litt'o asbo

For you yanks who don't speak that much English,

ASBO is a British acronym standing for Anti-Social Behaviour Order.

If an ASBO is broken or flagrantly disregarded, it can quickly be converted into an arrest warrant with a detailed list of particulars. For example, the ASBO recipient pictured above, Liam Wilkinson of Chorley, UK, a medium-size town about 20 miles northwest of Manchester, is forbidden by his ASBO from being drunk in public, or in possession of an open container, or pelting passers-by with eggs and/or stones(!). Legally, an ASBO is like a parole order without a conviction.

Wilkinson has become a cause celebre in England where he is known as Britain's smallest thug. At 19 years he's attained a stature of 3' 9" and is apparently through growing.

Under the circumstances, Liam Wilkinson would have to possess an unusual strength of character to avoid harboring
 antisocial feelings. The problem at this point in his life is keeping those feelings under control, and the answer lies in avoiding alcohol altogether.

It's a very tall order for a very short guy. I've Been There and DoneThat and it's never easy for anybody to quit drinking, especially one familiar with its anaesthetic effects in ameliorating negative social situations such as being bullied or harassed, and so forth. Even geography is working against young Liam; the northern shelf of Europe, the broad plain that runs from the frozen wastes of Siberia west to the Atlantic, then continues across the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, is home to the most hard-core rummies in the history of civilization. Alcoholics Anonymous is not a popular organization in northern Europe, with its antri-religous mass culture and near-universal aversion to the G-word.

Unpopular or not, AA is still there, still a possibility for the afflicted, and while Liam Wilkinson and millions of others may be repulsed by all the musing about God and AA happy talk at first, many will eventually return to listen and learn, and find a better way of life.

Something tells me this guy's case is worth following up.