AT the risk of sounding like one of the ancients, what on earth is going on with today's teenagers?

In this office, even young reporters have been struck by the appalling levels of violence demonstrated by young thugs.

On occasion, we have heard of children as young as nine or ten mugging other young people or setting upon elderly victims. Guns or what appear to be guns have been used in attacks.

On a lesser level, rudeness to adults is endemic.

Common sense dictates that these highly visible ruffians are a minority of their age group, but there seems little doubt that the level of criminality is escalating.

It has been suggested that school teachers should be given more powers to discipline pupils. The return of the cane has even been proposed.

But surely the root of the problem is not in schools. It is in the home, where parents have a duty to care where their offspring are and what they are doing.

Perhaps television moguls should take a share of the blame too. It would be useful to have a study of how much violence is copycat.