[Doug]

True..........I found my humble beginnings in a slum street in Blackburn, A death of a child in a boarding house with two up and two down and an outside crapper. Five families lived in that house including my own.

I respect what you say, but like Shaky, we talk of times we know and they weren’t bed of roses. I was a sod, like my mate’s, but we respected the law when it caught us, we didn’t abuse it or claim rights we weren’t entitled too. If we did wrong we were punished.

Hard times, I can one Christmas going to the Social Service department to choose a two Christmas Presents out of an old cardboard box. Everything was broken and dirty, and I mean dirty. I was shocked and heartbroken, partly because I was being told to pick a toy and get out, and partly because my mother was on her knees crying because our lives had come to this. She stood up and told the nasty bitch to stuff her toys. My mothers marched us out, sold what she could and give us a good Christmas. We’ve all see hard times and done thing we shouldn’t. But it’s not an excuse for the thugs you see hanging round the streets today dressed in expensive kit, spitting at old and young alike. Thank god these people are in the minority.