Tackle the gangs and win votes

MY friend eyes the gang of youths walking towards him, a sprawling tangle of hoods and regulation tracksuit bottoms with white stripes spilling out across the pavement.

The big question is this, he thinks. Do I stay on this side of the road - or play extra safe and cross over to the other side? No. That's probably being a little over-cautious. These kids are just the same as most others... harmless, if a little loud. The problem is the middle-aged man's perception of anyone under 25.

The youths draw nearer. By now the group has spread over the pavement with no sign of a channel of courtesy being created through the crowd which says "yes, we've seen you and intend to make way for you to pass."

Our lone pedestrian must step on to the road, and, just as he does so, the large youth on the left crashes into him with a hardened shoulder. A protest is hardly begun before being instantly snuffed out by a fist in the face. A flash of light is followed by a strange kind of darkness. The gang walks on into the night, laughing. Mercifully, there has been no kicking. My friend picks himself up and walks home where he just about has the presence of mind to call the police.

The attack didn't happen in Worcester, but it might easily have done. Most weeks this newspaper reports grubby incidents such as this, in which people are accosted on their way home and assaulted by total strangers.

The hotspots are well known enough - Hylton Road, Rainbow Hill, and Bath Road are all areas where ordinary citizens can find themselves in great danger, particularly late at night during weekends. In fact, there's a street term for this type of assault. It's called 'happy slapping', the latest, uniquely disgusting development in Britain's out-of-control crime epidemic.

How I long for the day when this country elects proper politicians committed to setting us free from the cowardly thugs and bullies who now strut down our streets with impunity.