The Best of British
by
Steven Partridge
I have never seen a
single bowler hat, I do not know the Queen personally and I have never
rampantly chased a fox over miles of farmland with the intent of my hounds
ripping it to pieces. I'm saying that I am British, and I dare to open
a few eyes to the reality of modern British Society. And the reality is
a harsh, violent and crime ridden one. I live in the centre of England,
in a small city--it’s your average small English city with a cathedral,
range of shops, businesses and hoards of teenagers intent on robbing and
beating up other teenagers for their mobile phones, wallets and other belongings
that they feel they have a right to.
Street crime is a growing
and serious problem in British society. Youths from around 12-19 literally
control the streets of suburbia, they gather on street corners, an available
wall or outside shops. They form armies of intimidation, and together they
gather in strength and confidence, verbally abusing the adults that tentatively
make their way through the battalions of hooded teenagers to the shops,
with each comment they grow more ferocious--impressed by their comrades'
insult, they follow suit with increased harshness. The poor teenagers that
make their way peacefully through the streets are likely to be shouted
at, verbally abused, or perhaps mugged or beaten up.
This may sound more like
the stereotypical view of an American inner city, not good old blightly
surely? You’d be wrong. As a law abiding sixteen year old, I have a front
seat view of the reality of the street crime focused on teenagers, by teenagers.
The inner city is literally a hunting ground. A friend of mine has been
robbed three times on the busiest street in the city centre, the worst
being when he was held up against the window of a famous burger retailer,
and was forced to hand over his phone, wallet and spare change. How
awful, you're thinking. Worse though, is the fact that people saw the
incident and carried on with their business, most putting their eyes firmly
to the ground. The people inside the store, continued scoffing their fries
and dredging the last drips of milk-shake, seemingly oblivious to the robbery
taking place, just on the other side of the glass.
There is no use in refusing
their demands, they are usually armed, knifes, some form of baton, and
of course their collection of fists, heads and feet. They prey on the single
person, or pairs of people, two being the ideal, with a decent amount to
steal but not enough people challenge the group. I'm sure they haven’t
the intellect to think this way; perhaps subconsciously they might, but
linear is more comprehensible i.e “person on own…must rob” etc.
It's is now common practise
that when walking the streets I look ahead of me, to check for an oncoming
group and if I see one, almost every time, I will alter my path to avoid
confrontation, usually increasing my journey's length and time, which is
made even more difficult as the alleyways have gates at every entrance
to stop the youths in question from roaming behind houses and robbing garages.
The problem is everyone
seems happily oblivious to the problem, shutting their curtains, turning
the volume up, blocking out the taunts that are being broadcasted in the
street. Ignorance is bliss and I second that, but to the teenagers of my
city who wish to lead peaceful, non-criminal lives, ignorance only brings
loss and injury. The people who wish to fight this problem are going into
the battle field unarmed and blindfolded, their actions have no effect,
as the police pose no deterrent, with re-offenders being slapped on the
wrists, or being electronically tagged, so at least now the police know
where they are robbing people.
I admit I am blaming the
offenders wholly, without considering factors such as parenting, education,
socio-economic background, but if im honest I don’t feel that they are
hard done by, as most of them attend the same school as myself or other
neighbouring schools, and we live in a fairly prosperous area. Whether
they feel powerful as a pack, or are simply caught up in the glamorisation
of gang culture, I do not know. However I do know that they are hurting,
inhibiting and effecting the lives of ordinary people from walking in the
streets, shopping or simply going about their daily lives. Britain isn’t
all cream teas and picnics by the river, it suffers in crime and deprivation
just like any other Western society.
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