As Queer As A Clockwork Orange

This is not your father’s Generation X.

Britain’s ASBO Generation is named after the anti-social behaviour orders issued by the magistrate’s courts disproportionately against rebellious chavs more akin to Alex and his droogs in A Clockwork Orange, “the adventures of a young man who loved a bit of the old ultra-violence, went to jail, was brainwashed and came out cured, or was he?”

A Clockwork Orange, the novel by Anthony Burgess and the film directed by Stanley Kubrick, is a treasure trove of neologisms and is required reading for serious wordlabbers with nothing better to do than hang out with droogs, drinking moloko vellocet at the Korova Milkbar.

“A clockwork orange” was a British catchphrase circa 1920-40. In full it goes, “That’s as queer as a clockwork orange.” A similar catchphrase would be “that’s as queer [strange] as a five-speed walking stick.” In other words, something that doesn’t/shouldn’t happen.

Stopping the next ASBO generation

New guidelines on the use of dispersal orders make it clear that the orders can be used at the discretion of police. However, when problems are being caused by young people, the guide emphasises the importance of providing activities for them to give them alternatives to hanging out in the street.

Louise Casey, the coordinator for Respect said, ‘The Government will be unremitting in confronting bad behaviour and working with those on the front lines and with the public to enforce a culture of respect.’ She added, ‘We want to ensure people can live safely in the kinds of communities they have a right to expect.’

Respect academies bring together community safety officers, police, neighbourhood managers, youth and social workers and housing specialists to learn the latest techniques to help prevent the development of the next ASBO generation.

A Clockwork Orange, set in a futuristic England circa the 1990s, as imagined in the 1960s — prescient.