Go for the parents

Parents should take responsibility for their children is the tearful statement of one recent widow in the news. Except of course legally they already should and the vicious young thugs convicted of murdering her husband were all over 16 and thus not 'children'.

Much bemoaning from the text-ins and emails, talking about how they didn't do this when they were kids; oddly though from the generation who installed such worthwhile values in the current generation that we're um complaining about. Bring back National Service cry the closet and outed Tories; great idea instead of a bored and feckless youth on our streets we can have a bored and feckless military trained youth on our streets instead.

Talks about the police not doing enough, which is just wrong; they're filling those forms as fast as they can damnit!

Much talk over the fact that one of the killers was just bailed for an assault (I assume they mean Common Assault rather then just threatening someone) ignoring the numbers who are bailed for assault and don't go on to murder someone.

So what can be done? I don't know.

We need more police on the streets rather then whistling past in cars, but with the size of estates and general urban sprawl the numbers required to do the job properly probably exceed the current numbers (oh and think of the rise in taxes). Cut out the red-tape so they can do their job; that is until you realise you need the red-tape at times especially when some innocent gets shot in the head.

Create youth centres to organise them off street corners, except they'd be vandilised within a week by those not using them.

Tighten up the drinking laws to make it illegal for under-18s to even drink alcohol, and thus add to a nation that already sees drinking as a right-of-passage adult experience unlike the Continent.

Break up loitering groups, breaking down their social skills further and causing them to switch more and more to virtual groups which creates its own problems.

Teach respect for adults, while at the same time teaching them to question the status quo?

Ah well and so we come back to the parents, perhaps prospective parents should apply for a child licence, take a test (other then the practical), be trained on the correct way to raise a child. Except we can't do either for reasons of liberty and the fact that there doesn't appear to be a One True Way of raising a child.

So I just don't know.