Abortion, a decision for the woman or a matter of politics.

There’s nothing to do!

When opening your local tabloid newspaper, you are probably drowned by stories of young teenagers drinking, taking drugs and causing general mayhem; that can even lead to death.

Surely instead of the government and the council introducing new laws concerning earlier curfews, they should be asking young people’s opinion on the matter and organising more facilities around villages and towns in Britain? Sure, there are a few bad apples around, there always are, but that doesn’t mean the whole tree is rotten. Nowadays, it seems if you are a young person living in rural Britain, wanting to go out and meet your friends, you have no choice but to congregate in parks, on the streets, or outside shops. These groups of teenagers are thought of as threatening to the local community and older people tend to complain that we “do damage” and “destroy the peace of the village”. What else are we supposed to do? Stay at home watching TV and become unhealthy and overweight? The government have mentioned how the youth of today are twice as overweight than youth of a decade ago, but can all the blame be shifted onto the young people who have nothing else to do but stay out of the village so as not to scare the grannies?

How can we please both older citizens in villages and the young people? A compromise is needed. If the council asked teenagers for their thoughts and plans for what they would like to do in the village, perhaps special clubs, bars, or cafes could be set up for younger people. A reliable transport service could circulate in the village, allowing teenagers to move safely around and out of it. Adults feel threatened by and cautious of the teenage gangs that hang around “causing trouble” so a place indoors, such as a bar or pub, where teenagers could meet would get them off the streets.

This problem has been ongoing for years now, and the government has failed to organise anything successful previously.

What is your opinion on this?

Do you think teenagers need to get off the streets?

What should we do to combat this problem?