Shoplifters Of The World Buck The Recession

Hot or Not / Editor / 30 November 2008 / Leave a comment

It's at times like these when I realise that Britain is not what it was; the NYT reports on 'Silver-Haired Shoplifters On the Rise In Japan' and what are we Brits doing to catch up with our Asian counterparts?

Not much; we can't even muster a mini-geriatric crimewave, much less achieve the heights of the island of Hokkaido, where 3 OAPs are arrested for every two teenagers nicked.

Nor can we console ourselves that it's just a statistical artefact of an ageing population; the number of Japanese people over 65 has doubled in the last 20 years, but their crimes have gone up by 500%.

It looks to me as if Britain's grumpy old men, and women, just lack the skills; we need to get grandparents connecting with the teenagers in the family and learning from them. That way we can look even more like the Japanese, and maybe they will lend us some money...