I was thinking while on the bog

[NickFitz]

I blame the northerners; most of them don’t know how to use inside toilets.

Well, we only go in the bathroom when we need to get coal out of the bath

[NickFitz]

So when you see mindless damage, don't think "Why do they do this?", think "Why do they feel this is the only form of expression available to them?"

What else is there for them to do?

The Victorians built free lidos; we now charge for them. They built parks and gardens; we no longer maintain them. They subsidised the arts and music; we merely pay £50m for the odd picture "to stay in the country". They provided museums and galleries; we charge for them. They encouraged youth groups; we call their leaders kiddy-fiddlers. They encouraged social discourse; we are headed toward two-party politics. Global travel was remarkably cheap and borders were open; now we have border controls. Sports and games were encouraged; now roads are built without thought to pedestrians. The mines and factories provided social clubs, musical instruments, time off to enter band competitions, debating societies; now there is - what? Bugger all to do except break things in the only room that doesn't have a camera pointing at you all day long.

WHS++

[TinTrump]

Slightly skewed representation of Victorian Britain. Much as I appreciate the buildings we inherited from them, if I was to perform a critique I'd point out:

• There wasn't universal suffrage
• It was a 2 party system (mainly for the landed class and, later in the 19th C, business interests) with corrupt practices (rotten/pottwalloper boroughs etc)
• Victorian London was rife with violent crime and prostitution hence reformers like Bentham, Cadbury buildling his model village for workers (not of chocolate, alas)
• Life expectancy was lower, by about 20 years for a man (about 77 now, maybe 55 then)
• Appalling conditions in factories and mines (no need for the workers to add to the misery by sabotaging toilets)
• No free education system after about the age of 10 (but provision for the wealthy)

Not a full critique but I'm just pointing out some of the downside of the period. I hate modern impositions such as CCTV, ID cards etc. but we've come a long way in acquiring rights, economic, social and political for a majority of the populace.

Of course since 1979 we've insisted upon voting in the same party for extended periods until they've not a clever, benevolent idea left in their heads but become ever more desperate to hold onto power enacting spiteful legislation and trying to scare us into signing away our freedoms.

End of soapbox moment.

[gingerjedi]

Dunno - but reminds me of the joke - "Who is Armitage and what is Shanking"?

"Going for an Armitage" was a common cock-a-knee phrase before Jodrell Bank was built.

HTH

[Moscow Mule]

Why are Armitage Shanks still in business?

120000 new homes a year (many with 2 bathrooms)?

[bogeyman]

Bored, disgruntled employees who feel they could be doing more with their lives than the pointless drudgery of which their existence consists under the perpetual pestering of rubbish management for the enrichment of ungrateful owners or unknown shareholders, made all the worse by having to work in the presence of smug, overpaid contractors.

It's because work is crap but one is not allowed to say so; this causes internal conflict which comes out as sickness, mental illness, domestic violence, self-harm, drug abuse, alcoholism and vandalism.

When such unhappy people are in an environment where they are listened to and can make a difference, their behaviour will be entirely different.

Sadly, we are in a society that, by use of surveillance cameras, means that unhappy people become criminals: rather than fixing the real problem we are causing a far worse one.

The answer to petty crime is not entrapment and stronger punishment; it is to remove the motivation.

So, what sort of twit that does such things? The unhappy, under-occupied, under-stimulated sort. Just normal people in tedious environments; caged animals that self-harm by damaging the environment around them just to pass the time of day. Just to prove to themselves that they can actually do something, that they exist, that they can influence the world around them; sadly all they are permitted to do is break the rules.

So they do. Sometimes it's that or kill yourself or harm someone you love.

So when you see mindless damage, don't think "Why do they do this?", think "Why do they feel this is the only form of expression available to them?"

What else is there for them to do?

The Victorians built free lidos; we now charge for them. They built parks and gardens; we no longer maintain them. They subsidised the arts and music; we merely pay £50m for the odd picture "to stay in the country". They provided museums and galleries; we charge for them. They encouraged youth groups; we call their leaders kiddy-fiddlers. They encouraged social discourse; we are headed toward two-party politics. Global travel was remarkably cheap and borders were open; now we have border controls. Sports and games were encouraged; now roads are built without thought to pedestrians. The mines and factories provided social clubs, musical instruments, time off to enter band competitions, debating societies; now there is - what? Bugger all to do except break things in the only room that doesn't have a camera pointing at you all day long.

An excellent and poignant diatribe RC

[OwlHoot]

.. Of course since 1979 we've insisted upon voting in the same party for extended periods until they've not a clever, benevolent idea left in their heads but become ever more desperate to hold onto power enacting spiteful legislation and trying to scare us into signing away our freedoms.

End of soapbox moment.

Well said TT, and the Tories are almost as bad as Labour. For example, that slimy creep Michael Howard supported Labour in abolishing the principle of double jeopardy.

[MPwannadecentincome]

"Going for an Armitage" was a common cock-a-knee phrase before Jodrell Bank was built.

HTH

I had to look that up - so I googled Jodrell Bank and Armitage - one of the listings was a reference to this thread!

Lower down was a site with a list of cockney rhyming slang - Cockney Rhyming Slang - ok I get this now!