News

THE SHALLOW END OF THE GENE POOL ?

Dear Ed,

In regards to the link to the story "Would-be cash till thieves wanted", I wonder if it was the same miscreants that ram raided our local Tesco 1 ¼ hrs later at about 3.30 am today?

Or is it just a symptom of the growing lawlessness of life in this once green and pleasant land.

Was "our" ram raid part of this general trend, or was it just another sign of the deterioration of the quality of life we seem to be seeing in the Hawkinge area.

It is becoming an increasingly common sight to see drunken children, yes children, of about 13 years age wandering about the village at night mouthing off and creating nuisances and disturbing the peace.

It is also common, in certain areas of our Village, that residents are given to standing in the shadows, within the boundaries of their properties, just to keep watch on their vehicles parked outside because of the increase in petty criminal damage to parked vehicles. This unofficial neighbourhood watch, although time consuming has proved quite effective.

The result of a loud, "Oi! You!, leave my f***ing car alone!" shouted, unseen from the shadows has a quick and wondrous effect on the local yobbery!

These incidents of petty criminal damage abound, which are not reported to the Police, not because of the sense that the Police, won’t or can’t do anything, but I proffer that the Courts are so ineffective of meeting out deterrent measures let alone punishments (a bad word I think in today’s world of political correctness) No longer are sentences of a Court given out "pour encourager les autres"

I believe that the "exclusion zones" have now lapsed in the village and as for A.S.B.O.s, they are beginning to be looked on by their recipients as a "badge of honour" a landmark in their rite of passage.

When one reflects on the momentous events of today’s date, but 60 years ago and compare that generation with the youth of today, I find it a little hard at times to think that the two groups are even connected, albeit by their DNA.

I do know, that there are countless "youngsters" out there who live blameless lives and that are at times rowdy in their behaviour and enjoyment of life. That is as it should be.

But, the ignorance, the inane ness, the crassness and the sheer devaluation of youth that marks out the "yobbery element" despairs me.

How on earth have we let them, or they have let themselves drift so quickly into the shallow end of the gene pool? Has no one got the right amount of chlorine available to treat that end of the pool anymore?

Finkle would love to see a move to a modern day version of the Village Stocks to humiliate those who humiliate us and themselves. A more fitting "punishment and lesson" (whoops!, that word again) I’ll warrant, would be hard to find !


Finkle, not feeling so funny, for once