ANOTHER day, another disingenuous policy announcement from Messrs Blair and Blunkett.

On Thursday, the headline-hunting Prime Minister and Home Secretary launched yet another blistering broadside against the battalions of louts and yobs who loiter in our streets, whose lives ring to the sound of smashing glass, swear words and police sirens.

It was something like the 256th thug-busting initiative since Mr Blunkett moved to the Home Office, but my computer software is not powerful enough to keep count.

This time the hoary old Home Secretary wants to give 50 local authorities -including York - help in taking troublemakers to court, in order to secure anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) against them.

The problem is that too many councils have been too slow in handing out ASBOs. And, with a General Election just months away, the cry has gone up from Downing Street: "Lean on them a little."

Mr Blunkett wants more local authorities to be like Manchester, where council leaders love ASBOs so much that charity workers handing out soup to the homeless are now in line to receive it.

Currently ASBOs are being dished up to young people who let off fireworks, ride motorcycles on wasteland, drop litter and make too much noise when school's out. In fact, it might not be long before we see ASBOs dished out to kids kicking a ball against factory walls.

Suggestions that the Government is going too far in its war on anti-social behaviour are susceptible to accusations that one might be talking complete codswallop.

But critics of Mr Blunkett found unlikely allies this week - in the guise of a Chief Constable who describes himself as an "old-fashioned right-winger", and a loyal Labour MP.

Terence Grange, the top police officer in mid-Wales, told MPs that never-ending crackdowns had created a climate where all youngsters were now considered "trouble".

As a result, local people were clamouring for his officers to slap ASBOs, curfews and disposal orders on teenagers who gathered on street corners.

Mr Grange said: "When we get there, we find they are just standing around being noisy, acting in ways young people always have. It's all about seeking to control children."

The Chief Constable joked that he liked to carry around a newspaper cutting warning how young people were out of control and even having sex on the street. It was from 1954.

Mr Grange's views were echoed by Yorkshire MP Terry Rooney who, while welcoming a crackdown on genuine yobs, urged caution about tarring all groups of youngsters with the same brush. Too many politicians - national and local - were obsessed with appearing tough.

He said: "I get extremely fed up with every patch of grass in the constituency having a 'no ball games' sign on it.

"Kids are being driven away from areas on which people have played for decades.

"I am not boasting about this, but I grew up in a poor family on a white council estate with a patch of grass in front.

"In the winter months, that was our Wembley, and in summer it was our Lord's.

"If we had not had that, I do not know what we would have done, but I do not think that we would have been up to much good.

"If we continually deprive children of places to play and meet, we will reap the reward that we will deserve."

Nevertheless, yob crackdowns have worked pretty well for Blunkett and Blair so far. They are a sure-fire vote-winner. Don't expect a shift of emphasis now.

Updated: 09:55 Friday, October 29, 2004