Wouldn't live back in London or outskirts for all the tea in China, glad I got the kids away 14 years ago, although this type of thing is spreading geographically very quickly. We have gone seriously wrong in this country for a very long time and I can't see anyway back, our politicians of all persuasions have let us down badly for many many years but none of them will either speak or confront the truth. I could cry for this once great nation of ours.
I was brought up in Welling, and Upper Wickham Lane was familiar territory. When I was younger, you never heard of this sort of thing - and if ever there was a fight it was just fists, nerver blades or shooting. I echo the thoughts of FavershamAddick above.
I'm so relieved that many years ago I moved my then young family into Cornwall, in search of a different way of living.
Good for you Faversham, coming down to the Valley must be like running the gauntlet for you pal. Thankfully most of us understand that as shocking as these offences are,and as much as some people would love to proclaim "the country's going to the dogs", for the largest city in europe, we actually enjoy very little fatal crime like this-nor that will dilute the pain of what's happend in this case
Some look back with rose tinted glasses. ALthough there were mainly fist fights in times of yore, we also invented 'glassing'.............late 60s in Blackheath pubs, Fox Under the Hill in Kidbrooke and in Welling (Twisted Wheel) it was not uncommon to see glass fights...........stabbings were slightly rarer but existed, as did the threats with guns. What we ddidn't have then were so many drugs
It's not just London. Here in little Bermuda my partner, son and I were awoken at 3 in the morning a month or so back by 3 gunshots and a scream. A kid shot dead outside our bedroom window. Unsolved and by most accounts, a good kid and a case of mistaken identity. Whatever the case, this kind of needless violence can and does happen anywhere. It's happening with alarming regularity here now.
I went to bermuda in 1994 for 3 weeks an ex girlfriend who had family living out there and it did seem the most idyllic, trouble free , polite, friendly place in the world .... Everyone said hello as you walked along and we often just jumped on a scooter and went everywhere around the little island knowing there was not a worry in the world there (we were prolly a bit green behind the ears) .... I remember her uncle saying there was a shift towards americanism from the young population away from good old colonial britishness ..... Sad to hear that lookout The whole worlds gone wibble And as with the trouble above more reason for me to become a hermit (except for going to footy) Parents should take more responsibilty with their kids, I know I was shit scared of doing anything wrong cos my dad would give me a slap if I stepped out of line and it didn't do me any harm but I don't think you're allowed to hit kids now If my boys step out of line they'll get a clip round the ear from me Sad times But it happened in the old days so it must be alright paaaaah
Bring them up with love, support and attention and generally they turn out right. The problem is that today families absolve themselves of responsibility for their kids -it is somebody elses job. It is sad and we are finding that is if you destroy the family structure over decades more kids slip into this life. The problem is that once you destroy it, it is difficult to get back. Depressing in the extreme.
I think this definitely is a modern phenomena. I am 55 so my teenage years were in the early 70's and most of that period including my early exploits to pubs was in and around SE London. Charlton, Blackheath, old Kent Rd and although when out I was always aware that trouble was a possibility I don't ever remember feeling my life could be in danger. Stabbings to my knowledge were non existent and as for guns well that was the stuff of films. The increase in this cowardly crime is shocking and although no doubt I will be shot down for this I genuinely feel that it is the result of Caribbean and American "gangsta" influences leeching into popular culture of the young along with this trend towards young whites speaking like Jamaicans. I am aware that it's more complicated than that but nobody will convince me that I am too far wide of the Mark.
Good for you Faversham, coming down to the Valley must be like running the gauntlet for you pal. Thankfully most of us understand that as shocking as these offences are,and as much as some people would love to proclaim "the country's going to the dogs", for the largest city in europe, we actually enjoy very little fatal crime like this-nor that will dilute the pain of what's happend in this case
agreed - its tragic but there's a lot of over reaction - lived and worked in London all my life - never felt any sort of fear. If you're looking for it you'll find it but if you're 'clued up' you'll be fine - same as going to football matches.
Well I'm 52 and there were stabbings in my youth, it was just that they were very unusual and not an "everyday occurrence"
I am not a sociologist but my guess is that whilst there may be influences of Jamaican and American gang - cultures, there are more deep-seated reason why some young people want to belong to a gang with all that it entails.
1. Lack of paternal influence - too many kids who drift into gangs do not have a good father figure role model in their lives who can mentor/protect/guide them through the pitfalls of adolescence into adulthood, so they turn for safety (and excitement) to gangs to provide this.
We know that this is not the case for many children brought up in one parent homes. There is just more likelihood of young adolescents from this background getting drawn into it in my view.
2. Whilst we don't have blinding poverty that once we did, we live in a consumer age where the possession of material wealth is a status symbol. Many kids that get involved in gangs come from areas/backgrounds of high unemployment where gang culture is seen as the only route to material wealth.
These things happen everywhere and always have. Percentage-wise, I suspect you are no better off in smaller towns and villages. Your chances of not becoming a statistic are greatly enhanced if you don't carry a weapon, aren't mixed in crime and avoid trouble pubs and idiots. Simples.
Good for you Faversham, coming down to the Valley must be like running the gauntlet for you pal. Thankfully most of us understand that as shocking as these offences are,and as much as some people would love to proclaim "the country's going to the dogs", for the largest city in europe, we actually enjoy very little fatal crime like this-nor that will dilute the pain of what's happend in this case
Good post.
Shootings and stabbings occurred hundreds of years ago, highway robberies for example. The fact that a stabbing has it's own thread with suburban hysteria goes to show how safe our city is, besides, gang violence is usually only between gang members you don't often hear about a middle age man getting shot on his way back from Sainsburys.
Be a sad day when this isn't shocking news . . . but I do think the hysteria is in part created by the way in which news and myth is communicated faster, first by the traditional electronic media and now social networking. You can't underestimate the impact of technology on the way we think and behave.
'ValleyGary', how can you be so cynical and disrespectful. If you read the reports it was infact because of his mobile phone. The news that it was gang related was just rumours. It's sad that people are so cynical and disrespectful. I knew the boy, he was in my year at school, and no 'he was never in trouble', he was a good fottballer and he was not in a 'gang'. He was stabbed because of his mobile phone. So sad that a life was taken just for a mobile phone. R.I.P
ah the ever reliable 'News Shopper'. it actaully says ''according to reports on Facebook he was attacked near the Superdrug store in Upper Wickham Lane for his mobile phone.''..so not a fact.
im sorry if you find what i said disrespectful and fair enough if you knew him, i apologise., and ive removed it.
but come on, how many times have we seen and read about young black teenagers that are supposidly 'not in a gang' get stabbed.
The lad was stabbed in the neck with blood pouring out. If the News Shopper are correct about the mobile phone angle, then that's insane. Kill to nick a phone......
Comments
But the worse story I read recently was the bloke who went into welling macdonalds loo and raped two young boys. Now that is absolutely insane.
Stabbings aren't strange anymore. Very sadly.
Good luck all you bringing up kids.
I was brought up in Welling, and Upper Wickham Lane was familiar territory. When I was younger, you never heard of this sort of thing - and if ever there was a fight it was just fists, nerver blades or shooting. I echo the thoughts of FavershamAddick above.
I'm so relieved that many years ago I moved my then young family into Cornwall, in search of a different way of living.
Everyone said hello as you walked along and we often just jumped on a scooter and went everywhere around the little island knowing there was not a worry in the world there (we were prolly a bit green behind the ears) .... I remember her uncle saying there was a shift towards americanism from the young population away from good old colonial britishness .....
Sad to hear that lookout
The whole worlds gone wibble
And as with the trouble above more reason for me to become a hermit (except for going to footy)
Parents should take more responsibilty with their kids, I know I was shit scared of doing anything wrong cos my dad would give me a slap if I stepped out of line and it didn't do me any harm but I don't think you're allowed to hit kids now
If my boys step out of line they'll get a clip round the ear from me
Sad times
But it happened in the old days so it must be alright paaaaah
Shootings and stabbings occurred hundreds of years ago, highway robberies for example. The fact that a stabbing has it's own thread with suburban hysteria goes to show how safe our city is, besides, gang violence is usually only between gang members you don't often hear about a middle age man getting shot on his way back from Sainsburys.
Our pleasure, it was nice to meet him.
www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/9118752.Welling_stab_victim_named_as_boy_called_Yemurai/
im sorry if you find what i said disrespectful and fair enough if you knew him, i apologise., and ive removed it.
but come on, how many times have we seen and read about young black teenagers that are supposidly 'not in a gang' get stabbed.
For a phone FFS. Tragic. Poor kid.
Absolute scum walking the streets out there.