Vocal Voices

We see them in shop doorways at dusk, huddled, smoking and drinking cheap booze..
I am not writing about homeless adults, and the country is full of of these lost souls, but children, ignored by the police as furtively they soak themselves in cigarettes, and cheap alchohol much of it suspect that is sold in corner shops'..
All Thanks to the Capitalist greed of those who own and run these supermarkets and establishments, where what is turning out to be a poison is blatantly advertised cheap affordable for the youngsters whose kick is to drink as much as they are able to afford.
The health problems and predictions are frightening.. Does the governments do anything about this shocking situation.. "No They Dont" they probably have shares in the industries and organisations who promote alchohol, that according to Health Authorities are leading our youngsters to an early death.

The government thought that it had the answer.... 45p per unit. That'll stop them. As if!

Then some ministers woke up to the fact that it would not work, so it is being quietly dropped. However, anyone who suggests any sort of alternative is shouted down: silenced.

The result: weasel words, hand wringing and..... nothing.

It's at once complicated and simple.
Easy to say "Man up and take responsibility for your own life". But life can be more complicated than that. Many of the young adults drinking themselves senseless in the park or in bus shelters haven't had a good start in life. Often they've been failed by their parents. sometimes their home life has been so bad they have been brought up in the care system.
They have no good role models, precious little education and they've had a life where love and affection have been mostly absent.
They drink to get drunk and feel good, if only for a while. They are violent because they are inarticulate, but also because they have an inner ache at not being loved, because nobody wanted them. A lot of them have no chance in life and they know it. So they drink to escape the rotten reality of their existence.

Very true, Cromwell. It's a never-ending downwards spiral.

But I suppose, to a greater or lesser extent, that has been the case in pretty much every generation since Victorian times.

A very understanding and sympathetic post Cromwell.

Shopkeepers are liable to very heavy fines if they sell alcohol to anyone under eighteen. They send in an over eighteen year old to buy it for them. My Grandson is nineteen this year and always carries his ID with him as he can't get served alcohol in shops and bars as he is always asked for proof of age. I was out with him last week and bought us both a drink in a bar where they didn't know us and he was asked to show his ID even though he was with his Nan.

I am lucky to live in a leafy suburb. The only shop selling alcohol for about 1.5 km around is the Co-op, and it always asks those who do not look over 21 for a picture ID.

At the other side of the main road, a sort of boundary, are two council estates of a similar size to my area. There are six independent "corner shops" there selling samosas, onion bhajis and alcohol from 8 till late. There are regular police patrols in those areas.

The people who live there, the young ones, have nothing. There are three rough pubs, the three primary schools are rubbish, the secondary school is a basket case, there are no facilities. I even suspect that putting their postcode on a CV sends it straight to the bin. They are reminded daily that they are the low of the low, so they come to believe it and act it. They are not the achievers at school, and there are no jobs for them.