The reporter met what the headline writer called "lost children". Luckily, he had a map and a compass.
Of course, "wild, unwanted and utterly without fear" is a bit of a mouthful.
So the reporter quickly began to use the shorthand term "feral children". No fewer than eight times in one article. Feral, for those who haven't studied these things, is a term often used to describe once-domesticated animals, such as dogs or cats, who somehow now live in the wild. They are thought of as particularly dangerous and unpredictable, being neither properly wild nor tamed. Sometimes the word is used just to mean wild, brutal or animal-like. It is always a derogatory remark.
The term was used recently by retiring Metropolitan Police commissioner, Sir John Stevens. Must have felt a bit negative that day.
Things would be a lot better if only police officers had cameras on their heads. It is possible that you hadn't thought of that. Be grateful, then, to the Merseyside Police.
The Liverpool Echo reports that tiny CCTV cameras are to be fitted to police cycle helmets so that "teenage tearaways" will be caught red-handed on film. They will feed pictures back to a police base where the images can be recorded.
Teenage tearaways is a bit imprecise as a description of behaviour. All readers know all young people are tearaways. But what will they actually be doing? What are the particular acts of criminality that the cameras will catch? "One of the main focus areas will be stopping underage drinking," reports the Echo.
Hmmmm. Not convinced? Here's a better idea. Why not set up a video project and give the cameras to the young people to use? More positive all round than encouraging them to pose and drink while being chased on bikes by the Bobby and the Helmets film crew.
A quick text search of The Sun newspaper's web site one day last week for the word "yobs" came up with a shocking message: "There were no results for 'yobs' from today's edition." Is this a record? Was the editor on holiday? Is the web search engine broken? Blame some yobs for wrecking it.
