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...caught a programme at 3am (yes I know, woke up couldn't get back to sleep) this morning about teenagers in this country (BBC3). This young lad took a gang of "Goodie Hoodies" to Henley for the regatta as he was sick of the bad press teens get in this country (I will come back to this later). The teens were picking up litter and being helpful to everyone. The organisers asked them to leave. Yes, they asked a bunch of kids who were doing nothing except helping people and collecting litter to leave. Only the local paper featured their excellent work. The presenter (young black lad) made the point that the only time the press get switched on to teens is when they are killing one another. The worst paper being the Express which, apart from reporting on Diana every bloody day, has a campaign against "hoodies" (read teenagers). They went to meet Martin Townsend (editor of the Express) and his PA said he wasn't available but she'd made an appointment for this young lad to see him and ask him a series of question. Surprise surprise. After the cameras had left Mr Townsend said he didn't have time to meet him. They went over to Switzerland where there are no teenager murders. And get this, most children in Switzerland have access (or indeed own) a knife. One young lad has owned one since the age of 8. Even more astonishing is that most Swiss homes also have a gun. Yes that is correct, gun ownership in Switzerland is even more widespread than in the US (apparently). This is because every 18 year old Swiss youngster (not sure if that includes women) has to do National Service and once they finish they can take their weapon home with them. The first door they knocked on had a gun in the house and the owners confirmed that most Swiss people have a weapon because of national service. Yet the murder rate is virtually non-existent, especially amongst teenagers. Why? The point made by a young Swiss girl (of African origin) was that Switzerland has a social structure that supports family life (compare this with a former gang member in London who had NO father figure in his life, except his mates in the gang). Thery support the family and parents take responsibility for their children (compare to this to the UK where kids come home and are kicked out onto the street, parents not knowing where they are or what they are doing). They have programmes that give kids things to do, whereas our teens have nothing (one housing estate in London had lost it's play area to a new car park). The Swiss also spend less than half per person on defence. They spend £2.7bn on defence (population 7.3m) whereas we spend £38bn (61.3m). This equates to £270 per person in Switzerland against a whopping £557 in the UK. Switzerland has also never gone to war, whereas we are a warrior race and will go to war at the drop of a hat and based upon flimsiest of evidence (Afghanistan, Iraq). Now onto Boris the Buffoon. Teenage crime was the number one piece on Boris's electoral pledge. They managed to meet Boris as he went in for a radio interview at LBC. Boris wanted to hear their ideas on how to combat it, and so instructed his PA to make an appointment. Once again when the cameras had gone Boris's PA got in contact and said he didn't have time to meet them. The number 1 pledge in his election manifesto and he refused to hear from a teenager with ideas on how to stop kids stabbing each other (and getting into crime). I feel sorry for teenagers, playing spaces sold off for car parks, a press that never features the positive things they do (they reviewed the papers post the Henley Regatta and the only pieces they could find about teenagers were violence and crime). I do think we are paying the price for not putting the family at the centrepiece of society. When you have JK Rowling giving money to labour because Jellyfish Cameron is going to give tax breaks to married families and not single mum's then there is something seriously amiss. I am not advocating abandoing single-parent families as I grew up in one but the evidence is clear. Children need a stable family background in which to grow, feel safe and ultimately become a honest, decent member of society.

Scroll down and check out the Liverpool kit images on the left. Voltage PR: "Kop That! PES 2009 and Liverpool FC unite" Decent for sure, no? Apparently they have the rights to all the teams in the champions league this year. Edit: Sorry almost forgot the link

People choosing to stay at home and drink more and more apparently, which is tragic as it kind of defeats the object of drinking IMO, it should be a social experience. You kind of wonder how much this will already affect our declining social skills and ability to interact with each other over the longer term too, it's already a big issue, try asking a stranger for the time (especially anywhere south of Crewe) and they're likely to phone the police (using their bluetooth headset) One day we won't even speak to each other, information will be conveyed straight from our brains to a text message.

My Dog goes ape shit whenever I use tape measure and also whenever I get a black bin bag out. I mean really mad trying to bite the things out of my hand and yelping like they're evil like. I haven't got a clue why though, any ideas anyone??