For family read gang

Published: 29 September, 2011

• THE middle and upper classes have no idea what gangs are all about and what causes the problems with them.

When I lived on the Maiden Lane estate I remember on many occasion coming across children no older than three or four years, often in the rain, soaked and sometimes of an evening. 

When I asked them why they are not in bed, they look bewildered. I asked them “Where is your mum?”

The answer came: “She is at work”. 

Where is dad? “Don’t know.”

Working-class kids form gangs because that is their safety, their substitute family.
When I was a child on the mean streets of Liverpool, with my mother working in a factory from 6am to 5pm, my father a violent drunk, without an adult to protect me, the only security for me was either to join a gang or form my own.

I chose the latter.

Anyhow, they have finally discovered those rioters were not gangs.

ANITA BROOKS
Argenta House, NW3