OUR VIOLENT FUTURE

Press, 14 March 1987, Page 20

OUR VIOLENT FUTURE

By

Whim Wham

’I am comforted by the thought that what we are living in are the good old days, and that worse are to follow’.—Gavin Ewart Dear David, Thanks for your Report— We needed Something of the Sort. With all this Violence on our Minds— And IN them too—lnquiry finds Pretty well what we ALL expected; The public, if not more protected, Feels just a Little more secure— So does the Government, I’m sure! The Judges, if it please Them, StrongerMore Criminals in Gaol, for longer, Kept at Her Majesty’s Expense, Their just Reward, for Violence — The Taxpayer picks up the Tab For Bats that bash, for Knives that stab. After we’ve tinkered with the Laws, And speculated about the Cause —Are the wicked Media to blame? The School? The Beer? The Video Game?— Bad Parenting? Bad Art? Bad Air? The Evil One?—HE’s Everywhere (Or is it SHE? In any Case, Hell’s a Male-dominated Place) — After we’ve read the Thing again, For better and for worse. What then? Time will not waste, nor Mildew harm it, The National Archives will embalm it— A Footnote, ten Years hence, maybe, For a Criminologist’s PhD Whose Thesis, thus to illustrate, is How Violence worsened SINCE the Eighties! e ? a