Everyone will have noticed the ongoing discussions relating to the recent rioting. Theories abound. Some blame the government. It could be the warm weather as people tend not to riot if it’s pouring with rain. Could that be why Sedbergh has reminded quiet. Nowadays, there are no dark continents to explore, in fact nothing for your average young man brimming over with testosterone to vent his adventurous spirit on. Surely an X Box doesn’t carry the same excitement as facing your first lion or swinging from the rigging on a fighting ship of the line. As far as I can see the only conquests made by the average young person these days is within the safety of cyberspace. Whatever happened to ‘Space the Final Frontier.’ To me there’s nothing courageous in running around the streets with a brick in one hand and a flat screen telly in the other. Where’s the concern for the common good in that. At this point I have to confess I once took part in a bit of protesting myself. When I was aged about 13 coloured tights was all the rage. These tights were not like the well fitting ones we now take for granted, no, they were ill-fitting and prone to go baggy but they came in bright red, green or blue, and we girls loved them. The school uniform was brown and yellow (not my favourite colour combination), naturally these colourful tights did not fall within school uniform regulation. So one balmy autumn day the 400 or so girls of St Barnabus School, Woodford Green, staged a peaceful protest known as a ‘sit in’. We all sat down in the playground and refused to go in unless our tights were accepted. The teachers blew their whistles, stamped crossly and insisted that we return to our classrooms immediately. We refused and the deadlock lasted for about an hour. Unfortunately, we did not know how to proceed from this point and nor did the teachers. So inevitably we all wandered tamely back into school. Sadly the coloured tights remained taboo.