Lawless towns

[worlybear]

WTF is happening in our towns?
I live in a small seaside town in the S.E. of England.
Over the last 2 years the police presence has diminished to practically nil.
From 6 pm in the evening it is unwise and unsafe to walk through the town centre or along the harbour due to a burgeoning and aggressive underclass of "homeless " people/drunks.
They pester for money and are very intimidating.
One person I know when approached said "sorry I've no money on me"-so the guy offered to walk him to a cash point!
Unbelievable!
Every night and I mean EVERY night the drunken brawls screaming and fighting carries on through drinking time until the early hours of the morning.
It's not safe to be out.
People are bedded down in shop fronts, both vacant and in business .
The police seem to shrug their shoulders and turn away ,probably because they have no resources or stomach to keep addressing these issues.
I understand that there is a local,homeless shelter but some people prefer to beg.
I'm sick to death of it and want to see some action to prevent this significant minority of morons from terrorising the town.
Personally I think that an active police presence with permission to use tasers would improve the quality of life for many law-abiding people.
AIBU?

What’s ridiculous about it? Not quite sure what you mean.

@anxiousmner "That has put me in where I belong now not only do I feel like I am waste of space I now know I'm a waste a space I have no qualifications no friends no money no job and I'm thick and poor so I'm the underclass thanks"

1. You are not a waste of space! You are a human being who has different experiences from "the norm". Sociology is a subject which creates arguments, as not everyone believes it is useful, and some others argue that the perceived differences can be used to the persons advantage.
2. You may not have formal qualifications, at the moment, but that can change if you want it to, as there are many adult learners returning to education with little or no qualifications, some of whom cannot read or write, so assuming you've read this and replied yourself, you are already "ahead" on some people. You are most certainly not "thick"!
3. Without a job, and being reliant on benefits will make you feel poor, if you had a job you would probably have "workmates", and you would have the money for joining hobby groups, where you may meet people and develop friendships. But having a job isn't the only way you can change things if that's what you want to do there are many activities and groups which are free and a lot of places are crying out for volunteers, such as "befriending" services for the elderly or disabled.

It was exactly the same in the nineties. A decade or more of Tory rule will do that.

t was exactly the same in the nineties

It was, but even back then, I don't think compassion was as lacking as it is now.

There was quite strong and, dare I say it, moral opposition to the Tory cuts in the 90s. But they have done a brilliant job of dividing us all and bigging up the idea of the undeserving poor.

If you care about anything or anyone’s suffering now you are woke, politically correct, a bleeding heart liberal and thus to be ridiculed. And notice it’s the very privileged leading this idea. Like that twat Lawrence Fox. Divide and conquer.

The thing is @todayisnottuesday, that by eschewing the use of the term underclass you are unwittingly helping those who wish to maintain and increase the inequalities in this society. Don’t pretty it up; it exists and it shouldn’t. Let’s not skim over the fact that there is a group of people that government cuts and policies are throwing under the bus. They are already vulnerable and social/ health cuts are increasing their vulnerability.
The least powerful kept that way by those in power. They want and need an underclass for their own gain but they certainly don’t want you to talk about them or admit they exist.
As I stated earlier, there is no judgement in that term on those who inhabit said class; the judgement is cast on those who strive to perpetuate their status. Those who cut our social and health care to the bone whilst protecting their own wealth and privilege.

It was, but even back then, I don't think compassion was as lacking as it is now.

You're right. That is what has changed.

I don’t remember it as a feast of love and kindness back then, before rape was illegal in marriage as an example. Anyway, do you help people best by giving them everything on a plate, or by giving them the capability to work for themselves? Many people in similar situations to me remember the modern emphasis on psychology and reasons for every bit of bad behaviour coming in. Some of it was welcome. Some of it, we thought at the time, removes the ideas of self-control and personal responsibility. Somehow our reservations got lost - probably with our voices, as we were ignored more and more in favour of those who really aren’t much worse off than some of us. In spreading the upper middle classes extreme notions of charitable understanding you downgraded the achievements of the lower and working classes, and enabled, even glorified, the lack of control of the underclasses. It is complex of course and individual circumstances should take priority.

The use of underclass by sociologists doesn't imply a moral judgement. It's used to talk about those who are excluded from opportunities available to the majority of the population. Unfortunately in other contexts, such as the OP, it is also used judgementalally.

I think the last decade or so of austerity, cuts to welfare and outreach services and police/NHS etc should answer your question.

So many.of the cuts affected people in vulnerable financial situations - and many are now on the streets due to relationship break ups, unable to cope with civvie street coming out of the forces, addictions, abusive domestic situations (the.list could go on and on).

Young people have poor.prospects for education and then employment. And there are way less youth projects to offer somewhere to go in the evening. So it's not that much of a surprise that a proportion of those have disengaged with society, self medicate with alcohol or street drugs and then kick out at society with violence and crime.

Yeah, no country should risk going into bankruptcy.... But it all went to far and now we're seeing the consequences