Rather than articulate a verbose piece of social prose, I’d like to bullet point the principal events that I believe have precipitated the wanton criminality we have seen over the last few days. And what I believe will effect the collapse of our society. We are on the cusp of social failure because of a confluence of events from the last 30 or so years.

Widespread industrial action in the 70s damages the British economy and the reputation of our manufacturing base. Moreover, it leads to the downfall of Callaghan’s Labour government and clears the way for Thatcher’s election to power in 1979.

Thatcher’s government effectively neuters the trade unions and champions privatisation of nationalised industries; coal, gas, steel etc..

Hundreds of thousands of council houses are sold to become private homes.

Corporal punishment is abolished in schools. Teachers can no longer wield deterrents such as the cane or the strap. As a direct result, the standard of behaviour in schools begins to fall.

Britain’s manufacturing industry; steel, shipyards etc. falls into decline. Employment is driven to an all time high. Dole queues lengthen up and down the country. The benefits bill increases exponentially. School leavers struggle to find work. The working class family unit is under massive strain.

In an attempt to employ those school leavers who are not going on to further education, YTS schemes are launched.

Thatcher’s government promotes development of the financial and service sectors to encourage economic growth.

The yuppie is born. A stark class divide is seen on a scale hitherto unknown.

Advances are made in computers and telecommunications. The car phone, mobile phone and home computer come to market.

Privatisation continues apace with British Rail being sold off in 1994 by Thatcher’s successor, John Major.

Violent and overtly sexual films, music and video games proliferate.

Frequent heavy drinking becomes socially acceptable, almost a national hobby. Alcopops and other novelty alcoholic drinks flood the market. Alcohol is no longer a taboo. Booze-fuelled fights on the streets of towns and cities are more commonplace and more frequently involve drunken females.

TV becomes generally more risque with the advent of shows like the The Word and The Girlie Show.

British industry continues to decline with the loss of major employers such as GEC, Ferranti, BREL.

The Labour Government is elected to power with Blair as prime minister in 1995.

To ease unemployment, academia is dumbed down to increase the number of students able to progress through sixth form and university.

The internet flourishes and its take-up by the public is enormous. Sales of desktop and laptop computers continue to increase. The number of websites offering porn, images of mutilation and violence snowballs.

Video games such as Grand Theft Auto rise in popularity with players of similarly violent games getting younger and younger.

Gangsta rap with its vivid descriptions of inner ghetto depravation, cop killing and gang violence becomes more popular. Its imagery is shown on satellite and cable music channels.

European borders are opened allowing residents of Eurozone countries to freely gain employment in the UK. Vacancies for low paid / undesirable jobs are quickly filled.

Celebrity magazines OK, Hello etc. and reallity shows such as Cribz beam images of grandiose properties, supercars, haute-couture, decadent jewellery and high-end home electronics into the living rooms of low income families.

Shows like Pop Idol and X-Factor promote the notion that fame and wealth are within the grasp of all. Kids dream of becoming a pop star or a premiership footballer.

Credit crunch – small and medium businesses fail in their hundreds. Mortgages are harder to qualify for and minimum deposits on home loans increase and are out of the reach of many.

More job losses, pay cuts and pay freezes put pressure on government and families.

Social networks like Facebook enable the more efficient disemination of plans and thoughts. Other sites such as YouTube encourage self promotion.

Fuel prices, both for home and vehicles increase way above inflation. Food bills increase by 30-40% as the cost of all food groups increases due to a coincidence of global events.

Stop. Take a breath.

As a result of what I have described above, we have bred this so-called lost, detached generation. This disenfranchised youth. Of course, these are misnomers; convenient media tags to assign to those we saw destroying and stealing others’ property on TV last night.
I believe that they were synthesised by a fusion of the social elements and events that I have tried to chronicle in this post.

This generation are not lost but they are: egocentric, lazy, over confident, disrespectful, highly materialistic, undisciplined, confrontational and violent, permissive and uncaring.

They have no work ethic, yet they desire the material things that require wages to be earned and saved. And when the opportunity arises, they will use violence and break the law to acquire their objects of desire.

Before the 1980s and Thatcherism, these kids would have been swept up by the steelworks and shipyards as riggers and labourers. The brighter ones would have been offered apprenticeships wherein they would learn a trade, earn a wage and go to college on a day release basis. And at the same time, their older, wiser colleagues would knock any apathy or badness out of them. They would gain a trade, wage to support a future family along with self respect and respect for others. And they would pass these attributes and attitudes on to their offspring.

This no longer happens. Those times are gone and cannot be re-claimed. And I genuinely fear the birth of the children borne of today’s children.

How repugnant, how dangerous will they be?

How repugnant, how dangerous will they be?

On par with the off-spring of bankers probably

This generation are not lost but they are: egocentric, lazy, over confident, disrespectful, highly materialistic, undisciplined, confrontational and violent, permissive and uncaring.

Congratulations Derek you are now officially old as you are slagging of young people in much the same way the older generation viewed us with say rave culture or Yuppies.
People have always said the next generation was as you describe.
Time does not stand still even if your outlook does

cheer up goth 🙂 there’s still some nice kids out there.

What is there to say but I struggle with long sentences?

It’s not as good as ‘we didn’t start the fire’ by Billy Joel. Not nearly as catchy.

yup every single child in this country took part in the riots we are all doomed

or was it actually just a tiny minority of the kids that live in some crappy areas

These STWers are not lost but they are: egocentric, lazy, over confident, disrespectful, highly materialistic, undisciplined, confrontational and violent, permissive and uncaring.

Hmm so depressing

I gave up at

Rather than articulate a verbose piece of social prose

I’m not reading all that! can someone summarise it, with bullet points?

I aint reading all that, can someone summarise into a sentance.

Old man is scared

Derek. I won’t take the piss as its nice to see someone attempting to think about the issues.

One of the big issues is that people have been indoctrinated to believe their value is only measured in material possessions. Add to that the lack of opportunities for some to earn the money to buy possessions and you increase alienation and disenchantment. effectively these people ar told they are worthless

I very much doubt corporal punishment in schools did any good at all

I aint reading all that, can someone summarise into a sentance.

The world evolved; some developments were better than others.

I’m not reading all that! can someone summarise it, with bullet points?

[list][*]Thatcha'[/*]
[*]Grand Theft Auto (the game)[/*]
[*]Rap Music[/*][/list]

I gave up at

Rather than articulate a verbose piece of social prose

Christ – I wish I had 😆

“A stark class divide is seen on a scale hitherto unknown.” – Are you sure about this? Lets take Richard Arkwright as an example. Are you suggesting that there was no divide between him and his mill workers? Or the Scots that were displaced from their small holdings by the land owners? Shipping companies and the slaves transported to the New World?

i disagree with TJ, and i must be right cos i own more tvs and mobile phones than him.

if you took notice of proper branding TJ then you’d be as good as me. but you dont so i’m a better person.

EDIT – kinda condescending there TJ… i’m never like that cos i’ve got some branded pimping sneakers on my feetz

TJ + 1… you’ve gotta respect someone taking the time to work through and write out that full thought process (even if you don’t necessarily agree with it all!)

Derek. I won’t take the piss as its nice to see someone attempting to think about the issues.

Why not pat him on the head while you’re at it?

The world evolved

Seriously?

Sorry, IGMC.

Derek thanks for pointing out your political persuasion. Do you want to start again from a more open minded, non opinionated view point?

Besides which what has happened in the past is irrelevant its what happens in the future that is important.

Personally I think the human race is destructive in everything it does, its in our nature.

it did tj remember those nice fellas the teddy boys and knife crime. What about those playful gatherings between mods and rockers ah times were sure nicer back then

Shut up and dance.

I can’t help but notice how things have been in decline pretty much from the second Damian Hora was born

Coincidence? I think not.

New Labour came into power in 1997. This one incorrect fact has unfortunately undermined the faith I have in your other points.

But yes, I blame the Girlie Show too.

Derek thanks for pointing out your political persuasion

FD – I am so apolitical I hereby ask you to tell me where you think I sit. Seriously!

😥

personally…. and you know i’m right, i’m always right so there’s no point arguing with me….

the trouble started when that god awful swagger jagger thing got to the number1 slot in the pop charts. she’s of the right demographic and fashion sense and the track makes me want to riot… so imagine how it must be effected the innocent and fragile minds of her target demographic?!?!

I agree with much of what you say there derek_starship, in fact there’s very little I disagree with. In answer to your question, I think no one really knows, but I guess we will eventually find out – there aren’t any signs which suggests that we intend to change the direction that society is going in.

Although of course it is perfectly possible that a change of direction will be forced upon us due to events. But I am generally very pessimistic. I suspect that recent events will probably strengthen the government – serious social unrest generally benefits the governing party in a parliamentary democracy – as people rally behind it, which will undoubtedly lead to more of the same. I expect Britain to continue to go down the pan for some years to come.

For someone who usually starts threads along the lines of ‘look at the tits on this…’ I’m impressed. Unless you’ve ‘borrowed’ that from somewhere?

sorry if that came over as patronising – not my intent

ouorkidsam – I know what you mean!

I promise that I plagerised NONE of my enormous post!

I understand your suspicions given my previous threads such as “Anal bleaching – Domestos or home brand?”

🙂 i forgive you, now bow down to me for i own an iPod

I blame Al Capone, The Krays, Elvis, Cliff Richards, pirate radio, the invention of the printing press and the Charleston.

2 Timothy 3

1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, 7 always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these teachers oppose the truth. They are men of depraved minds, who, as far as the faith is concerned, are rejected. 9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone.

A certain Frank Turner song illustrates some of it quite nicely.

Probably NSFW unless you’ve got headphones/an understanding boss. Contains a small amount of swearyness.

and remember to plug your bars

I think todays youth will be sucked so far into online gaming and social networking that their minds will coalesce to the point that they evolve into one all consuming consciousness floating in another dimension beyond space and time with no need for food or materialistic possesions. one conciousness floating together, forever in peace. and then the drugs will wear off.