• IN response to the newspapers, public comments, councils’ and various organisations’ attitudes to youth violence there always seems to be one thing overlooked: that the youth of today are devoid of hope.

I’m 61 years old, but if I was a youth I would be asking: “Where is our future?” Everywhere they look they’re brainwashed with information that says we are moving into our sixth mass extinction, the world won’t be inhabitable in 40 to 50 years.

There’s almost an inevitable feeling that there’ll be another world war, that artificial intelli­gence is going to destroy us, and so on and so forth. Where is there any hope being offered them? You take away hope and this ever increasing violence is the consequence.

The government clearly doesn’t care. Their answer to years of austerity is to build more prisons. What kind of message does that send out? How about building some youth clubs, training in sustainable development and employment, affordable housing, etc etc.

It’s sad to say, but it’s almost inevitable that the fabric of our society, so thoughtlessly destroyed by government after government, will end up in a freefall to an ever increasing level of violence.

STEPHEN REEVE
Formerly of NW5