It's just the way their brains are wired.
The latest in a series of research findings has increased speculation that "some of the more immature aspects of adolescent behaviour" may be a result of the lack of maturity of some parts of the frontal lobes of their brains. So says a team of scientists who have been scanning teenage heads with magnetic resonance imaging and watching them grow.
Kate Figes, journalist and author of teenage guides, was quoted as saying the insight will assist our understanding of why teenagers can be sensitive and irrational. Explanations for adult irrationality are not yet available, apparently.
Forest of Dean Council in Gloucestershire is gearing up to let loose a volley of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs). Local residents are annoyed and have reached the limits of their patience. They protest loudly and at length at the nuisance and even traffic hazards caused. They say their homes and gardens are regularly damaged. The council says it costs thousands to clear up the mess. Angry words have been exchanged, tempers raised and tyres slashed in fruitless attempts to solve the problems on the streets.
But, for a change, the recipients of the orders will not be young people. They are ... sheep. Technically, it will be their shepherds who will be named. But it is the sheep, ranging according to ancient grazing rights through local villages, who are causing the bother.
It could be the beginning of a series of familiar responses. Headlines in the tabloids: is this the baddest sheep in the country? New laws rushed through to permit councils to impose 9pm curfews on all lambs. Eventually, they'll increase spending on detached sheep workers.
Educational materials developed for teachers and youth workers are shortly to be available from the Countryside Council for Wales. These will set out the new Countryside Code. ASBOs do not yet feature. But the council is proud to announce that the code will be fronted by animations of three seagulls, two ponies and a sheepdog. Best of all, for the first time the animals will be able to speak Welsh. Excellent. Or ardderchog, as the bilingual animals might say.
