Even the district judge praised Mussington, saying he was "of excellent character" and his act was "entirely understandable". Mussington's reasoning behind his destructive act was that "putting graffiti on boarded-up shops will only encourage the kids to hang about there". And goodness knows, "kids" hanging about is much worse than a grown man sabotaging a project that was designed to teach young people self-respect. The ironic icing on the rather nasty-tasting cake is that, according to the paper, Mussington works with young people himself.
The Daily Mail, of all papers, carried a youth-friendly quote last week. The chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy said: "Demonising teens as chavs and hoodies is easy and hasn't resulted in a change of behaviour. What we need to do is listen to our kids and give them a safe, well-lit and accessible place to be with their friends." Wise words.
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