Back in my early headmasterish days, the older breed would recount tales of when they were at school, of how they'd escape from the dorm window, slide down and head off for a wicked smoke and [gasp] even some alcohol.
Then there was what Evelyn Waugh wrote, what Agatha Christie wrote about how girls 'slouched these days', reminiscences to the effect that they were all so naughty, yet there was still an innocence to it, deep down. Then in my yoof, similar substances, similar shenanigans before we had to be home by a certain hour - there was the dad factor to contend with.
There were definitely feckless kids around, gangs, there was one particular housing estate we'd avoid, there were authority figures we'd be cheeky to and run away, we'd put nails on the railway tracks. But the core values were still there, not because dad lectured us at home but because every which way you turned, there were certain things ... well ... you just observed. The messages were universal.
Mid 90s in London and I saw a new crop who were anything but that - surly, inarticulate, utterly without respect, a priori, irrespective of how they were treated. Back again in the late 2000s and my first day home - attacked by a yob who felt I was in his way at the tube train - the thing which stayed with me was how completely out of control he was and the eyes were drugged, beady, but at least he did not pull a knife. Sometime later near where I live now, shopping centre, gaggle of girls bumping people, plus me. 'Do you mind?' I said, they swung around and made to attack as a pack, don't know what stopped them, maybe the look you need to give snarling dogs - but those couple of minutes said so much about what it was like now.
