It Was Like Saving Private Ryan

On my travels last week I picked up a local paper in Milngavie, the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald. I sometimes think that local papers thrive on the sensational headlines that you normally see adorning The Sun.

This headline was "Yobs on Rampage."  Excellent.

It described how "violent neds caused a night of bloody carnage...thugs armed with wooden poles prowled the streets looking for victims...gangs clashed on open ground...two plain clothes police officers arrived in an unmarked car,  and soon realised they needed backup."

One resident said;

"We guessed it was another fight and didn't even bother looking out the window."  They're clearly used to it now.

"The neds are only young teenagers but go at each other like frenzied animals."

My favourite line of all was this quote from a resident;

"The view from my window was like something out of Saving Private Ryan - pure chaos. There were four police cars, a van and an unmarked police car with officers everywhere".

Now if I recall in Saving Private Ryan there were no police cars, no police vans, certainly no unmarked police cars, and I'm sure no police officers. There were soldiers with arms and legs blown off and their faces cut to shreds. No real comparison.

A slight exaggeration on their part. But I'll bet the newspaper reporter nearly creamed himself when he heard that quote. That's me on the front page for sure!