The negative impacts of our night-shift society

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has called for new legislation for young drivers saying; “drivers aged 17-24 are responsible for a disproportionately high number of crashes, deaths and claims (see here)…

Amongst the ABI proposals it is suggested that young drivers be banned from driving between 11:00pm and 4:00am… 

A car is potentially a lethal weapon, and we must do more to help young drivers better deal with the dangers of driving. Improving the safety of young drivers will also mean that they will face lower motor insurance costs…(Otto Thoresen, Director General ABI)

This recent news brings me to raise another ongoing and partly related problem, one that is increasingly impacting upon families, our communities, the health & social welfare framework of our society and not least, policing, the emergency services and other public agencies. I refer to the growth of our so-called night-time economy.

Now I’m not suggesting for one moment that it’s wrong to be able to eat, drink or shop at 1am (or later) if that’s what you want (or need) to do. Far from it. Having worked strange shifts all my life, the convenience of being able to shop and/or socialise after work, irrespective of the time would (often) have been advantageous.

But despite the convenience factor, the night-time economy also has many (mostly) unseen negative impacts upon our society. As a result of many of our young people having no job to go to during the day, they have no reason to get out of bed in the morning. Because they don’t have to get up and have loafed around until midday or the afternoon, they’re not tired and consequently go to bed later. Going to bed later and later means they get up later in the day and this progressive shift in the ‘normal’ day means their active time gets later in the day and runs into the night.

Before too long it’s sleep all day and play all night for our young people. Consequently, there is less and less opportunity for meaningful interaction between kids and their parents. No time for parental guidance or chastisement and remedial rebuff for wrong doing. I’ll bet that in some families, both sides of the age divide will see this as an absolutely positive bonus for their domestic circumstances.

Before long a large number of our kids are sleeping all day and playing all night. They’re drinking (or consuming other substances), noisily enjoying themselves and driving around looking for fun and something to do. Often this ‘something’ is either anti-social or criminal, mostly at the expense of others but often in their eyes, seen as just having a bit of fun.

As a consequence of all this, increasing numbers of people, of many age ranges but mostly young, are at a loose end in the wee small hours. Expectedly, there is also an increase in the number of commercial organisations trying to tap into the spare money that may be available to bolster their profit margins. Bars stay open longer and fast food outlets serve later, not just at the weekends.

All this has an impact upon not only the people who reside in our communities but also, the public service agencies such as; the police, the ambulance service, hospital A&E departments within the NHS and our local authorities. All these public bodies are tasked with clearing up the mess society gets itself into. It’s often mostly a thankless task but it is also an expensive one, one that impacts upon nearly all of us as the taxpayer continually foots the bill.

There was a time when drunken yobs only disturbed my sleep once or twice a week as they lager waltzed their way past my door in the early morning. Now this disturbance occurs on several nights during the week; shouting, swearing and drunken disputes, all accompanied by loud music from mobile phones and mp3 players is evident well into the night and towards dawn.

Boom boom boom music blasts out from every other hot-hatch with a dodgy bucket exhaust that is passing by, or more likely, attempting the fastest 1/4 mile standing start from the nearby traffic lights. The silence of the night is shattered by the screech of tyres struggling to gain traction and vehicle audible warning systems being sounded, either as a friendly greeting to some knob without wheels or simply, played in time to some rapper who wants to shag every bitch in sight after snorting his latest fix of must have moon dust.

There was a time when our police service would have been available to prevent this anti-social behaviour and/or deal with those breaking the law. Not so today, with shrinking budgets and the constant demands on an ever decreasing police presence, officers usually struggle to even meet the ever-increasing demands to respond to an ‘emergency’ situation. Often that ‘emergency’ isn’t one when they arrive however; the response demand often precludes any spare capacity for proactive or preventative policing.

This fact is now happily well-known to an increasing majority of our young people, the ones who have the time on their hands in the middle of the night to do what they will. One has to ask the question; why is it that our politicians and police leaders appear to have little or no cognisance of the situation?

It is possible (but unlikely) that many of them don’t but more worryingly, a proportion of them do and, for one reason or another, they chose to do very little about it. They justify their reasoning with dodgy manipulated statistics, produce endless demand profiles and all manner of resource availability studies. And all this is dressed up in fluffy risk-management strategies based upon financial constraint. Meanwhile the public they are there to serve are suffering and mostly in silence. Here in lays the problem; too many of us are either not inclined to complain or too afraid to do so.

Many members of the public who have valid concerns about issues that impact upon them are simply unable to voice that concern. The reasons are probably many fold but will often include reasons such as; being ‘worried’ about ‘bothering’ an already ‘busy’ police force with a ‘trivial’ matter or, they simply fear the reprisals from those responsible for the matter being complained about.

Increasingly older people are confining themselves to the relative security of their homes during the hours of darkness, whilst our unemployed, often feral youth, are free to roam at will with impunity searching for their next cheep thrill. That’s all well and good until the ‘idle hands’ start making ’light work’ of relieving us old(er) codgers of our last remaining bits of solitude and security. This constant quest for ’thrills’ to relieve ‘boredom’ is, unfortunately, mostly at the expense of someone else.

Young drivers may well be ”responsible for a disproportionately high number of crashes, deaths and claims” but I also wonder; how many of our senior citizens have they finished off with their behaviour?

When you consider all of the above and then add the confusion which abounds in today’s political and financial climate; i.e. Which agency or department holds the remit (and budget) to tackle a given problem in modern policing methods? You start to understand why there is a growing gap between the public and the police.

If our public services themselves have difficulty thrashing out these questions, what chance of the public having any real understanding about why they can’t get the help they want or need? This perpetual confusion is also one of the main reasons why those agencies so often escape retribution for not helping, or not wanting to help!

The latter issue is one that needs addressing urgently but also; the time has come for us to try to reverse the unsocial trends and demands of our ‘night-shift’ population!

Related articles

• Young people should spend a year learning to drive (telegraph.co.uk)
• ‘One year to pass driving test’ (bbc.co.uk)
• Special report: a generation of young Londoners with no job, no prospects and no hope (standard.co.uk)

Mr.G’s Shed of Books and Jam

I don’t know about you but I tend not to buy that many books these days. When I do get around to parting with my sheckles, whatever I’ve purchased then tends to sit in the bookcase unread for an age. My reading list has grown at such an alarming rate over recent years that the book collection now resembles the stockroom of a recently closed library branch…

So, with that in mind, I was somewhat surprised when I found myself wandering into the local branch of Waterstones the other day. I suppose that, as is often the case, it was more the actions of a scholarly inquisitive automaton, rather than any particular desire to consume the latest artistic masterpiece and bestseller. You see I’ve never really been a great lover of novels or fiction, my reading has normally always revolved around subjective reference and/or biographical works.

I know electronics have taken over from real books for many, but as a result of my brief sojourn into this literary emporium, I got to thinking about the subject of books and reading; why is it there appears to be an ever decreasing number of people who actually read?

Apart from any enjoyment or relaxation aspect of the process, reading has also long been considered a mark of someone’s academic ability. Whilst thinking about that part of the process, I was reminded of Bamber Gascoigne and that iconic TV series University Challenge. In my youth I was often intrigued at the student’s introduction before taking part in the competition; ”Smythe – Oxford-Baliol - Reading Quantum mechanics and classical physics.”

Some used to suggest the whole university thing (then) was all about privilege and class, many socialists seek to continue that somewhat juvenile (pureile) argument. But for me, having grown up in Oxford, one of the most famous seats of further education, the whole process of university study was a perfectly natural progression through life and, one that was in reality, actually more ‘available’ than some of those socialists would be prepared to admit. But only available to those of sufficient academic ability after all, is there really any point in dumbing down educational standards, simply so they’re available to all, irrespective of ability, as often appears to be the case now? Doesn’t it simply devalue the whole process?

And, before anyone offers up a “bloody uni toff he would say that” I didn’t actually go to university per se, although I did understand the values of further education and studied at The Open University later in life, whilst holding down a full time career.

Over the years there have been considerable changes to our UK education system. The Further and Higher Education Act resulted in the conversion of Polytechnic’s to Universities back in 1992. Many new universities were created and (arguably) access to quality higher education was enhanced. But, as with all the (supposed) advancements within our schooling, many of the changes and standards in higher education would today tend to make me expect; “Smiff  – Teesside – Reading Geordie Shore and Big Brother.”

In those halcyon Gascoigne days I didn’t really know anything about ‘quantum’ whatever and, I’m happy to admit, it’s highly unlikely the subject would have interested me in any case. But it was that quest for knowledge that I found interesting. Finding out about something new, irrespective of whether or not it resulted in any subsequent personal interest, was the interesting part.

But TV, like books, can also be a useful medium for providing avenues of greater understanding, about all manner of subjects. We all need to learn about life, society, the world, history and science, we need to understand what goes on outside our own microcosm. In short, it’s all part and parcel of the important personal educational process but even TV is being dumbed down. Unfortunately today too much of it is often inane superfluous shite, virtual this and reality that. Simple escapism for the amusement of the uneducated and mostly socially inept and uninterested masses.

I’m one of those who has absolutely no interest in the immature ramblings of the inebriated and illiterate. Self-important orange stained oiks, pumped up on legal/illegal performance enhancing substances and destined for a booze induced NE Shag Fest each weekend. It defeats me how the mating habits of testosterone posturing ‘cocks’ chasing the vacuous air headed surgically and chemically enhanced bimbos can be seen by anyone as entertainment.

Viewing figures tend to suggest that this sort of tripe is actually enjoyed by many, that fact alone is socially worrying. It’s more worrying when you consider, how many of the ’followers’ take it as indicative of real life. But even worse, many are also intent upon modeling their life around the antics of those they revere. Watching the likes of Geordie Shore or TOWIE (simply for research purposes I hasten to add), does however help you to understand why we are surrounded by so many materialistic self-interested plastic people. 

Couple all this with the rest of this latter-day ’specialist subject’ and I’m concerned. How is it that so many in our society can be glued to a TV screen, observing the inane mutterings of often educationally challenged muppets and wannabe celebrities? It’s sad that so many people have been happy to live in the BB House goldfish bowl of public voyeurism. Perhaps there’s no limit as to what some people will do for the prospects of a little fame and fortune?

Despite the inane and frivolous entertainment value aspect, which wouldn’t be such a bad thing, the fact that so much of this innocuous shite has also become an acceptable and popular scaffold to our social framework is sad.

But before the staff at Teesside University explode in anger at some of the above, I have no wish to detract from the undoubted value of the education they provide. As many of the Alumni will no doubt attest, this is now one of the finest, critically acclaimed and multi-award winning academic institutions within the UK. I merely wished to illustrate the changes that have occurred to our social and academic framework within my life thus far.

Neither am I falling into that all too easy trap suggested by Owen Jones (now blogging at The Independent) in his book Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class. For a start, many of those people don’t work, have never worked and probably, have absolutely no intention of working. Yes, I acknowledge that real and meaningful work is more of a rarity now than was once the case however; our social and political attitude to work (and life in general) has changed. Too many are now content to be little more than party animals in a world of virtual reality, mostly at someone else’s expense and often, wholly to the detriment of those around them.

 Any way, to return to that original spark that ignited the content of this post. In Waterstone’s I had been drawn to a title by Marcus Berkmann who, like many others, has realised that we all eventually reach a difficult point in our life. So let’s talk sheds for a moment…

Whilst using some inimitable humour, Berkmann examines how best to manage this awkward period in one’s life. In his book A Shed Of One’s Own: Midlife Without the Crisis, described by Mark Wilson (Independent on Sunday) as “a sort of “Zen and the Art of Midlife Management” Berkmann atempts to offer some much-needed guidance.

Like some others who have reached this stage in their life, I’ve got a shed load of experiences and thoughts from the past but also, my particular ‘shed’ contains considerable concerns about the future, on both personal and social issue fronts. But, as with Berkmann, I haven’t actually got a bloody shed to go and hide in. At least not one suitable as a personal escape - one where I can sit in comfort and ponder all my life issues, relaxed by a little light refreshment and some background music.

I suppose it’s concerns, like those alluded to above, which help to induce that infamous midlife crises. Is it any wonder so many of us to go scurrying headlong into our sheds, in an attempt to gain relief and solitude from all the realities of life? But this trait isn’t anything new, it’s something that’s actually been prevalent and around for generations. As our society progresses (or regresses) and we get older, we find it ever more difficult to comprehend and/or accept all the changes around us… Thank your god for sheds!

The book Shed Men examined the quirky phenomenon of sheds and sheddism, arguing that a bloke’s shed begins where a boy’s room leaves off. It can provide a “home to prized objects and boyish dreams” or simply provide a form of escape from life’s realities. The home-from-home created by a murky little hut at the end of the garden, although much maligned and misunderstood,  is a vastly important male sanctuary to preserve one’s sanity.

It’s been said that a shed is to a man what a handbag is to a woman - both contain all the essentials for surviving the modern world and, in the same way that no decent man would ever consider looking in a woman’s handbag uninvited ergo, no reasonable woman should dream of setting foot in a man’s shed. In another book of this somewhat quirky genre entitled Men and Sheds, a study of more than 40 men and their sheds in the UK was carried out, which looked at the personalities and the passions hidden within our sheds. Within The Shed Book you will find that these structures are ”an icon of national identity, which hold a “special place in the hearts of British men.” A shed is ”a sanctuary from the outside world and the other half.”

But if I did have a suitable escape, the shed would be probably be full of beer, wine, books, a kettle and some brew kit, along with a radio and CD or mp3 player. Oh yes, and a myriad of other stuff loved by me, but probably, of absolutely no bloody interest to anyone else, except perhaps for some of the music.

You see to me, and many others I would hope, music is or can be so much more than just noise. In many ways it’s also a form of social commentary. Artists like Bob Dylan and Bob Marley or Billy Bragg and Paul Weller in more recent times, have all become renowned as sages of sociopolitical musical observation.

The ghost of a steam train – echoes down my track. It’s at the moment bound for nowhere – just going round and round. Playground kids and creaking swings – lost laughter in the breeze. I could go on for hours and I probably will – but I’d sooner put some joy back – In this Town called Malice…(Paul Weller)

The Eton Rifles (also by Paul Weller) was another one of those, now iconic, musical observations of our society, and some of its social ills.

The song to me, and our Prime Minister it would seem (see below), is one of those Tracks of My Years moments (if Ken Bruce ever asked me).

The song recounts a street battle which occurred in Slough back in 1978. As it happens, I was actually in the area attending a school Alumni event, although not an Eton one and I didn’t personally witness the battle. Elements of a Right To Work protest march had decided to take on some pupils from Eton College who had been jeering at them. Many of the participants in the fracas, rashly, thought that a bunch of ‘posh schoolboys’ would be an easy target; only for the outnumbered, but far fitter, college pupils to emerge as victorious.

The Eton Rifles: Thought you were smart when you took them on, but you didn’t take a peek in their artillery room. All that rugby puts hairs on your chest...(Paul Weller)

As I pointed out before, Weller has long been revered as a social champion and sage of the working class, something of a socialist icon. So it should hardly be a shock when David Cameron (an Old Etonian) announced that The Eton Rifles was one of his favourite songs, that it should cause consternation amongst the media and political groups.

Bands such as The Jam and The Smiths were at the forefront of the resistance to Thatcherism in the 1980s. Twenty years later, Tory leader David Cameron lists them as among his favourite acts. Is nothing sacred, asks John Harris..(guardian.co.uk)

Cameron was reported to have said at the time; “I don’t see why the left should be the only ones allowed to listen to protest songs” and he was right. As he also pointed out in interview (see here) at a later date, when questioned further about his musical likes;  ”…if you can only like music if you agree with the political views of the person who wrote it, well, it’d be rather limiting.”

Another recent Paul Weller track (from the #No1 album - Sonik Kicks) partly sums up this Dangerous Age! – “And when he wakes up in the morning, It takes him time to adjust, He’s so sick of the money, And all the life that is lost.”

But isn’t it the case that, even ’rebels’ with (or without) a cause, often have a tendency to mellow somewhat as they gain maturity, losing some of their (mostly) youthful and petulant political ideology or expectation? Perhaps if we were all a little more educated, a lot less self-interested and spent some time in our sheds, there might be a little less anger based (mostly) upon jealousy and then just maybe, the world could be a better place?

Related articles

• A Shed of One’s Own by Marcus Berkmann – review (guardian.co.uk)
• A Shed of One’s Own, By Marcus Berkmann (independent.co.uk)
• The new ages of man (independent.co.uk)

Living life in the chicken run!

Image via Wikipedia

Slightly tongue in cheek perhaps and despite the fact it’s an old analogy, the story below fits well with my previous post about the hamster wheel. Have you ever noticed how, the older one gets, the more times you witness (and endure) youthful exuberance imposing their reinvented wheel on the rest of us?

Most of those who are so excited about their ‘new’ idea, forget to reasearch and understand the past. Far to freely, they are happy to dismiss the knowledge and condemn the experiences of the wise old owls, often failing to take cognisance of historical fact. It may only be a generalistic trait but it’s one that is very common in our society today. We should all understand; we ignore and poo poo this experience at our peril, in so many walks of life.

Many people far wiser than I have been making this point for centuries. Indeed, the much quoted Chinese philosopher and reformer Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC) was probably one of the first when he said; Study the past if you would define the future. Throughout history there have been people wise enough to take cognisance of the past, but unfortunately, also just as many who haven’t.

That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that History has to teach…(Aldous Huxley - English Novelist & Critic, 1894-1963)

One story that you may or may not have heard before, is an amusing example of the problem of youthful arrogance within our society. It’s one of those social problems which is having negative impacts upon the business world, our family lives and ultimately our society as a whole so read on…

A farmer went out one day and bought a brand new stud rooster for his chicken coop. 

The new rooster struts over to the old rooster and says, ‘OK old fart, time for you to retire.’  The old rooster replies, ‘Come on, surely you cannot handle ALL of these chickens. Look what it has done to me. Can’t you just let me have the two old hens over in the corner?’

The young rooster says, ‘Beat it: You are washed up and I am taking over.’ The old rooster thinks for a moment then says, ‘I tell you what, young stud… I will race you around the farmhouse. Whoever wins gets the exclusive domain over the entire chicken coop.’

The young rooster laughs.’You know you don’t stand a chance, old man but  just to be fair, I will give you a head start.’

The old rooster takes off running.  About 15 seconds later the young rooster takes off running after him. They round the front porch of the farmhouse and the young rooster has closed the gap. He is only about 5 feet behind the old rooster and gaining fast! The farmer, meanwhile, is sitting in his usual spot on the front porch When he sees the roosters running by.

The Old Rooster is squawking and running as hard as he can… The Farmer grabs his shotgun and – BLAM – he blows the young rooster to bits. The farmer sadly shakes his head and says, ‘Dammit……That’s the third gay rooster I bought this month.’

Moral of this story? – Don’t mess with the OLD FARTS – Age, skill, wisdom, experience and even a little treachery when required, will always overcome youth and arrogance!

The above story may have been a little juvenile in its humour but it does serve to illustrate a point. I will admit to the exuberance of youth in my younger days however; whilst questioning the methodology and raison d’être of those much older and wiser than I, there was always a background of respect of and for the experience of age. An understanding that time-served in whatever scenario, actually counted for something.

It tought me that I could learn a lot from my elders, if I was prepared to listen to them, which thankfully I was. Whether I agreed with them or not was often immaterial, just so long as I didn’t fall foul of the same mistakes they had made in their past.

Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe…(H. G. Wells, The Outline of History, vol.2 – English author & historian, 1866 – 1946)

Perhaps we would make far fewer mistakes now, if we took greater cognisance of our past? The sooner we understand that ignoring our history, and those more experienced than us, the sooner we can actually get our heads around the fact; ignorance of the past has profoundly negative impacts upon our future!