THE halfwit who daubed the Kleve swan statue was given a severe reprimand for his idiotic behaviour.

Yes, that's the way to beat the yobs. If you do that again I'm... well, I'm going to talk with a really loud voice. That'll teach you.

How pathetic can you get. Rarely a day goes by without this paper reporting on some outrage or other. The people of St John's have been particularly unlucky in this respect. They've suffered both low and high-level vandalism for some time.

The likelihood of the culprits being caught is depressingly slight. The vast majority of wreckers commit their mean and miserable deeds safe in the knowledge that they can get away with it.

But in this case, the police actually caught the miscreant. This was obviously a golden opportunity to make an example of him. But all he received was a telling-off. It's no wonder anti-social behaviour is spreading like a forest fire across this city.