NORMAL LIFE: British youths ‘among worst in Europe’ (FT, Nov 3rd)

In yesterday’s Financial Times, there was an article that proves that I wasn’t imagining it; according to two major reports, ‘British teenagers are among the worst behaved in Europe, outranking their continental peers in the consumption of alcohol and drugs and levels of violence and sexual promiscuity’. Finally, a report that actually conveys what I think most of us have known for a long time! But what can be done about it?

My father and I often discuss the topic of today’s youth, and his theory on how this happened is a compelling one. Basically, today’s youth are the offspring of those who were born in the sixties and seventies to irresponsible parents of the free love era and that’s all there is to it, my father insists. As a result, the youth of today haven’t been taught morals or discipline. This makes me think back to my own childhood when my parents were overwhelmingly overprotective and strict to such an extent that my own uncles and aunts often voiced their concerns on the way we were being raised.

I have altogether some forty to fifty cousins, some I have never met; those on my father’s side of the family live in Scotland whereas those from my mother’s side are scattered all over London. The point I am trying to make is that not a week goes by when we hear some gossip that one of our cousins has done something that goes against my immediate family’s ‘code’ of what’s right and what’s wrong. So when I ask what can be done about it, you have to worry that when my cousins have kids (most already have children), what hope do my second cousins have if their own parents don’t know how to behave?

One report actually warns that the UK is actually in ‘danger of becoming fearful of its young people’. Isn’t this just bizarre? When I was young, I feared my parents. Friends and family admired us somewhat as were so well dress and so well behaved. Some might think that fearing your parents is wrong, but it hasn’t done me any harm, has it? You don’t see me going out on Friday nights, start fights with a broken glass bottle in hand and then collapsing in the street in a pool of vomit, do you?!

In contrast, the youth in Finland are not perfect although they are somewhat better behaved. For example, when you got to supermarkets, you don't hear children screaming and crying like you do down your typical Asda or Tesco. That's because Finns are very economical - they don't give their kids everything in an effort to 'keep up with the Joneses' and so kid's don't miss what they never had, unlike British kids who, at the age of seven or eight, demand their own mobile phones and £300 Sony Playstations!

Another interesting observation is that Finns very rarely take children to restaurants, which I think is a smart thing to do. I went for dinner recently in the UK with one of my sisters and I couldn't hear a thing she was saying because I was surrounded by noisy little monsters. I don't hate kids, just British kids!

When we know all this, it makes you wonder who the hell would want kids in this day and age? Speaking as a gay man, I'm not disappointed that this biological option has been taken away from me. Oh, no! In fact, I pity anyone who has the challenge of raising a child in the fast paced modern and dangerous world where nearlu 80% of British children honestly think they are going to be the next Pop Idol! Get a grip, kids!