What Is Happening To Our Country?

[Gloucester Saint]

7 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm25yv7z3jko

Absolute cu**s. Got nothing better to do, know there will be few consequences apart from the ones caught and where are the parents in all this.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crk16j2j1ygo

 

A M&S boss has a point.

These behaviours seem to go in cycles but SM definitely has a role in them mobilising at scale. Seeing increased railway trespass disruption as well. BTP need to cut out the negotiation, one warning get off the railway, second here’s a taser I’ll use it, ok then crackle. Couldn’t care less if they’re 18 or under. Do as you’re told.

It would send a message and set boundaries. In the larger retail incidents, a good deterrent is to mess around with their futures eg delay driving licence eligibility into their 20s. I’d be happy for any of the parents on benefits (recognising when I was that age in the late 80s onwards kids in trouble were from a range of backgrounds) to get a suspended reduction for first incident and 3 months at 10% for the next. Letting the whole family down hits home. 

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

39 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

These behaviours seem to go in cycles but SM definitely has a role in them mobilising at scale. Seeing increased railway trespass disruption as well. BTP need to cut out the negotiation, one warning get off the railway, second here’s a taser I’ll use it, ok then crackle. Couldn’t care less if they’re 18 or under. Do as you’re told.

It would send a message and set boundaries. In the larger retail incidents, a good deterrent is to mess around with their futures eg delay driving licence eligibility into their 20s. I’d be happy for any of the parents on benefits (recognising when I was that age in the late 80s onwards kids in trouble were from a range of backgrounds) to get a suspended reduction for first incident and 3 months at 10% for the next. Letting the whole family down hits home. 

Definitely agree with social media etc making it easier to do things like this. 

Some pepper spray should sort them out or make the parents culpable in some form.

The M&S director has a point, police are seemingly letting petty theft pass, leading to more people becoming emboldened to do more.

[Gloucester Saint]

2 hours ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Definitely agree with social media etc making it easier to do things like this. 

Some pepper spray should sort them out or make the parents culpable in some form.

The M&S director has a point, police are seemingly letting petty theft pass, leading to more people becoming emboldened to do more.

Prosecutions coming back in for offences under £200 I think I read.

[Turkish]

Is there no way we can blame this on Trump, Farage, Tommy Robinson on Katy Hopkins?

[Holmes_and_Watson]

5 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Is there no way we can blame this on Trump, Farage, Tommy Robinson on Katy Hopkins?

You mean those dangerous, right wing populists, who undermine decent, honest values, caring only for themselves and nothing for the feral anarchy their statements whip up in people not intelligent enough to read the Grauniad or listen to LBC?

Why, it would strange not to blame them. 

[egg]

4 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

These behaviours seem to go in cycles but SM definitely has a role in them mobilising at scale. Seeing increased railway trespass disruption as well. BTP need to cut out the negotiation, one warning get off the railway, second here’s a taser I’ll use it, ok then crackle. Couldn’t care less if they’re 18 or under. Do as you’re told.

It would send a message and set boundaries. In the larger retail incidents, a good deterrent is to mess around with their futures eg delay driving licence eligibility into their 20s. I’d be happy for any of the parents on benefits (recognising when I was that age in the late 80s onwards kids in trouble were from a range of backgrounds) to get a suspended reduction for first incident and 3 months at 10% for the next. Letting the whole family down hits home. 

I can't agree on the family benefits punishment at all. It's a collective punishment, and singles out benefit supported families for different treatment to non benefit supported families. You can't punish benefit class families in a way that you can't punish a middle class family. That's wholly unfair. 

Hitting kids later in life is something I can get on board with though. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

2 minutes ago, egg said:

I can't agree on the family benefits punishment at all. It's a collective punishment, and singles out benefit supported families for different treatment to non benefit supported families. You can't punish benefit class families in a way that you can't punish a middle class family. That's wholly unfair. 

Hitting kids later in life is something I can get on board with though. 

Tomorrow's news... today!

A police spokesperson said that the punch that broke the nose of Timmy Smith, 24, from Clapham, and gave him concussion, was not police abuse.

The officer was merely carrying out a delayed punishment following Smith's anti social behaviour on Clapham high street, seven years ago.

The spokesperson also said that delayed punishment punches would still be given to women, supporting equality acts. This, despite a significant number of Met officers signing up to carry out the punishments, and concerns about their reasons for doing so.

[whelk]

36 minutes ago, egg said:

I can't agree on the family benefits punishment at all. It's a collective punishment, and singles out benefit supported families for different treatment to non benefit supported families. You can't punish benefit class families in a way that you can't punish a middle class family. That's wholly unfair. 

Hitting kids later in life is something I can get on board with though. 

Taser them all, then hit them with water cannon, then round them up and drop them in Iran with only fruit knives to defend themselves.

[egg]

17 minutes ago, whelk said:

Taser them all, then hit them with water cannon, then round them up and drop them in Iran with only fruit knives to defend themselves.

That's acceptable - and consistent. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

23 minutes ago, whelk said:

Taser them all, then hit them with water cannon, then round them up and drop them in Iran with only fruit knives to defend themselves.

Fruit knives?!

Lucky!

Why, when I was a kid, my library book was a day late. I was beaten unconscious by police batons, dropped into Iraq, and had to use my head as a battering ram to topple Saddam's regime!

Fruit knives only perpetuate knife culture, and these ruffians don't deserve 'em!

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

You mean those dangerous, right wing populists, who undermine decent, honest values, caring only for themselves and nothing for the feral anarchy their statements whip up in people not intelligent enough to read the Grauniad or listen to LBC?

Why, it would strange not to blame them. 

We should bring back the stocks and let people throw rotten fruit at them. Or alternatively we could put memes on their phones and ask them to enter a caption competition, that would end all the conflict 

[Lord Duckhunter]

On 02/04/2026 at 15:05, badgerx16 said:

Unelected PM.

We don’t elect PM’s, so they’re all “unelected”. 

[badgerx16]

18 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

We don’t elect PM’s, so they’re all “unelected”. 

True, but when voting in a GE you take the position that the leader of the party you vote for is in effect your choice for PM. Everybody knew that Gordon Brown was Blair's anointed sucessor, Truss was foisted on the country against the wishes of even the Tory MPs.

Edited yesterday at 15:21 by badgerx16

[sadoldgit]

It was bad enough when the kids were stabbing each other.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/apr/03/three-teenagers-arrested-after-14-year-old-boy-shot-dead-in-south-east-london

[whelk]

58 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

It was bad enough when the kids were stabbing each other.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/apr/03/three-teenagers-arrested-after-14-year-old-boy-shot-dead-in-south-east-london

Don’t you want to wait for the colour of the perpetrators before posting?

[Gloucester Saint]

7 hours ago, egg said:

I can't agree on the family benefits punishment at all. It's a collective punishment, and singles out benefit supported families for different treatment to non benefit supported families. You can't punish benefit class families in a way that you can't punish a middle class family. That's wholly unfair. 

Hitting kids later in life is something I can get on board with though. 

I’d solve that by middle class parents having to pay to larger fines than now which might require instalments to pay off over a period of months, so that it has an impact across the household. Not having the holiday they were expecting and being confronted by angry siblings would be a memory of the consequences.

If the family has no financial headroom to pay then no provisional licence before the age of 25 for the young offender.

If you don’t want the consequences, don’t commit anti-social offences and cost businesses through violence. 

[Challenger]

12 hours ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Definitely agree with social media etc making it easier to do things like this. 

Some pepper spray should sort them out or make the parents culpable in some form.

The M&S director has a point, police are seemingly letting petty theft pass, leading to more people becoming emboldened to do more.

These little shits need to experience a good " cracking" session with everyone then turning a blind eye in the same way that they expect whilst performing their antics.

[sadoldgit]

15 hours ago, whelk said:

Don’t you want to wait for the colour of the perpetrators before posting?

Why, what difference would that make?  Still, you got a like from hypochondriac so you must be pleased with yourself. Well done.

Another stabbing…

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/whitstable-belmont-road-stabbing-murder-b2951462.html

Edited 8 hours ago by sadoldgit

[whelk]

43 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

Why, what difference would that make?  Still, you got a like from hypochondriac so you must be pleased with yourself. Well done.

Another stabbing…

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/whitstable-belmont-road-stabbing-murder-b2951462.html

Do you just visit news websites and think no one on Saintweb will know about the I better post about it as that’s where posters get their news? Fucking weird. Guess what there was crime and stabbings in the 80s

[sadoldgit]

Why do you get so upset about these things? This thread is about things that have gone wrong with this country. The amount of knife crime, especially amongst young people, has grown enormously since the 1980’s. People post news stories on here all the time in relation to the threads. Does every one of them think that people on here don’t see the news elsewhere? You are just desperate to score points as proven by your crass comment about the colour of the victim’s skin. 
I added the stabbing story to my previous post because I had just seen the news and it shows that these murders are becoming a regular occurrence. If my posts wind you up so much, perhaps ignore me?

 

• Long-term increase: Knife crime and knife-related convictions have risen sharply over the past 15 years, with reports suggesting a 58% increase over that period.

Edited 6 hours ago by sadoldgit
Added text

[whelk]

18 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

If my posts wind you up so much, perhaps ignore me?

I rarely read or click on your links. You don’t read threads and discuss points. You just turn up and post links oblivious to any points made by other posters or adding to the discussion. Do you ever wonder why you wind up so many on here? It isn’t because you have different political viewpoints.

knives bad yeah

[trousers]

39 minutes ago, whelk said:

Do you ever wonder why you wind up so many on here?

Hmm... Come to think of it, maybe @sadoldgit and @Matthew Le God should get a DNA test pronto... 😉

#likefatherlikeson

[Matthew Le God]

3 hours ago, trousers said:

Hmm... Come to think of it, maybe @sadoldgit and @Matthew Le God should get a DNA test pronto... 😉

#likefatherlikeson

Who is the father?

[sadoldgit]

15 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

Who is the father?

Darth Vader?

[sadoldgit]

4 hours ago, whelk said:

I rarely read or click on your links. You don’t read threads and discuss points. You just turn up and post links oblivious to any points made by other posters or adding to the discussion. Do you ever wonder why you wind up so many on here? It isn’t because you have different political viewpoints.

knives bad yeah

Again you missed the point but hey go. Yes, knives bad. This is about the increase in knife crime over the last few years and the prevalence of knife crime amongst young people which may now involve gun crimes too.

A while back I was slagged off for not posting links when I made points, so now I do. Read them. Don’t read them. Who cares? I’m sure the majority of people who read these threads don’t bother to read them but don’t feel the need to make an issue about it.

As for the people I wind up, it is the same old crowd of usual suspects the vast majority of the time, so I can live with that.  You know, the sort of people who don’t have a problem with the number of Muslims murdered in Gaza because they, apparently, are all culpable for the actions of Hamas. Or the sort of  people who make crass comments about the skin colour of a kid recently shot dead. 
As I said before, if you don’t like my posts, don’t read them. I have been posting here for the best part of 20 years, you have had plenty of opportunities to hit the ignore button. Or maybe you just get your jollies by slagging other people off?

[The Kraken]

Offended by everything, ashamed of nothing.

Should’ve been a Liverpool fan really.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, The Kraken said:

Offended by everything, ashamed of nothing.

Should’ve been a Liverpool fan really.

My understanding is that their forum punted him, as even they have limits of pious victimhood.