as a “hobby bobby.” And still no arrests!
According to the Acting Chief Constable of Leicestershire, now retired and enjoying his index linked pension, changes have been implemented and by the end of this year, seven years on, 2000 officers would have been specially trained to spot vulnerable people. To this ridiculously pompous statement came the reply from the Coroner: “This family was patently vulnerable – you don’t need special training to spot the obvious!” Amen to that!
Some years ago, there was a gang of youths congregating on a bench opposite our house, led by a fourteen year old girl, now the mother of two children by two different fathers, and there they would sit, night after night, smoking, shouting and swearing, in all weathers. When their behaviour became disruptive, I went out to confront them. They would scatter, only to return. So I contacted the police, and I was warned against taking ‘executive action’, as I might be arrested. They sent a lone female “hobby bobby,” and when I spoke to her the next day, she told me she had spoken to the group about their behaviour, but had taken no action as she “didn’t want to upset them!” It’s enough to make strong men weep, let alone vulnerable single mothers.
And so it goes on, as we lurch from one crisis to the next, and as a society, we do nothing about it. These youths are part of a lost generation, with no parenting and no education, turned out, bored and illiterate, onto the streets, and as the saying goes: “The Devil makes work for idle hands.”
We can’t blame the ferals, but we can do something about it. Even though the National Debt is increasing by £8000 a second, money must be found, and found quickly. I am in favour of a compulsory year of community service for every sixteen year old. This must include acquiring basic skills such as painting, carpentry, plumbing, glazing, to repair all those broken windows, refuse collection to tidy up their own back yard, and much more besides, but to include a strong element of social work. A day, or better still, a week, at a council run retirement home, to witness the elderly slowly dying and being abused and neglected at the same time. A visit to the A & E department of a hospital would not come amiss, with plenty of blood and gore, a ride in the back of a police van on the rare occasions when the police attend a public disorder, and a day behind bars in a local prison, where the ferals could be sexually and physically abused by the inmates.
If and when the ferals complete their twelve months, give them a medal and a passing out parade, and welcome them into civilised society. Sad to relate though, no jobs available for the foreseeable future. But behind every cloud is a silver lining, or so they say. Now, where did I put my passport?
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