Fair enough GL, I spent, well to be honest up until a couple of months before I joined up here scrapping all the time, and never had any ramifications despite having a record, but I suppose it depends on how old you are, where you are and who you work for. The golf club I was working at was actually a pretty posh place, and it was only me out of all the staff or customers who got into trouble, so I don’t think the police would have been that bothered. Interesting to hear that people tend to respect the law more than people with a reputation around you, where I am (<25 miles around me) it tends to be that people have a lot more respect, in terms of not breaking their rules, for the local hardmen.

@Moonie 441130 wrote:

Interesting to hear that people tend to respect the law more than people with a reputation around you, where I am (<25 miles around me) it tends to be that people have a lot more respect, in terms of not breaking their rules, for the local hardmen.

It wasn’t always like that and even this respect is a bit begruding.

However what has happened particularly since 2006 is that the feds and the local media have managed to successfully expose the stereotypical hard man type as a bully who is often violent and controlling towards women – by honest reporting over a number of particularly nasty domestic violence cases, as well as that of the infamous murders of a number of prostitutes in this area by a lorry driver and former pub landlord. To add to this, there has been a lot of conflict between London gangsters and locals here over drugs, which has pissed off the locals (many of whom are former Londoners) – as I mentioned earlier people come to places like Ipswich to get away from that.

It does seem to have shocked people to their senses. At the same time there is also a large contingent of lone mothers with young kids on some parts of my estate and as they lack physical power but at the same time refuse to be bullied and controlled, many of them are much more willing to co-operate with the conventional authorities than ever before.

Souns like your proximity to London has a lot to do with it, all the hardest blokes from around here seem to either be London, Scotland or Pikey, but because the general society doesn’t see the shit caused by these people because there are less of them (nearest city being oxford which couldn’t collectively fight out of a paper bag), I think they just getr respect through fear and inexperience.

It sounds like the alternative society (fuck me that sounds wanky) around you is pretty fucked up, from how I see it by people taking advantage and bringing serious crime to parties, and the police coming down very hard on the same scene. Around here it’s the total opposite, very rich tory country where nobody knows what the word rave means.

Ahh, shame I wasn’t born a decade earlier 🙁

@Moonie 441181 wrote:

It sounds like the alternative society (fuck me that sounds wanky) around you is pretty fucked up, from how I see it by people taking advantage and bringing serious crime to parties, and the police coming down very hard on the same scene. Around here it’s the total opposite, very rich tory country where nobody knows what the word rave means.

how old are you mate? my ex is 22 and was going to free parties in oxford since he was about 13. rugged soundsystem was out every weekend untill everyone got major k habits an were in an out the hospital having their bladders rebuilt- only to go an do the same thing all over again

Hey man, football never changed anything either, doesn’t mean it’s not a good laugh. Most of the fights I’ve got into, whatever the stated reason for them, were mainly because me and the other guy both wanted to have a fight. I’m not going to sit and argue the toss about whether that’s healthy or not, but I have never got in a fight with someone who wasn’t looking for one.

I don’t think so, it’s early and I have work but I’ll probably explain myself later.

TVP have stepped up zero tolerance more and they are getting the upper hand now – today its a lot of well trained cops with local knowledge and some much more sophisticated surveillance equipment put up against younger, sketchier k-heads who always use the same areas around the Ridgeway, Lewknor and Christmas Common etc which have all been rinsed for about 10 years. The peak of raves in that area was in about 2004/2005 and since then they are never going to tolerate it getting like that again.

Also like most other constabularies in England and Wales they got Airwave radios in 2005 which made a big difference to their comms capabilities in rural areas.

And because of the wider impact of ketamine use and drug dealing funding some crews there are now specialist teams which deal with serious/organised crime investigating the rave scene – whereas a few years ago it was just the SNT (safer neighbourhood team) viewing it as minor seasonal anti-social behaviour.

Although even in the 90s/2000s they had files on everyone involved they realised they were mostly middle class young people with day jobs who just did it for weekend fun and weren’t big time dealers.

fighting is good for the soul man.

it’s stupid and silly but by jove it gets your heart pumping.

Give people a real chance to do what they’re talking about and 19/20 times they will fuck off back under their rock.