Gangs of Glasgow

[mairead]

Bring back conscription. That'll sort the buggers out and take them off the streets.

[onyirtodd]

Bring back conscription. That'll sort the buggers out and take them off the streets.

Let unruly late teens and early 20s go to war but not the local offy? Is that official Tartan Tory policy these days?

[Peetabix]

Bring back conscription. That'll sort the buggers out and take them off the streets.

And that has been the answer all along? Why didn't I think of that.

[mairead]

I'm probabaly older than many of you, and I lived in Glasgow during the early part of my life and saw many layabouts go into the services and come out two years later as fine young folk. Many actually signed on again because they enjoyed the services life.I went into the WRNS just before my 18th birthday,and believe me, I quickly learned to keep my normally over active gob shut, during that time, as pay or leave was stopped for the least offence.

[onyirtodd]

I'm probabaly older than many of you, and I lived in Glasgow during the early part of my life and saw many layabouts go into the services and come out two years later as fine young folk. Many actually signed on again because they enjoyed the services life.I went into the WRNS just before my 18th birthday,and believe me, I quickly learned to keep my normally over active gob shut, during that time, as pay or leave was stopped for the least offence.

Do you still have the shilling?

[Peetabix]

I'm probabaly older than many of you, and I lived in Glasgow during the early part of my life and saw many layabouts go into the services and come out two years later as fine young folk. Many actually signed on again because they enjoyed the services life.I went into the WRNS just before my 18th birthday,and believe me, I quickly learned to keep my normally over active gob shut, during that time, as pay or leave was stopped for the least offence.

Have a look at other countries throughout the world with conscription, they are not without their troubles. Surely sending our kids off to kill people we don't care about isn't the answer.

[Its_a_gamp]

I'm all for it, have been saying this for years. Conscripts don't have to be sent to war, personally I don't think they should be allowed guns, but it would be good for them to learn discipline which the armed forces could teach them. (Well what it's allowed to teach them, unfortunately even the armed forces come under the PC brigade nowadays, they are no longer allowed to shout at new recruits, or make them do anything they don't want to do!!)

[mairead]

I know the services are a lot softer these days, but at the end of the day most young thugs are no more than cowards and bully boys and I still think a bit of discipline in their lives would be better than no disciplne at all.

[Dexter St. Clair]

How much money do we want to put into the Armed Forces? I think the army takes enough nutters as it is and I'm not so sure they'd want any more.

Colchester: Sentence deferred so soldier can fight
A soldier will not yet be sentenced for attacking a man and two women - so he can serve in Afghanistan.

Colchester Magistrates' Court deferred for six months sentencing paratrooper Tom Cummings for assaulting the trio outside a kebab shop, to allow him to accompany his regiment.

Oh and when we had conscription we still had neds.

Of course, not all of these Teddy Boys were villains, but they and Rock'n'roll were blamed for a lot of society's ills, and this image is still portrayed as something wicked and disrespectful to this day.

The Teddy Boys in Romford made their first appearance in 1954. In May of that year Chief Inspector Victor Cook, head of Romford C.I.D., said the following about their presence:

“At the very first sign of the Teddy Boys banding together we are going to step in. And believe me, we will smash up their gangs quicker than they were ever formed.

“These Edwardians are all right on their own – they’re cowards at heart – but it’s a different thing when they get together.

“That’s when the trouble starts and that’s when we start to take action. We will not have Romford terrorised by them as is happening in some other towns.

“It’s no good looking for them in the morning. They don’t get up until late in the day. They don’t go to work – they’re too lazy – and they do their best to dodge National Service.

“In the snack bars they buy their breakfast-cum-dinner. To a Teddy Boy that means a cup of tea and beans on toast.

“They meet their mates in the early afternoon and then start their beat. It stretches from Romford railway station to the High Street and from there to the Vogue cinema – if it’s Sundays, as far as Raphael Park.”

You can find The Teddy Boys reply here.

[onyirtodd]

Is conscription going to be in the next Tartan Tory Big Book of Fibs (aka the SNP election manifesto)?

I think we should be told.

[Reenie Bujman]

I know the services are a lot softer these days, but at the end of the day most young thugs are no more than cowards and bully boys and I still think a bit of discipline in their lives would be better than no disciplne at all.

I know quite a few of my dad's generation who will tell of how their time in national service improved their lives and kept them on the right side of the law.

Of course you could always drop them, a coachload at a time, in Bridgwater town centre on a Saturday night. There again, I suppose that'll be lost on most of you.

[mairead]

RB,
I know where I'd like to drop them. Imust say that my time in the services taught me a lot too, including self respect, as well as respect for others, and respect is in somewhat short supply these days among many of the young and older people alike, in my opinion.
Some OAP's I have noticed, think respect is due to them just because of their age, yet they have no respect for the young, just as many young folk have scant regard for the elderly.

[Riotgrrl]

One point that nobody has yet made about gang violence . . . we are not talking about 'serious and organised crime' (as it seems to be called these days) on the whole. We are talking about young guys (and, increasingly girls) from one part of town who have a territorial beef with people from another part of town, usually a part fairly close. So the Castlemilk Valley fight the Govanhill young Team or whatever; strictly a South Side affair. The 'gangs' don't travel far.

I would question how far these groups of young people count as 'gangs' and how much they are just groups of young people who shout a gang name for effect. (I was 'Busby Cumbie' myself . . but that's because I'm posh and went to school in East Renfrewshire.)

So, if the people doing the fighting are 14 and 15, prison or national service is irrelevant. All that's going to happen to them if they're caught by the Polis is a referral to the Childrens Panel, with a 'sentence' of a Supervision Order. Their punishment is to have a social worker visit them once a month or so.

And the 14 and 15 year old wideboys know this fine well. They're pretty much untouchable.

It is rumoured that some Polis actually keep a watching eye on the neds they want to get, leaving them alone until their 16th birthdays, so that when they finally lift the ned the ned will go straight into adult criminal justice and bypass the Childrens Panel. (If a 16 year old is already under supervision by the panel they will continue in the childrens system for a while yet, but if the 16 year old has not been previously referred to the Panel, he's fair game for Polmont.)

[mairead]

I agree that not all groups of youths are gangs. Heavens when I was a teenager we all hung about in groups, it's what teenagers do.
The ones I am on about are the loud mouthed drunken louts who terrorise elderly folk and cause fights.
(Please don't tell me it's boredom that causes bad behaviour, because the youth of today have so much more going for them than my age group ever had and so many things to do.)

[OLDFART]

Mairead I agree kids probably have more things to do but most cost money, usually thats what they dont have. when i was younger probably like most of you we all had nothing so were all equally skint. Now wearing the right/wrong clothes can cause problems.