A report in a newspaper last month told us more about contemporary Britain than perhaps the reporter intended.

The teenage son of a TV actor, Roger Lloyd-Pack, was mugged in the street for the fifth time, according to his father, in 18 months.

Hartley Lloyd-Pack, a 17-year-old assistant disc jockey, spoke to the Daily Mail of the incident, which took place in North London:

‘It's just accepted behaviour. It's part of life. I have a wide group of friends and they've all been mugged - most of them more often than me. You take as little money as possible out with you, you insure your [mobile] 'phone and expect it to happen.’

The Mail went on to say:-

‘Other youngsters in the area said that, while they would not describe muggings as racially motivated, black youngsters tended to see white teenagers as easy pickings.

‘"They know you aren't likely to put up a fight," said one.’

Lloyd-Pack Senior agreed:-

‘That's true. I've told my son not to fight back and to hand over what he has. Any parent would say the same. They would rather their child come home without a mobile 'phone than physically injured in some way.’

Wrong upbringing

Just what sort of youngsters are parents bringing up these days?

Any parent? Perhaps Mr. Lloyd-Pack should speak for himself. Maybe the problem is that, being a well-paid television performer, he lives with his family in a prosperous and genteel area where the conventional ethic is not to defend oneself when threatened in the street but meekly to surrender to the threats - particularly if they come from blacks. Maybe the politically correct culture of the TV world, with its model of male wimpishness, has rubbed off on the Lloyd-Pack family. Maybe there's another rule: to refuse the demands of black muggers and, if necessary, to fight them off would be ‘racist’!

Of course, there are situations when the would-be victim of a mugging has no alternative but to give in. If he (or she) is heavily outnumbered and the assailants are brandishing knives, discretion becomes the better part of valour: resistance could be suicidal. Some of the streets of Britain's cities are getting that way.

Won't fight

But there is something distinctly uncomfortable in the statement that black youngsters see white teenagers as easy pickings because: "They know you aren't likely to put up a fight."

There are still some street situations where fighting back is an option but, apparently, many white boys do not choose it. Word of this goes around the world of black gangsterism and the would-be muggers are encouraged to get more and more bold and aggressive. It would have been different in the Britain of our ancestors.

Then it was the manly thing for a young chap to defend himself, to put up a fight to protect his property and - much more important than that - to protect his pride. Boys were taught this in their homes and in their schools. It was the standard national ethic. This, of course, was before the days of political correctness, pacifism and ‘anti-racism’.

Contrary to what Mr. Lloyd-Pack seems to think, it is better for a male youngster to come back home physically injured with his property intact than the reverse - aside from special situations where resistance would be futile and dangerous to life. A bit of fighting spirit on the part of young white men would send the right messages out to the street predators whether black or white. The latter would be far more reluctant to chance their luck in street robberies.