dodgy ground there. I come from near Sunderland

I think the following post summed up how:

Oh come on, one incident and suddenly society is to blame? Worse things happen all over the world, but instead you've chosen to focus on this one isolated incident and make out that we're the only Country where things are going wrong.

Sorry, but it's not the case. No country is perfect - and you get scum bags like these people living everywhere.

as a person who has just left the uk police i can tell you things equal to this happen all the time in the UK now, i think you got out at the right time. i know i am...


granted none involed people dying, but i can think of many things just as bad..

the whole mentally of people these days in the uk is appalling. even respectable people are getting as bad in a lot of ways..

But thats just my point, society isn't to blame for the one scumbag, but for the people who watched and filmed and those who happened to be in the vicinity that stood around laughing. Its the fact that people are desensitised enough to find it funny.

and you think nth america's any better

So regardless of where (and thankfully it doesnt happen anywhere near where I live...muggings are still newsworthy in the eyes of my local radio station and newspaper), why do people behave like this now? Surely this kind of terribly sad, antisocial stuff used to be increadibly rare.

Perhaps the worst thing about this case was it was hardly even shocking anymore.

And its one of just many similar incidents. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6948366.stm - the "spitting" death incident. In this case the perpetrators were all kids some as young as 10 years old.

People can say what they like but I do think things are getting worse and I do also think that Britain seems to play host to the majority of extremely depraved and ant-social incidents like this.

Oh come on ... take one long look at where we live...

For depravity consider the states and provinces that tolerate raping of teenage girls thinly disguised as traditional religion, or a nation to the south of us that can leave the whole population of a city in the lurch because of their skin colour, or for that matter the nation to the north of them who have left their indigenous population to slide into poverty and drugs whist leaving them in areas that can’t even provide them with clean water

North America is very good at creating pockets of isolation so the shit doesn’t show

Im not sure its fair to compare mass actions of indifference on a political or socioeconomic level to individual acts of brazen callousness and inhumanity...

What on earth is going on inside someones head when they chose to piss on someone who is in need of assistance and in no state to defend themselves...and why do they think its a larf to film it and put it on the internet. I just cant get my head around it.

My comment is really aimed at suggesting that even though in the UK we may have a few despicable people who really have no place in society
here in north America we have whole communities that fit the bill, and its tolerated by the local populations and the governments.
Something that would not be the case in Europe

Or more to the point for those that think Canada is so wonderful may do well to have a look at our local dirty laundry before getting to enthusiastic about showing the dirty laundry of the UK as some form of justification for their decision to leave

Sort of like which is worse; Happy Slapping or Drive By Shootings...

But that wasn't what this thread was about - a comparrison of Britain v Canada - it was about expressing total disgust at a growing trend of such behaviour in many towns in Britain and, living as a Brit abroad, the shame that goes with being loosely associated to a "mother country" that fails to deal with it or try and fix it.

You can't honestly tell me that you haven't come accross the term "yob culture" or read about the very real problems that are being experienced in towns and cities all across britain "after hours" associated with excessive drinking, drugs, general antisocial behaviour and unprovoked violence? If you are saying you aren't aware of a problem you have your head well and truly burried in the sand. And the worrying thing is there is a growing number of incidents in say the last 3-4 years where the usual anti-social behaviour is resulting in more serious outcomes such as death.

Come off it, it's just another "UK gone to the dogs I'm better off in the back of beyond" gloating thread.

I imagine there's a palpable sense of disappointment with the usual suspects that the accused in this case has such a British name.