Drunk? Aggressive? That'll be a student

All provincial newspapers carry court cases. Everyone, bar none, likes to read about those lesser souls who have strayed from the straight and narrow. Jealous partners lashing out, theft, motoring offences and drunken brawls - they're just what you, my friend, want to read about.

And don't kid yourself either. The British may moan about the Press, but that doesn't stop us being the biggest newspaper-consuming nation in the world.

So you don't want your name in the papers, heh? You should have thought about that, chum. Can't do the time? Don't do the crime.

My eye was drawn to a court report recently that featured a student from University College, Worcester. The intoxicated idiot had attacked the police during a squalid little exchange outside a Worcester nightclub.

The incident was particularly nasty as the policemen concerned could have sustained more serious injuries had the kicks and blows really connected with their victims. The court imposed a "rehabilitation order" and ordered the thug to pay some cash to the wounded officers.

Not so long ago, someone attacking police officers in this manner would have gone to prison. It is significant that as the punishments for those apprehended plummet, incidences of violence spiral. Some correlation, perhaps?

Students have changed a lot in recent years. I hate to use this phrase - all right then, I love it - but it must be said that "when I was young", those who continued their studies after school were a little different from the rest.

While apprentices like myself just about stayed out of trouble, those whose heads were buried in books on applied maths and English social and economic history tended to keep their noses clean.

My pal, printers' apprentice Chris James, was a terrible influence. Indeed, my guardian angel must have been close at hand in those early years. For apart from night school, as it was then quaintly known, we were out on the town most nights. Say no more.

Meanwhile, the more studious surrounded themselves with books. As for ourselves, we were set apart from the swots who couldn't get a job and therefore a life.

These days, students readily and eagerly become mixed up in any bother that's going. The reason? The type of person now opting for further study. Universities and colleges now accept any old riff-raff.

This is, of course, the result of Tony Blair's "everyone must be a student" mantra. But in a way, it is merely acceptance that as the Tories and Labour have now completely destroyed Britain's manufacturing base, youths might as well delay the day of reckoning by staying at school.

This is why completely unsuitable individuals now go into higher education. Look at the students of UCW, Deansway tech and the College Of Art and Design in Barbourne. Some are fine - but many of them form nothing more than a rabble.

They can be seen at lunchtimes spewing out into the city, blocking the pavements, shouting and swearing. Down by the river, South Quay becomes a shanty town of drinks cans, chip papers and plastic containers.

Elsewhere in the city, certain pubs serve underage drinkers as if the law had nothing to do with them. Speaking from my own experience, I was within an ace of challenging the landlord of a "student pub" a little while back on this very issue.

Then there is the notorious nightclub trail that stretches from the city centre to bedsit land in St John's. How I pity those poor souls in Hardwicke Close and Comer Road - particularly the former, which lies at the top of the footpath leading from the Evening News building on Hylton Road.

The late-drinking concession at the UCW students' union had made a bit of a difference, but Friday and Saturday nights are still a misery for many St John's residents. I'm sure if the university's powers-that-be elevated bottoms from seats and knocked on a few doors, then they would find that this depressing state of affairs continues without relief.

But what has happened to students these days? Why are so many objectionable, foul-mouthed dullards? This never used to be the case. Cast your mind back a few years.

Once, students had brains and consciences. They thought for themselves, the stimulus of debate providing fresh insights into the human condition. They cared for the environment, opposed the Vietnam War, marched in defence of persecuted minorities.

Earnest discussions would take place late into the night. Sitting cross-legged on a Persian rug, joss-sticks burning and with the Grateful Dead warbling out of the stereo, youngsters who were little more than children formed views on the world. Biafra, the miners, the Common Market... apartheid in South Africa.

They may have incurred the older generation's wrath or ridicule, but at least these kids were only doing what the young have done since history began. They wanted to change the world.

Look at it now. Environment? Chuck your junk food container in the Severn, mate. World conflict? I think Beckham's done really good since his injury, it's well-wicked, mate. European Union? No mate, I prefer the prices in the Students' Union, mate.

What really makes me sad is that this country has reared a generation without conscience or views. Complete morons. And much of the blame must, of course, be laid at the door of political correctness.

The governing elite in Britain has imposed a rigid set of rules that has now permeated every single institution in this country. It is a package of many parts that make up the whole. Disagree with any one of these components and you fall foul of the rest.

It's stifling, mindless and, in all truth, utterly drab beyond redemption. In this climate, the opposing view of the free thinker can find no home. I couldn't care less about a differing opinion. I would rather have an opposing view than none at all.

For the alternative interpretation is not, as the robots of New Labour have you believe, a sign of profound wickedness. Thought is an involuntary process. It is better to have one communist or fascist than 100 brain-dead.

And it's the future that worries me. Diversity of thought is what has made this country what it is today. Our rich political pluralism would never have come about had not the educated youth of times past pushed the intellectual boat out. This is how Britain became the greatest democracy the world has ever known.

So, regrettably, the question remains. For where, indeed, will tomorrow's leaders and thinkers be found in the cerebral waste ground that is today's colleges and universities? Not stumbling drunk up the path to Hardwicke Close, that's for sure.