Does Prince William own a hoodie? Do the Prime minister’s children have these
clothes in their wardrobes? I imagine they do because for teenagers they are almost a
uniform.
Some hoodies may even have been purchased at the Bluewater shopping centre in
Kent, which has banned the wearing of hoods and baseball caps in its premises.The Prime
Minister approves of the ban as he has realized that many voters feel anxiety about
yobbishness and 'low-level disorder'.
Many people feel intimidated and threatened by gangs of kids on their bikes with
their hoods up. Often they do no harm, but they don't move out of the way for old ladies, for
women with pushchairs, for anyone. They act as if they own the streets and most of the time
most of us let them.
Yet to blame all this on a sweatshirt is too simplistic. To confuse anti-social
behaviour with a clothes item worn by everyone from Coldplay singer Chris Martin to the
middle-aged man going to the gym is a mistake.
It is true that hoods and caps provide anonymity for those up to no good. They cover
faces and make it impossible for victims to recognise their attackers. What's more, they are
the prime weapon against what we are told will ultimately protect us: CCTV. They record
crimes as they are happening, but do nothing to prevent them happening. In such an
environment there is a feeling that the streets and town centres do not properly belong to us
and the hoodie has become a symbol for those we fear have taken over.
The challenge is to make these hooded kids feel part of something. The youth with
his hood up is in his own little world: he becomes an outsider. The moment he takes it down
he may look surprisingly like one of your own children.