Last updated 12:22, Saturday, 22 March 2008

THEY were dead drunk, careering down the street “singing the most utter filth imaginable.”

The Rev RW Crook, who witnessed their unsteady progress down Cockermouth’s Station Street, thought that “such filth would have been a sheer disgrace had it been heard in an army canteen.” He was shocked.

The staggering songsters were all teenage girls, and it wasn’t even tea time. This was back in 1943.

So it was a Whit Monday, when most townsfolk let their hair down, but the vicar wasn’t happy.

He wondered what soldiers away at the War would think if they heard that their wives and sweethearts “were being taken home drunk by soldiers at home.”

I’m riding an old hobby horse, because the doom and gloom brigade, aided by wearers of rose-tinted spectacles, is at it again.

According to them, we’re going to the dogs.

Leading the pack are those politicians who are more than happy to fan the flames of moral panic. They might get a few votes out of it.

And, more importantly, such a panic stops the electorate paying too much attention to what else they’re getting away with.

“Youths are taking village by storm.” We’re talking about Great Broughton back in 1948.

Their youths were “running wild” and villagers wanted their own policeman.

In 1949, “Copeland,” writing in his “Let’s have a crack” column in the West Cumberland News, asked “What’s happened to Cumberland?” after an armed bank robbery which took place in Alston.

Then there was vandalism in Haverigg. Seats smashed, walls defaced and property damaged - all done by young hooligans.

He blamed the parents, who seemingly let their children run riot, stay up till all hours and didn’t care what they get up to.

To quote: “Youngsters these days are regarded as practically grown up by the time they can walk.

“The root of a lot of the trouble is that people, especially young married people, have become pleasure-crazed and have discarded discipline and the niceties of life.”

Sound familiar? Of course it does. This is usually qualified with the phrase, “but back when I was a kid.” But this was back in 1949, when quite a few of you were kids.

Remember, those of you who were around at the time, the moral panic about teddy boys?

What a fuss and bother about a few youngsters who chose to dress differently. Hundreds of young men ended up before the magistrate in the late 50s, but if an offender wore “Edwardian” attire, it was always highlighted by the papers.

One such case happened in 1958 when a particularly aggressive Ted had words, and more, with a national serviceman at a dance in Gosforth. During the incident he produced a knife.

The magistrates fined him £50 for having a knife in his possession. The reporter wrote: “People are fed up with such young hoodlums who spoil other people’s pleasure.”

Further back, in 1894, we have John Tweedie, a shoemaker in Wigton, asking the Wigton Local Board for protection “against the ill usage he had been subjected to.” Young lads threw stones and dirt into his shop, spat at him over the counter and insulted him in the street. This took place over a period of six years. He had complained to the police, on many occasions, who told him to take out a summons against them. The board decided to see if they could prosecute the offenders.

Finally, back to 1891. A letter to the editor of the West Cumberland Times asked: “Where are the Police?” Signing himself ‘Anti-Rough’ he wanted the police to crack down on young ruffians, male and female, who squirted water and threw rice, etc. into the faces of passers by.

He wrote: “It is high time the police did their duty, for which they are paid, and put a stop to the practice at once.”

Banning the sale of alcohol to boys under the age of 16.

Banning the sale of drink to intoxicated persons and known drunkards.

These were some of the solutions - proposed by the Kaiser in 1892. So it wasn’t just a British problem.

As it then was in Aspatria. One correspondent wrote that “whereas it was a rarity to see a drunken man on the streets a few years ago, it is a very common occurrence now.” Rose tinted specs, 1892.