Went to the Pigtown (swindon/swinedown) town centre today.
Half term...
Teenage chav walking in front of me... looked like a criminal in the making.

Anyway 2 young girls are shopping and the chav jumped in front of them to simply shout at them and scared them, they ran off.
He then THREW the bottle he was drinking out of to (or is it at?? never leart those well) another girl, hitting her on the head. She screamed in pain and ran off.

I actually felt sad

and angry :curse:

but then if you go up to them and say anything its likely he will punch you or something!

Do you see stuff like this happen where you guys live? Just wondering if have a case of the rose tinted spectacles.....
I never saw this kind of stuff where i lived in Spain... and after this event i had the worst case of homesickness all afternoon

If you give me his description, I will go and %&^%%(* punch him :curse:

I hate this stuff, its bullying at its highest level. I was walking in town the other day with my guitarist friend who is really mellow, a true pacifist, long hair, the hippy look and is only 17. I went to the cash machine and he was on a bench when this chav came up, grabbed him by the chest (His clothes) and said if he didnt give him some fags he would headbutt him.

My friend doesnt even smoke.

Im not ashamed to say that without hesitation I left my card in the machine walked up to this bloke (A 25 year old or so chav scum) and hit him clean on the jaw, then watched him sprawl around for 3 minutes in front of his friends (Who did nothing) trying to work out where he was.

I am a wannabe hippy but Im also an ex boxer who has some serious issues with bullies. I really feel there are times you have no choice to fight fire with fire, how can you negotiate with an idiot like that?

Hi featherbum

I think it is a sad fact of life that so many area's in the UK (also world wide) are like that, between leaving my EX and moving in with OH I lived for a couple of years in Erith borders of London/Kent and I had things thrown at me on more than one occasion when arriving at Erith Station, had bottles, stone and all sorts thrown and verbal abuse. Trouble with me is I can't keep the mouth shut and I have to make some comment, I don't shout or scream but I do have to make that finger gesture or sarcastic comment. At least here in Chiclana I don't have that, I have never seen youngster causing this sort of trouble. I often wander what parents would think if they knew their sprogs were doing this sort of thing.

You certainly have nonsense from the youngsters here too. I took my boys to the local football club yesterday and the local girls where hurling abuse at them, after I told them to butt out they just sat and laughed at me, eventually they got bored of that and moved on to find someone else to bother. I believe it happens everywhere especially when you get bored, youngsters together, fortunately there is not so much violence here with them as the police are on the victims side and usually they will pay a visit to parents to warn them about their childrens behavoiur and this does the trick, where we live anyway. Unfortunately IMO alot of parents in the UK with troubled kids dont care and are against the police themselves, so breeds a total lack of respect in all walks of life. Shocking isnt it, I would rather be here with my children than in the UK I feel that is such a shame as I do love the UK.

I just found this on the BBC:

Web revellers wreck family home

It seems to be the lack of respect goes hand-in-hand with the self-centred me-me-me culture which seems to have been fostered by the pervasive rights culture focused on by society and especially 'the media', at the expense of responsibility.

Much of it has to do, I'm sure, with the way urban kid's have lost access to so much in the way of free-to-use facilities out of school, are not encouraged to use their creative imagination, and have poor examples from families and society in their social lives.

Over a decade observing and studying people's on-line behaviour in 'communities' such as these forums, I've seen a very marked trend with the aggressive behaviour that often manifests itself on-line when people are, for most intents and purposes, anonymous. The same attitude seems to be transferred to 'real-life' and is seen as a badge of 'coolness'.

I also think the number of hours kids spend passively soaking up T.V. output, playing computer games with limited human interaction, and using anonymous services increasing the dysfunction because it skews their expectation and experience of what is 'normal'.

I've experienced the disconnect myself because of the number of hours I have to spend working on and around the Internet - its like a creeping depression that becomes addictive. Several times I've all but stopped using PCs and the Internet for 6 months or so and the feeling of relief when I'm spending that time around other people instead is like the proverbial black cloud being lifted.

So, I guess this is a long way round of saying that I don't necessarily blame the kids (or the parents) for the circumstances they are in because unless they are particularly bright they may not be aware of how it affects them (its normal), but I would, like Keri, hold them accountable for bad behaviour and have little hesitation in intervening where I saw someone else being attacked.

Well done Keri - have some Karama

Oh my! I have karma! Thanks! Now what do I do with it?

Thanks tho seriously, I feel good now, even in the pitch black

Try THIS

Just don't become a karma whore

Think yourself fortunate - I'm just about to put my big border collie dog Spot into the bath, and its a trial of wills and strength for who comes out wettest

I can't keep him out the river when we go for walks, he loves having buckets of water thrown at him when he's stood in it, but the moment you even whisper b-a-t-h he's crawling as far behind the sofa as he can, and he makes himself into a dead-weight to the degree he has to be carried by both me and my father slung between us in a large towel, to the bathroom!

What's even more annoying is the moment he gets out the bath, he loves running around rubbing himself against furniture and side-sliding across the floor or being buried under piles of bath towels

Wish me luck, here I go...

I just looked at that link, and I think Im officially too stupid to work out how to do it.

Can I buy a vitual moped or something?

I had a dog like that once, oh man, good luck!

Thats the way its going sad i know ,

At the weekend i witnessed something which typified the younguns lack of respect .
Have a regular Chinese restaurant i use ,it sits on a corner plot , in a good area ,with a very wide path running alongside leading to a car park .. As i pulled in to park the car i see 4 lads estimate about 20 ish maybe , kicking a football while swigging beer from there cans , shouting at each other laughing as the ball bounces of the cars as they walk round to the front of the Restaurant they then proceed to play kick the ball at the windows they then wander on as if its nothing ?

Just the normal nowdays i guess

On a recent trip back to UK I was shocked at the behavior of gangs of young kids in the town on a Saturday afternoon, one group were in a shop running up the going down escalators knocking people out of the way, running through the womans cloths department throwing items of clothing about, no one did anything to stop them. There were large groups of rowdy teenagers everywhere, I felt quite intimidated.

On first weekend back in Spain I went to local shopping centre, no noise, or trouble, hubby says it is also because of the security guards they have in the centres here, but I believe the kids are far better behaved and respectful here............very glad to be back....till the next visit.

I wonder if it is because the kids in Spain are raised in the extended family where they learn to respect their elders. It is lovely to see the teenagers in our town seeking out grans and aunties etc to give them a hug even when they are wandering around in their so called gangs and being quite 'cool'.

One thing that appears to be different is the drink culture as I believe that it is not seen as 'cool' to drink too much. We noticed a group of lads at our supermarket preparing for a party and all they bought was crisps, plastic cups, coke, lemonade and orange juice.

I think the biggest factor in UK is the lack of respect for their family, neighbours and friends but most of all they lack any respect for the laws of the land and the enforcers of the law. Worse athan that is the fact that they do not respect themselves but that is a longer story usually.

Right off my soapbox now.

Rosemary

I think the extended family ties in Spain helps - many families in the U.K. seem to have lost those as people have chased the property boom trying to 'better' themselves, and in the process seem to have broken those cross-generation bonds.