The August 2011 riots and associated looting were unusual in scale and brazenness.  But they brought to national attention behaviour that many wil recognise as normal.

According to the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Dennis O'Connor, antisocial behaviour is a blight that affects 14 million people a year, with only 25% of these being reported to the police, party because there has been "a degree of nomalisation" around people dropping litter, drunken behaviour and vandalism that should not be accepted (Daily Telegraph, 23 September 2010).  These statistics come from a report called 'Stop the Rot' and are drawn from a survey of 6,000 victims, the largest of its kind, a joint study by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Ipsos Mori.

Here's an 'on the ground' measure of how far anti-social behaviour has now become a dominant issue: if you phone Birmingham City Council, you will be given three options: for anti-social behaviour enquiries, press 1; for general services enquiries, press 2; or, for recruitment, press 3.  Try 0121 303 1111 and see for yourself!

Some 363,280 pupils were suspended from school in 2008/09 (over 5% of the school population), and 6,550 were expelled.  (Source: Department for Children, Schools and Families)

“Parents across the country could be forced to sign good-behaviour contracts as part of a campaign to stamp out abusive language and crowd violence at children’s football matches.  Hundreds of fixtures are abandoned every year because parents swear at referees, scream insults at young players or fight other spectators”.  Jim Parker, the discipline officer at Lancashire FA said that behaviour was “dismal and getting worse by the year.  About 40 to 50 games were abandoned last season because of parents fighting on the pitch.  They just move the kids to one side and start battling… [Because so many professional footballers swore and fought], whatever happens on TV on a Saturday afternoon is a racing certainty to be played out in under-12s games the following weekend”.   (The Times, 4 June 2005).  Enquiries from Uturn UK in 2010 confirm that the current picture is similar to the one reported in 2005.

Residents’ street patrols have started in a number of areas to combat bad behaviour, even in villages.  “It is only after [Maralyn Hebron] was kept awake night after night by youths who congregated on the green, and woke up morning after morning to find the green littered with bottles, drug paraphernalia and occasional comatose teenagers, that she decided to act” (The Times, 15 March, 2010).

A report into the August 2011 disturbances concluded that the nights of violence offered the 'thrill' of obtaining 'free stuff' and that for some the disorder was described as being like a wild party, 'like a rave', in which society's rules were overturned. (National Centre for Social Research, November 2011, quoted in The Times, 4 December 2011).

Now it is customary to have large notices in job centres, hospitals and airports, saying “We will not tolerate foul and abusive language” or “threatening and abusive behaviour towards our staff will not be tolerated”.   Even ambulances now have them.  Such notices were never seen, or needed, until relatively recently.  

One person we spoke to said “I was one of those that shocked the nation in the late 1970s by becoming a punk rocker.  But I still knew how to say ‘thank you’ and how to open a door for an old lady”.

An employee at a job centre was telling us how much values are needed.  “While most people are fine, you do regularly see three or four year old children swearing at their parents, or adults who swear at and threaten the staff.  Others just grunt and grimace when you call them over for their interview.  It’s unbelievable.”  Job centres seem to require three or four security guards to be standing there all day, in case something ‘kicks off’.

Other well known issues to do with contemporary behaviour include vandalism, the effect of binge drinking on town centres every weekend, the notorious way ‘stag tours’ and the like can be conducted – not to mention the rudeness of some TV interviewers!

133,000 fraudulent insurance claims were unearthed by insurers in 2010, up 9% on the previous year.  A YouGov survey for the Association of British Insurers found that 20% of 2,613 people surveyed said they would be tempted to make a false claim or exaggerate a personal injury claim.  On the other hand, the implication is that 80% would not (source: ABI, 28 July 2011).  And in 2010, across the Underground, trains, buses and taxis in London, 207,000 items of lost property were handed in by well-meaning strangers (source: Transport for London).