There was a build-up to yesterday’s crime summit between Downing Street and the Association of Chief Police Officers. Using emotive rhetoric, government representatives have been talking about the “shame” of Britain’s “yobs”, about “drunken louts”, “thug bars” and the need for zero tolerance on “yobbery”.

Tony Blair’s language was particularly florid, revealing his anxieties about drunken thugs who kick down gates and hurl traffic cones. But when the rest of us worry about violent crime, do we also worry about louts, yobs and thugs or something different and more complex?

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/jul/04/ukcrime.comment