“The Barwell of news reports is not a real place. It is a symbol, standing for the scourge of anti-social behaviour, youth run wild, public service failure and the breakdown of community. Barwell is being treated as a mirror that reflects the state of the nation when it is in fact a screen on to which we project our anxieties. As it turns out, the projection exaggerates and distorts all the elements that it appears to put into focus, and almost completely misses one of the key parts of the picture.”