Saturday 3 October 2009

Oh, What Fresh Hell Is THIS?!?

You know, if reality keeps this rate of incident up, I'm either going to retire in disgust like IanB or become a swearblogger like The Devil.

Because every day, when I think I've seen the most outrageous thing, something else will trump it:
A town is planning to ban street drinking to stop parents consuming alcohol outside a primary school.

Mothers and fathers have been seen swigging from cans and bottles as they drop their children off in the morning.
Now, I have no doubt that these are scummy parents. In fact, when I saw the word 'Doncaster', a certain image flashed in my mind of the sort of 'community' we might be talking about.

And we saw what passes for a 'community' in Doncaster itself in the Edlington case.

So, I have no doubt that a policy of 'nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure' would do wonders. But we can't do that.

And though we may disapprove of their habits, unless they are drunk in charge of children or cars - in which case, it'd be a matter for the police - it's not the business of the school. And certainly not the business of the school to go about soliciting bans on law-abiding people.

Why are they up in arms?
Teachers say it is undermining their efforts as they try to spell out the dangers of alcohol to the pupils at Doncaster Road Primary in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
What?!

When did the three 'R's become the four 'R's (reading, writing, 'rithmatic and responsible alcohol intake)? Has the school taught them all it could with regard to the first three R's then?

A glance at the Ofsted report shows it to be a veritable paradise of happy singing moppets, out of all proportion to the Hogarthian hell described here.

So, something somewhere is deeply fishy...
Some parents have been seen drinking as they walk their children to school as early as 8.30am.

Now, Barnsley's Central Neighbourhood Team is trying to ban public drinking on the streets and parks that surround the school.
So, in the unlikely event you fancied a beer in the park, tough luck.

And who do they get to speak to the newspaper? A headteacher? Senior staff?

Nope. A nosewiper:
Support worker Lisa Hutton said: 'On many occasions I have had to ask parents or carers not to bring alcohol on to the school premises.

'This has resulted in alcohol being left on the roadside or on the school wall.

'Some parents or carers collect their children from school and wait for them at the school gates.

'On some occasions I have seen them with alcohol in their hands.

'This makes it increasingly difficult for us to educate the children of the dangers of alcohol as children are assuming it is okay to drink alcohol excessively and that it is appropriate to drink alcohol on the streets.'
Look, love, stick to something you are qualified to speak about, like how to get bubblegum out of hair or the best way to photocopy double sided.

When you are an adult, sometimes it is appropriate to drink on the street. And these parents may be setting a bad example, but you make me want to open a can of Diamond White and swig it on the doorstep of my local primary school just to prove I can...
Arthur Mitchell, chairman of the school's governors and the local residents association said: 'I have seen kids being dropped off and picked up from school with adults drinking from cans.

'It is both dads and mums. We have been aware of the situation for some time.

'We welcome the proposed ban both for the sake of the school and the local residents.

'Our biggest concern is how the police will implement it but we hope it is a success.

'Quite a few of the parents around here seem to like a tipple in the morning. I think it keeps them going for the day.

'I have seen them drinking from cans as early as 8.30am outside the school and then again in the afternoon as they pick up their kids.

'I'm sure most parents would be staggered by this but 85 per cent of our pupils come from the immediate catchment area which is classed as an area of deprivation.
Please!

If it really was 'an area of deprivation', do you think these parents would have the money to buy alcohol? The only aspect of poverty here is poverty of the spirit...

Needless to say, the police are eager to see a new law they can abuse the next time they see two young people enjoying a shandy in the park:
Sgt Keith Baird of the Safer Neighbour Team said: 'The order would allow police to tackle the problem. It will make street drinking illegal. People won't be able to do it.'
If people are committing anti-social behaviour in the street, arrest them for that. Why do you need a new law?
Officers surveyed 230 residents in the area and 200 of them said the streets were being blighted by problems with drinkers.

Other issues included under-age drinking, people urinating in streets and alleyways, late-night noise, damage to vehicles and property and litter.
Which are all crimes, are they not?

So, why are the police not doing anything about them? Why yet another illiberal ban on everyone in order to crack down on people who are either breaking existing laws, or not doing anything illegal, but just something the Righteous don't like to see?

Check out the 'Daily Fail' comments too. I'm too depressed to go further than half-way down, but I don't see many people saying 'Hang on a minute...'. Do you? And those that are saying that are red flagged.

Truly, we get the government we deserve...

Update: Looks like one more cop wanted to see his name in the papers endorsing his view of society:
Det Insp Mark Spooner, of Barnsley's Central Safer Neighbourhood Team, said they had been getting reports of drinking in the streets around the school and also of parents drinking whilst waiting to pick up their children.

He said: "In my view that's clearly not acceptable. It's not acceptable in a modern society and we will put a stop to it."
We, the public, will decide what is and isn't acceptable, and we will elect people that pass laws against it accordingly.

Your view doesn't count, except insofar as you too have a vote. If it is illegal, get on and arrest them. If it isn't, keep your mouth shut and get on with your job.

6 comments:

Sue said...

I went out last night for a drink with my other half. We sat and had a beer at 11pm outside our local. The pubs and streets were filled with families (even babies).

Everyone was behaving impeccably and enjoying themselves. It's a whole different culture here in this part of Spain. It's so family centred.

I've found that peer pressure is the only way you'll really get people to behave. A disapproving look or word from another parent etc... In days gone by, if you misbehaved, the whole neighbourhood knew about it and you felt shame.

Schools should stick to teaching the basics and not become a social services department and adding more laws just makes people angrier and more "oppressed/depressed".

This government has driven people to drink and drugs. They have been so tightly wrapped in rules, they are ready to burst at the seams...

Roue le Jour said...

I agree this is none of the school's business, but honestly, how do you get yourself into the frame of mind where you think having a beer at eight thirty in the morning while taking the kids to school is a reasonable thing to do?

But I already know the answer. You just convince people they have absolutely nothing to look forward to. That, if they are really, really lucky, tomorrow will not be that much worse than today.

Quiet_Man said...

Non of the schools business what parents get up too, even if it's not a great sight. The rest as you said are crimes for the police.

I do despair at the lack of hope in someones life that makes them need a drink to get through the day, Labour and the Tories have a lot to answer for over the last generations of people just left to rot away on state bread and circuses.

dr cromarty said...

Officers surveyed 230 residents in the area and 200 of them said the streets were being blighted by problems with drinkers.

These are supposed to be coppers - feeling villains' collars as they squeal "OK, gov. You got me bang to rights!"

This lot sound like a sociolgy MA class. Surveyed residents indeed. Did they have research ethics committee approval for that survey? What sampling techniques did they use? Was it a cross-sectional survey or was there in-depth, phenomenological-hermeneutic analysis employed?

I think we should be told.

dr cromarty

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you're there to express outrage and incredulity on my behalf as I can't actually keep up anymore. I start to comment and then find that I can't do it anymore. What has gone wrong with our society?

JuliaM said...

"In days gone by, if you misbehaved, the whole neighbourhood knew about it and you felt shame."

We should never have done away with shame.

"But I already know the answer. You just convince people they have absolutely nothing to look forward to."

I wonder if that's the case? It would be nice to see a reporter interview some of these paretents and...

Oh. Right. They don't do that sort of thing any more,do they?

"I do despair at the lack of hope in someones life that makes them need a drink to get through the day, Labour and the Tories have a lot to answer for over the last generations of people just left to rot away on state bread and circuses."

As above, I'd like to see what an interview with one of them would show. I wonder if they really are as we imagine them to be...

"These are supposed to be coppers - feeling villains' collars as they squeal "OK, gov. You got me bang to rights!""

Oh, if only! By now, everyone should appreciate just why 'Life on Mars' was such a big hit...

"I start to comment and then find that I can't do it anymore. What has gone wrong with our society?"

I often feel that way too! And lately, there's been so much of it.