Ah summer, eh?
Kids running around the garden with a hosepipe, tennis/golf/footie (delete as applicable) on the telly, taps aff, a wee pint or two in the beer garden….
It’s all good harmless fun. Almost continental.
Think of Italy, Spain and France – places where the kind of weather we’ve been enjoying in the last few days is the norm.
Where they know how to enjoy it, get outside, enjoy a drink, socialise.
For the most part we can replicate those finer things in life here when the sun shines.
So what’s not to love?
Well, let’s start with Broughty Ferry on Monday night, where we were ‘treated’ to the spectacle of dozens of immature, boozed-up teens knocking seven shades out of each other at a local beauty spot.
Let’s start with cretinous vandals smashing up plant pots and window displays.
Let’s start with groups of kids shouting abuse at shoppers going about their daily business.
And where does it all end?
Why, with a police crackdown, increased patrols and a renewed sense of peace and tranquillity, of course.
Except that it does not.
What it ends with is lots of hand-wringing, a few hospitalisations – and the sure and certain knowledge it will happen again the next time the sun has the temerity to put its hat on.
Because it seems that in this country, a certain minority of people just can’t behave.
Free bus passes aren’t to blame
Anti-social behaviour isn’t unique to Dundee – but getting ridiculously over-excited when the sun comes out does seem to be a particularly Scottish vice.
And when that spills over into violence, it is actually very sad that people feel helpless.
After we reported on the Broughty brouhaha, our Facebook comments were full of people who just didn’t see a solution.
Broughty Ferry clean up under way after 'mass brawl' at beach… https://t.co/spmqoGAuTW via @thecourieruk
— Jake Keith 🇺🇦 (@JakeKeith_) July 12, 2022
Some blamed free bus passes for giving young people the opportunity to travel – but not providing anywhere to go.
Give a ned a fish and he might eat it, provide him with a fishing rod and he is likely to roam about banjoing people over the head with it (as the old saying almost goes).
Sure, free travel might have made it easier for potential troublemakers to congregate. But surely it can’t be blamed for the current spate of sun-kissed naughtiness?
How about those who use their free bus pass to attend sporting clubs, or part-time jobs they would otherwise struggle to afford?
Or the others intent on hopping on a bus and expending some energy at the Olympia leisure centre, that jewel in Dundee’s recreational crown.
Well, they might be if that wasn’t ruled out, now the venue is closed for the foreseeable (and probably a bit longer too).
Plenty of reasons for Broughty Ferry violence – who has the solutions?
When it comes down to it, violence and general, all-round nasty behaviour is the fault of the perpetrators. No argument there.
But it doesn’t help when our biggest leisure centre is closed for years on end.
It doesn’t help when the authorities seem unable, unwilling (or possibly just too understaffed) to respond.
It doesn’t help when getting smashed on cheap cider remains a life choice indulgently encouraged by huge swathes of society.
And it doesn’t help when kids are given free bus passes, but precious few facilities to visit.
These are all factors, some of them teeny-weeny, that contribute to a wider problem society seems unable to fix.
So by all means look forward to the sun coming out again – but don’t be surprised when it all goes horribly wrong.
Ah summer, eh?
- Evening Telegraph editor Dave Lord is a dad-of-five who lives in Broughty Ferry.
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