I have just received an email from the Thames Valley Constabulary asking me to keep a good eye out for illegal raves over the Bank Holiday. Various pointers to rave-type activity are listed, and I am urged to tip off the Old Bill if anything happens in my locality.
But hang on a minute - of course raves are a Very Bad Thing at which people, most of them decades younger than I, listen to loud (and to my ears discordant) music, drink copious amounts of alcohol, smoke dubious cigarettes, and indulge in enthusiastic carnal activities. Of course, I would not want them at the bottom of my garden, and I pity householders who are subjected to a couple of sleepless nights, but really, is that the worst that the police have to worry about?
Throughout the years, nothing has enraged the comfortable middle-aged more than the fear that somewhere young people are having fun.
Shakespeare called it 'wronging the ancientry' and Milton spoke of the 'sons of Belial, flown with insolence and wine' .
Relax, folks , it will all be over well before Wednesday.
People still hold illegal raves? I thought they stopped that about 20 years ago...
ReplyDeleteIt may be an easy way for the cops to fulfill some sort of government target.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it depends on degree...
ReplyDeleteA "rave" might be 50 eighteen yr olds having a very rowdy party, but in the social media accelerated world it could be 500 or 1000 people easily, might have no controls on entry, very likely will have a mix of legal highs and less legal ones. So when a seventeen year old dies, or a fourteen year old is raped on ghb, or a badly constructed stage collapses maiming dozens I think the public would be right to question whether the police had done enough to prevent it.
Well then! It seems we require a bit of regulation here! I propose a 5-page "Application to Host a Rave or Other Rowdy Event", plus a suitable application fee (£100 seems about right, non-refundable), plus a bond of, oh, say £500,000 to cover expenses and damages.
ReplyDeleteBe sure to submit your application five months in advance, so that nearby P.O.S. (Potentially Offended Seniors) can be safely evacuated to appropriate shelters at event time.
Problem solved.
The lane that skirts our village is known as Priest Hill Lane. The road (with passing points along its course) looks down over a wonderfully unspoilt valley, currently full of sheep and gambolling lambs. It was the subject a few years back of a bitter planning dispute, when a family of showmen sought planning permission for an emplacement on the valley side. During the ensuing furore, a neighbour wrote an article urging us to purchase the site as a community asset, and use it for its original purpose, namely a public performance space. The shape of the land at the top of the valley forms a natural amphitheatre, and it was here in the mid-18thC that John Wesley came to preach, hence the name Priest Hill. Consent for the fairground equipment parking area and a number of mobile homes was turned down by the Planning Inspector on appeal, and sadly the village backed off from the idea of buying the land after discovering what would be involved. I was disappointed, as I had envisaged a series of open air concerts in years to come, but that was precisely what caused others most concern...
DeleteI haven’t posted here for a very long time but your suggestion that a bit of an alcohol and drug fuelled rave needn’t necessarily upset silly old sods like me aroused me from my torpor.
ReplyDeleteDuring several months last year my family had to suffer the lifestyle of two hippy types who had pitched up with their caravans on a small piece of land adjacent to our land.
They were there to support a protest at a nearby site where a dam was being constructed to facilitate a reservoir which involved the destruction of some fields with rare wild flowers. To that extent I supported their protest.
However, these young men hosted raves, they had no toilet facilities - they used our garden, they blasted music at warp factor 10 from early evening until 6 am. They made the most appalling mess with all sorts of junk which they just left when they moved on.
I very much suspect, bystander, that if you had experienced a tiny sample of my experience you would have been on the phone to the local constabulary.
How does a simple email from TVP equate in your mind to the subject being the most worst thing they are worrying about? That's an incredibly over-simplistic and unintelligent analysis. I get the implication of the post - you don't think raves are a problem - but why turn it into a cheap jab at the police? Surely your issue should be with the people who call the police and who expect to receive some kind of response in return?
ReplyDeleteWoodstock ?
ReplyDeleteRaves eh? Not like they can cause any harm. All just good fun.
ReplyDeletehttp://m.lincs.police.uk/News-Centre/News-Releases-2015/INC-442-of-23rd-ILLEGAL-RAVE-UPDATE.html
"Our core responsibility is the safety of the public" Even the safety if those who neither wanted nor asked to be safeguarded? When confronted with police with riot gear and aggressive dogs, I don't expect it's easy to see them as concerned with your welfare.
Delete1. Yes even people who don't want or ask for it. That's what a duty of care is about.
Delete2. I understand rave attendees were parking at the side of the A1 and walking across it to attend the rave. Does that sound dangerous to you? How would you like to be driving along the A1 only to be confronted with an inebriated rave goer?
I can't see a problem with their request. They can't be everywhere so why not ask the public to report if they see or hear anything which might be an offence?
ReplyDeleteNothing ever happens at an illegal rave does it? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-32864017
ReplyDeleteCould you tell us what your response would be if you were a police officer and had to deal with such an incident - I would be keen to know,
Retired
Or indeed what your response would have been as a magistrate when the miscreants (alleged) were wheeled in front of you?
DeleteIf I turned up at that event, in my riot van, with my mates, wearing body armour and carrying several offensive weapons?
DeleteI would hope I'd realise that my usual police officer approach of aggression, threats and violence wouldn't work while I was outnumbered.
A different approach might be appropriate.
Seems the officers in the article weren't as smart as me though and their usual aggression was met by an appropriate level of self defense..
They got what was coming to them.
'They got what was coming to them'. Thanks for that little gem, in my experience what happens is police turn up in beat uniform, are met with violence and withdraw. At that point options are pretty much limited to 1) Let them get on with it. This does happen and can be guaranteed to get people frothing as nothing was done. 2) Go in and resolve the situation. This will involve large numbers of public order trained and equipped police. This does happen and gets people frothing as well. If everyone was to desist when the first police turned up then option 2 would not be needed. What do you do when you encounter someone who is basically an adult with the attitude of a massively entitled two year old? I somehow think your rights to have fun as and where you want are outweighed by the right of other people to bit of peace and quiet. I suspect we will never agree so have a nice day.
DeleteRetired
I did try and post this yesterday, but it did not appear. I do hope it isn't upsetting anyone.
ReplyDeleteI haven’t posted here for a very long time but your suggestion that a bit of an alcohol and drug fuelled rave needn’t necessarily upset silly old sods like me aroused me from my torpor.
During several months last year my family had to suffer the lifestyle of two hippy types who had pitched up with their caravans on a small piece of land adjacent to our land.
They were there to support a protest at a nearby site where a dam was being constructed to facilitate a reservoir which involved the destruction of some fields with rare wild flowers. To that extent I supported their protest.
However, these young men hosted raves, they had no toilet facilities - they used our garden, they blasted music at warp factor 10 from early evening until 6 am. They made the most appalling mess with all sorts of junk which they just left when they moved on.
I very much suspect, bystander, that if you had experienced a tiny sample of my experience you would have been on the phone to the local constabulary.
"listen to loud ...music" is a wonderful understatement. If that volume and quality of noise was inflicted upon prisoners in Guantanamo we'd hear plenty about it from Amnesty International. That the young people blissfully inflict it upon themselves (and upon every unhappy other who's not in a position to escape) is an alarming sign that something has gone thoroughly wrong in the way we nurture the new generations.What the heck must they do, before we stop minimizing and recognize we have a huge problem?
ReplyDeleteAs per anon at 19.35 I tried to comment but it did not appear so if this a double post please delete. 'Bystander' seems to have a bit of a thing about raves and suggests the police should ignore them. My experience of such events gained from 32 years in the police was that these events are invariably backed by some pretty nasty people. There are big profit margins to be made - after all you don't have to pay for an event licence, toilets, first aid etc and your clear up costs are met by the local taxpayer and you can even 'tax' the drug dealers. Ask yourself this - if an event such as this took place in continental Europe the police response would be a lot more kinetic.
ReplyDeleteBy the way these events tend to involve National Trust Land or other public spaces being comprehensively trashed but it's OK Bystander. It's not on your doorstep and someone else can bear the costs of the cleanp.
http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2015/05/video-twyford-woods-clash-illegal-rave-lincolnshire-police/ By the way I always wear body armour when I go out for a walk.
Retired
Can't wait for DJs to take over completely............
ReplyDeleteDJ as in District Judge or someone who knocks out tunes at a rave?
DeleteRetired
Frankly, I can't see the difference between this Rave and Proms in the Park. Atonal screeching from a wifie carrying a trident and loads of yahoos waving flags as though they were at a UKIP convention. At least on the morning after you will find a better class of vomit - neat pools of prosecco and ciabatta instead of stagnant mounds of lager and chips. And of course, most Sloanes observe etiquette by bringing up the white wine with the fish.
ReplyDelete