Britain has now discovered a new and alarming Problem of Youth. The Teddy Boys with their bicycle chains and flick knives are now an accepted or at least a recognized social group. By all progressive standards it is quite wrong to describe the violent Teddy Boys as young thugs. They are frustrated and/or maladjusted. They come from homes where the parents do not get on together or else get on too well. They are the victims of corrupting mass media and an unsatisfactory educational system. They are everything —except to blame.
And the new Problem of Youth is not so easily explained away. They also do nothing good. They do nothing at all. The great and disturbing discovery was first made in the new town of Stevenage. The Gubelkian Foundation sponsored an inquiry into how the young people of Stevenage used their leisure time, of which they have plenty. The findings were quite a shock. It appeared that a high proportion of the youth of Stevenage stood about, leaning against walls, waiting for somebody to tell them what to do. They were as voluble as they were vacant. There was nothing to do in Stevenage, they declared, with a strong sense of grievance. Where were the espresso bars without which youth must fade away into frustrated lethargy? Where were the dance halls, the juke boxes, the clubs where youth could disport itself, footloose and fancy-free?
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