Last updated 14:26, Thursday, 13 November 2008

Yobs strut around laughing in our faces, yet all the Government can offer in an effort to deal with the rising tide of drunknenness and anti-social behaviour is to suggest putting an end to cheap alcohol promotions in supermarkets.

I know what form of action I would prefer. Instead of punishing the law abiding majority who just want a quiet beer or glass of red wine when winding down in front of the TV of an evening, why can’t they get to grips with the louts who persistently cause problems?

Like the drunken thug who, when approached by a woman who asked him to stop urinating on her car, punched her in the face breaking her cheekbone.

His punishment? A lame community service order. The court heard he regretted his “reprehensible” behaviour. So much so that, later, he bragged on a Facebook website about getting away with his crime – and left threatening comments thought to refer to witnesses in the case.

Okay, so there is evidence that youngsters are drinking cheap booze at home before they hit the streets in earnest at night.

But setting minimum prices for alcohol in supermarkets is tinkering at the edges of a serious social problem. Is it realistic to suppose that, because cider goes up a few pence in the pound, yobs will abandon the drinking culture and stop at home in the evenings doing crochet and playing board games with their pals?

Money doesn’t seem to be a problem for thousands of youngsters who turn areas of towns and cities into no-go zones late at night. They will find the money for booze no matter how much the price is raised. Or buy cheap drugs that seem so readily available nowadays.

The police, who are bogged down in form filling anyway, display remarkable tolerance at times. They just want to see the streets cleared and potential troublemakers sent on their way. If they nicked every lout who threw a punch and swore, the cells would be overflowing.

But maybe it is time for a bit of zero tolerance. Give the police the resources and the courts the powers to deal with the yobbos who are blighting our streets.

I am firmly of the belief that any yob who attacks a policeman, firefighter or hospital worker should automatically face a prison sentence. In Cumbria, rail workers are also in the firing line, facing a rising tide of drink-fuelled violence from passengers, according to union officials.

Frankly, people who keep services operating, working unsocial hours, deserve better than abuse and threats of violence. Every weekend hospital casualty departments deal with drunken clowns, and very often a gaggle of their foul mouthed mates. I don’t know how they put up with it.

Instead of nannying us over what we can and can not buy in the local supermarket, the Government ought to get its act together and deal with the real issue, which is not you and me stocking up a few bottles for the festive season at a mercifully reasonable price, but the ignorant, violent and obnoxious idiots who rule our late night streets.