What has gone wrong ?
- 23 November 2011 22:19138671This sort of headline makes me so glad that I dont live in England any more !
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8910227/Burglar-calls-victims-dumb-in-letter.html
I know that it's not about Dover but it is about my home country and makes me mad. Here I can leave my front door unlocked and even open whilst I am out!
What can be done to change the attitude of youngsters in England today ? I am not a believer but christian ideals seem to have been forgotten by a large proportion of society. I wonder what a letter from this chaps parents would have said ? - 23 November 2011 22:45138673i don't think it is an english/british problem, it is more likely to depend on where you live in each country.
any deprived inner city area will always have a higher crime rate than a comfortable suburban/rural area. - 23 November 2011 23:45138675What a wonderful letter.
Let us imagine it was written by somebody in the Police or high-up at the Home Office. [should the T in 'The' be capitalised? I do not, myself, wish to come across as entirely untutored.]
Where would such a person begin?
These days the imagined letter writer would be familiar with statistics, would be aware, therefore, of which areas are 'high risk' for crimes of this sort and have some expertise (imagined or matter of fact) in the generalities and specifics of the common burglar's techniques (M.O. as it is called...see, told I am not totally untutored :) and so be able to advise as to counter measures.
As I have no wish to litter the forum with quote after quote from the article cited, I shall draw quickly to a close.
[OK, just a few quotes]
"cold and dispassionate"--who this? Both the burglar and the insurance company?
"...release the letter... as a warning to householders"---who this? The burglar and the Police?
Just as prisons are all too often colleges of crime, much that is said to warn and/or comfort the population at large yields much information to the criminal that s/he can use to increase their earnings.
I cannot help but conclude that burglars are natural Tories.
The hand-writing and the spelling are entirely in line with the current educational ethos. The message gets a-cross (sic)
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing. - 24 November 2011 02:23138677I suppose, thinking the thing through again, what may be seen as missing is 'remorse'. In fact, without going back to viewing the article & letter, some mention is made, with a sense of defiance, of the burglar NOT intending to show the remorse demanded/suggested.
While I am not big on the oft intoned need for role models for this one or that one. Does a name spring to mind, can an instance be shown, where 'remorse' is in evidence in this day and age anywhere across the societal spectrum?
From Collateral Damage on down to "the report is of a time long past and lessons have already be learned and changes implemented"
It's ever society's fault, economies naturally run through a cycle, we've changed...honest. Perhaps we no longer leave our back doors open because we have something to lose, we have something that many others do not have and that they want every bit as badly as we wanted and now we have...it's mine, I'm (therefore) better than you. Maybe we know, deep down, the sort of things it took to get what we have and cherish and that those who we are clearly better than would not shy away from taking what we have and cherish.
I'm going on a bit....sorry.
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing. - 24 November 2011 08:37138689Indeed Tom. To support it a bit, organisations and public services rarely if ever give an apology or express "remores" (sic) for errors or bad practice, preferring to come out with "lessons will be learned" or "a full investigation will take place/has taken place and measures put in place....." rather than "crikey, we made a mistake, sorry, what can we do to put it right?" Perhaps they too fear risking the loss of something that provides some remuneration to them.
However, the letter that has prompted this thread is chilling and depressing, coming from a 16 year old who could have so much promise. I was remembering the other day, prompted by a conversation with my own 16 year old, that when I was 16 I was a political animal full of energy and curiosity, wanting to make things better and change the world. Not interested in things like Slebs (if we had them then....?) or gossip mags, rather reading the broadsheets and books on social policy. Yes, I was a nerd and a geek but at least I wasn't burgling my elders and settling for a crap life. I didn't depend on sleb role models to fuel that curiosity. What on earth has happened..........?
- 24 November 2011 10:38138699there is a bit in toms post that refers to us having more things worth nicking, perfectly true years ago we did not have a house full of portable gadgets that would fetch a few bob down the pub or car boot sale.
a copper told me over 25 years ago why neighbourhood watch was necessary where it hadn't been in the past.
firstly the change where women went out to work leaving the house unguarded, secondly the grandmother used to live with the family and sat most of the day staring out of the window and saw everything that was going on. - 24 November 2011 10:54138706And Howard, if I may, we all were not being told at every turn that we wanted 'things', had to have stuff. Then a moment later told we had to have new stuff. Tomorrow is another 'pay'?
Who was that man on children's television who would end each Sooty Show with...
"Buy, buy everybody." ?Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.