Shoplifting women of the world unite

Did you know that one in three women jailed in the UK is sent down for shoplifting? No, me neither. But according to The Guardian, it appears to be a symptom of shopping addiction that is gripping the civilised world. Read to the bottom for some extracts from All Consuming: How Shopping Got Us Into This Mess And How We Can Find Our Way Out by the author of the piece, Neal Lawson - and then buy the book from The Guardian bookshop.

Football hooliganism ain't what it used to be

I was surprised to hear Victoria Derbyshire discuss "A New Age of Football Hooliganism" on Five Live as I feel modern football is increasingly difficult to get passionate about. Hooligan was such a terrible establishment buzzword anyway, wasn't it? This blog post by an ex-hooligan on underground football site Urban 75 makes much better reading, although it was written in 2002.

The crux of the matter is discussed in the final paragraph:

The fact that youngsters don't go to games anymore because global capital's takeover of football has priced them out was discussed. The craziness of bothering was discussed. Would we still be doing it aged 65 was discussed ?

The feelings of adrenalin highs were discussed.

And you know what, despite it all, I'll be there again someday, just remember, if you see me, I'm in growl-only mode these days.

It's so much easier. Grrr.

Increase in youth robbery and violence

More scary stats from the Daily Mail:

• Children as young as 10 now carrying out robberies.
• Females now responsible for a fifth of all offences.
• Robberies by youngsters aged 10 to 17 increased by 29% between 2005
• Last year, the total reached 6,669, including more than 30 carried out by children aged only 10.
• Offences of violence against the person increased by a fifth from 44,988 to 53,930.
• Drug crime and criminal damage were both up by 12%.
• 2004/05 girls accounted for 18.4% of all offences committed, in 2007/08 this increased to 20.9%
• Number of offences by young females resulting in a punishment increased by 10% from 52,838 to 57,962.

Daily Mail 3rd March 2009

The anxious generation: 7m Britons racked with worry over recession, crime, health... and Big Brother state

More than seven million Britons are living with anxiety problems - almost a million more than a decade ago - a report reveals.

Daily Mail 14 April 2009, Jenny Hope

Child attacks on police soar by 40% in 5 years

The number of children conviced for violently attaching police officers has increased by more than 40% in five years.  Another worrying sign of "broken Britain"?

Government figures show that 2,186 under-18s were punished for the office in 2007 - an increase of almost 8% on previous year.

Daily Mail 18th April 2009, James Slack