November 29

Unfortunately I wasn’t home for the start of a new tv series with possibly the best title ever: Asbo Teen to Beauty Queen. Its probably one of those ‘you had to be there’ things, but for those unfamiliar with the term, an ‘asbo’ is an anti-social behaviour order. It not as serious as a criminal conviction and is given out for things such as verbal abuse, vandalism, noise nuisance and writing graffiti. It is generally associated with ‘chavs’ (defined as ‘a young working class person who dresses in casual sports clothing’, see picture above) but now amongst certain elements of chav culture, an asbo has become a badge of honour, with people actively looking to be issued with one (sparking the satirical book How to Get an Asbo). Of course the would-be beauty queens are looking to leave their asbo teen days behind, or as one contestant states:
'After this no one’s gonna know me for the ASBO. They’ll know I’ve had it but it’s not gonna be, ‘Oh, she’s a right cow, she’s got an ASBO.’ It’ll be, ‘She used to be a right cow but she’s changed.’ Now I think that’s something we call all relate to, don’t you?