Brian Holden: We have become a bunch of wimps

What a weak society we have become, the latest sorry example being a group of school teachers walking behind a pupil watching him smash windows.

Unbelievable? This is exactly what happened last week at Albany Junior High School in Auckland. A Year 10 student, after a row with his girlfriend, decided the best way to vent his anger was to smash a few windows. In an "uncontrolled rampage" through the school grounds, three "concerned" staff members followed him as he roamed from block to block causing hundreds of dollars' worth of damage. The best the three teachers could do, was to ask the little brute to leave the grounds (thus go and cause havoc elsewhere), but surprise, surprise, he refused to go. Thankfully, the story came to a justifiable end with the boy punching a steel locker and badly damaging his hand.

The attitude of the school principal defies belief, but is typically par for the course with today's disciplinary thinking. He applauded the action (inaction I call it) of the three teachers in ensuring that the precious young lad was "safe" and that others around him were okay. No way would the principal have expected his staff to take the initiative and "man-handle" the student. Instead he said that they did "exactly the right thing" by adopting the soft approach, hanging back - and watching.

Of course, every case is different and I wasn't there to see how the whole sorry story unfolded, but given the odds of three adults against one school kid - despite many of these young dudes wearing size 12 shoes - they could have done better. Surely at the right moment they could have just jumped the little monster and held him down until help arrived. Any violence, even in self-defence especially when among young students, is a bad look, but what was the opinion I wonder, towards the three teachers when they were seen to stand back and do nothing. Did these teachers really do the right thing? I doubt it. We really have become a bunch of wimps.

******************

The scum of Rotorua have done it again, bringing the city into international disrepute by flogging $10,000 worth of stuff out of a campervan parked in Western Heights.

You can guess the description of the items nicked - passports, laptop computer, camera, clothes, jewellery and memory sticks holding the holiday-makers' precious information. It's not the first time that among the data stolen is years of precious extensive research material, in this case compiled for a lecture.

Backing up data is vital when on the move, as the chance of being singled out by these bandits is very much on the cards, not just here but anywhere in the world, barring maybe the South Pole.

Those who hire campervans and backpacker-type vehicles unwittingly display "come and get me" signs for thieves. The "crack me open - lots of valuable stuff inside" message is seen as irresistible for the unscrupulous.

All it takes is a quick stroll into the bush by the tourists and the thieves are in.

The much-travelled "And Another Thing" team carry identical data on three storage devices - laptop, memory sticks and an external storage drive. It goes without saying that where possible, these items are carried separately. Sadly as with money and passports (and photocopies thereof), it's almost a case of "when" rather than "if" some low-life will whisk these precious items out from under your nose, potentially ruining your holiday.