The idea that every teenager today is some kind of antisocial threat needs to be firmly knocked on the head.

It’s far too easy and simplistic to look back with a sepia-tinged view that things were different when we were younger and that the modern generation of teens are a menace.

Remembering that we were all once daft young boys and girls, with an excess of energy to burn and mischief to make, should be a valuable reminder to us all when it comes to judging today’s youth.

The vast majority of today’s kids are decent – and pigeonholing them as dangerous and feral as some folk seem determined to do is deeply misguided.

Undoubtedly, there are youngsters around, as there always were, who have serious behavioural and attitude problems, and there’s a small hardcore of repeat criminal offenders, some from very troubled backgrounds, who keep the police regularly occupied.

But to tar an entire generation with the characteristics of antisocial behaviour is completely wrong.

‘We need to cast our minds back’

There’s a worrying trend towards labelling all youngsters as potentially problematic, but that fear is wildly........

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