Everything is somebody else's fault

[Firebottle]

Steve your point 2 is absolute common sense, unfortunately that took a huge nose dive when all the political correctness came in.

I'm all for the president of Uruguay giving carte blanche for drug pushers to be shot on sight, I wonder if they could do that here?

(Liking the new T shirt)

[walpurgis]

I'm all for the president of Uruguay giving carte blanche for drug pushers to be shot on sight, I wonder if they could do that here?

They should do it for littering and fly tipping.

[Minstrel SE]

I think we have a nanny state but not where it matters. I would haul drug users off for some sort of forced rehab..anyone thats a menace to society. Less of the there there and more of you're coming for help whether you like it or not

Its difficult one because I like to think Im very liberal but am I really? We need some order in this society.

This PC thing is being used in a malicious way. I had someone accusing me of being homophobic last night because the bar was closed and I was seeing to other people.

Almost laughable in its immaturity but deeply sinister at the same time. I had to play it down without offence and report it to my manager

[Macca]

Regarding that last sentence, a couple of points:

1. Back then, most of us had nothing worth nicking, and

2. despite some disagreement last time I suggested this, I do believe that most of our street crime is drug-related on some level. The people involved are way more afraid of the guys they're working for than anything the police and courts can do to them. Proper support for people with drug problems, funded through the sale of said drugs through licensed outlets has got to be worth a try, as nothing else is working

That would be my solution too. What we have now is just like during prohibition in the USA, a multi-billion pound industry with no regulation and no taxation, and the rival gangs knocking each other off to get a bigger share of the pie. People are never going to stop using coke and weed so there needs to be a realistic solution to that.

[Marco]

Regarding that last sentence, a couple of points:

1. Back then, most of us had nothing worth nicking

Speak for yourself!

Oh and I also favour Martin's uncle's approach to policing. It was undoubtedly far more effective.

Marco.

P.S Like your new avvy... Have you got one 'brewing' now?

[Joe]

My uncle was a copper. First in the military police, then a woodentop, then a detective. His beat used to be Toxteth, Liverpool 8 where he was known to the locals as 'Noddy' due to his habit of headbutting anyone who gave him lip. No warning, just butt them.

His view was that back then they knew who all the scrotes were and it was all about keeping them off the streets by fair means or foul, even if that meant extracting a confession by force.

It didn't matter whether they were guilty of that particular crime or not, they would still be guilty of something else, possibly something the police didn't even know about. So he figured it was fair enough.

He thought the Police And Criminal Evidence act was the 'Worst thing that ever happened to policing in this country' as it put a stop to all that carry-on. I've mixed feelings about that even now but no question he was a highly experienced police officer so you couldn't really take his opinion lightly. And according to old people crime was much less widespread back then.

Re the last point, my mother was always going on about there being no crime when she was a lass. Then she'd regale us with stories about the woman next door whose husband was always in and out of jail for knocking her about, and about the dodgy goings-on of my aunt's employer who ran a coach business which was a cover for illegal betting, selling black market goods, and so on. There was plenty of crime, but much of it was regarded as getting one over the authorities and hence not really criminal. And here's Ringo Starr on life in the Dingle in the late '40s early '50s: 'Adding to their difficult circumstances, violent crime was an almost constant concern for people living in one of the oldest and poorest inner-city districts in Liverpool.[31] Starkey later commented: "You kept your head down, your eyes open, and you didn't get in anybody's way.' My father used to tell us about walking home along the Dock Road after doing a late shift: 'There was a pub on every corner, and a fight outside every pub. You just kept on walking and didn't get involved'.

[Marco]

Best policy in those days, and even now, when you're in someone else's 'manor'... Same also applies when you're on holiday abroad in foreign cities. The last thing anyone with a brain wants to do is 'stand out' in the wrong way. Blend into the environment, as inconspicuously as possible, is the one!

Marco.

[Macca]

Re the last point, my mother was always going on about there being no crime when she was a lass. Then she'd regale us with stories about the woman next door whose husband was always in and out of jail for knocking her about, and about the dodgy goings-on of my aunt's employer who ran a coach business which was a cover for illegal betting, selling black market goods, and so on. There was plenty of crime, but much of it was regarded as getting one over the authorities and hence not really criminal. .

Pretty much. Added to which locals tended to sort out their own problems without involving the police at all. Someone caught thieving would get a good hiding for example. Someone knocking their wife or girlfriend about would get a 'visit' from her father and/or brothers. Reporting any of that to the authorities was 'grassing' and would also result in a beating.

[walpurgis]

Added to which locals tended to sort out their own problems without involving the police at all

Some of us still do!

[struth]

Its generally pretty quiet where I am; even my last street was quiet, although it was going downhill .. This one is not what it was either, as older folk die off and incomers appear and dont keep the place tidy or quiet. Seems to be a modern disease.. I can do what i want and fcuk my neighbours attitude sadly.

Still, its better than most.