I would like to see more work done around encouraging young people to make good choices, for example spending the evening drinking in the park is not a good choice. However I think we need to some work with adults in the Borough and how they perceive young people, I hate it when adults forget what its like to be young and just moan about young people all the time. Its all about respect and that requires effort on both sides.

What is wrong with the youth culture that we have in Darlington. If you mean the tiny few who let young people down then tell me what you want me to change and I will tell you how I could do it. The majority of young people in Darlington enjoy meeting their friends, going to town, having a coffee and a chat what is wrong with that? I know that as a youth magistrate there are regular young people who appear before the courts but before it comes to that stage the fences to be jumped are many and it is only the tiny few who struggle.

As I am giver and helper I would like to see more of the youth working together for themselves and for the communities they live in. I have a great sense of pride when I see awards given to young people for, bravery, kindness, courage etc. I would also like to see young people working together to get the things they want in Darlington. This would be really great for the youth as they work together. They would be able to achieve together, build on teamwork and pride. I would like all young people of Darlington to enter the job market with pride and a goal for what they want from their lives. I would support groups of youth who come forward with ideas on how to make their lives better, especially if it made other peoples lives better.

Promote all the various different activities that are already available with taster session events. Try to organise more venues for younger people to use as a social space.

What an interesting question – it depends what you mean by youth culture. if you mean choice of activities, taste in music, tast in clothes and so on, then my answer would be – nothing. Youth culture has to evolve and change as people grow up. But you say ‘what would you do to CHANGE
youth culture’ which gives the impression that there are some things you don’t like about it. When i see young people around and about (and I live right next to the Sixth Form College) it sometimes depresses me because there seems to be a lot of discontent and people not being very nice to each other, like sneering about each other and so on, some don’t seem very tolerant. also, I think girls put up with a lot of sexist behaviour and comment from boys. My generation tried very hard to help girls value themselves and now I hear boys say really crude things which are not challenged by girls.