Manchester's original gangsters

[oldironside]

David Cameron has pledged a crackdown on gangs in response to 'the slow-motion moral collapse' of Britain. But panics over youth crime gripped England's poor inner cities in the 19th century – and harsh jail terms did nothing to control the violence

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/21/manchesters-original-gangsters

An interesting article on the historic levels of violence in the UK. I make no apologies for stealing one of the comments:

"One of the weaknesses of Margaret Thatchers Victorian values policy was that Victorian Britain was actually an incredibly violent, unequal and unstable society. Now Cameron wants to take Britain back down that road."

[non sociopath skin]

1. It was also incredibly hypocritical.

Bullingdon Club alumni (especially Bonking Boris)please note.

The Skin

[fedsron2us]

2. Life expectation in Manchester in the 1840s

was lower than in any period since the Black Death. Peasants in
Tudor England lived longer and healthier lives.

http://nineteenthcenturybritain.blogspot.com/2009/01/condition-of-england-question.html

Hardly surprising that in the desperate struggle for survival many turned to crime. Dickens Artful Dodger and his cohorts were merely the feral product of that age. Londons notorious Rookery slums were vitual no go areas to the police

http://tinyurl.com/42cmohc

[oldironside]

3. And visiting Manchester...

... helped convince Marx that capitalism would eat itself. It must have been terrible for anyone who moved from the grinding poverty of the countryside to the grinding poverty of any of Victorian Britain's industrial cities.