Britains 'underclass'?

[jonathan7]

My favourite Times columist has produced the following article;

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/india_knight/article3998870.ece

 

Thoughts?

[JCarter426]

Eh...not being British, I can't comment on how things are in Britain, but I'd bet real money that how things are in Britain isn't all that different from how things are in the US.

 

I don't think it's a class problem. No matter how rich or poor you are, there are idiots who are as rich or poor as you.

[Rev7]

I don't think it's a class problem. No matter how rich or poor you are, there are idiots who are as rich or poor as you.

That is very, very true.

 

I too am not British, but I will still say something about this problem. I have to say that it is bad, and this problem is becoming more and more prominent. I certainly hope that it changes...is there even a real reason to be drinking at 13 years-old other than 'trying' to be cool?!

[Totenkopf]

But Rev, is that even a "real" reason? I suppose re Britain, that the "lower classes" get singled out b/c the "upper classes" are able to camoflage their behavior a little better. It's the same over here in many ways. It might also be that often the "lower classes" are on the dole and therefore somewhat more likely to draw our ire ("what, our taxes are supporting this?!?). Of course, the lower classes always outnumber the "upper classes" in most/all societies, so there're likely many more people exhibiting that kind of problematic behavior, thus garnering more attention.

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

is there even a real reason to be drinking at 13 years-old other than 'trying' to be cool?!

to get drunk.

[itchythesamurai]

I blame it on the pub culture. Speaking of, didn't they ban smoking in pubs?

[JCarter426]

to get drunk.

See, even that doesn't make sense. Ethanol is a depressant. The drunker you get, the worse you feel.

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

See, even that doesn't make sense. Ethanol is a depressant. The drunker you get, the worse you feel.

Yeah, but you're overlooking the fact that the drunker you get the drunker you feel.

[itchythesamurai]

But drunkenness can at least be partially attributed to psychological expectations.

[adamqd]

It's nothing new here, 13-24 year olds have been drinking, taking drugs and glassing each other as long as I've been conscious, the thing with England is (I cannot comment on the rest of "Britain") if your not in to old Buildings and farm land, theres basically nothing to do but become an ingrate, kids get bored.

One thing I've noticed since I stopped glassing folks is how much our lives revolve around social drinking, I've actually had friends try to offer me emotional help because I don't drink anymore... It's the norm to get drunk on a weekly if not daily basis, so kids are bound to wanna grow up too quick/get in on the action/get drunk.

[Web Rider]

According to a survey by the Office for National Statistics, more 13-year-olds have drunk alcohol than not – that’s 350,000 13-year-old drinkers in England and Wales alone

Yeah, 13 and "drunk" alcohol. Their dad gave 'em some beer, their church gave them some wine, their gramma gave them a taste of their whiskey. Yeah, I'm willing to bet that most 13-year-olds have drunk alcohol. Whether that makes any of them "drinkers" is largely up to speculation.

 

The week before last a 25% rise in crime over three years by girls aged between 10 and 17 was blamed on ladette culture and underage drinking (I don’t know why they bother to differentiate: ladette culture is underage drinking).

It's due to two things. one, women are no longer being treated as not responsible for their crimes because they're girls. In a society of equality, crime=crime, regardless of gender. And also, in a world of equality, girls are working to break out of the past stereotypes of women, and therefore doing more things that were usually mostly men-done.

 

I don't think there's any real problem other than we're expecting kids to grow up too fast. My god at 13 kids should be enjoying being kids, but half of them are being saddled with deciding what they want to do for the rest of their life. Heck, when I'm 40, I sure don't want to be doing the same thing for the next 80 years aside from loving whatever I'm doing. Of course if I do what I love for 80 years and it's the same thing that's great! But I think the problem is that when you force people who have no experienced the world to make worldly decisions, it just comes out bad.