Young at Herts

And so to BBC Three Counties Radio, where some instant punditry was required. Turns out youths in Hertford have been videoing their own Jackass-style stunts and showing the clips on the Internet. (Needless to say, a google video search leads to dead links.) The local newspaper calls it shocking, sick and even 'madness', particularly rude and 'revolting' remarks made about local reality TV star Jade Goody. Is it copycat behaviour, I was asked. The correct answer is 'try asking these kids', whose cheapskate Dirty Sanchez antics have got some people so worked up.

What was more worrying is local police are viewing the footage in order to be able to identify individuals, go into schools and 'highlight the issue so that others won't copy them'. A proportion of the activities filmed - including '"moshing" - throwing themselves at one another' - are not actually illegal. But the national preoccupation with anti-social behaviour leads us to discard this basic distinction in pursuit of a high jinks-free environment. Mind how you go now...