Word: bovver
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Dates: during 1970-1970
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...Bovver...
...campaign speech, "is billed to play a major, perhaps a decisive part in the battle of Britain." In the campaign's closing week, Powell's racist utterings assumed a major role. Demonstrators shouting "Sieg Heiir picketed his rallies, and squads of skinheads in braces and "bovver" boots formed guards of honor for him. Undeniably, Powell's message had substantial appeal to blue-collar white Britons, who resent the intrusions of the Pakistani, West Indian, African and Indian immigrants...
...hippies and homosexuals, Pakistani immigrants and little old ladies. "Hairies," those with long hair or hippie-style clothing, are their particular enemies, but they are quite happy to break up a synagogue, a Chinese café or an Indian restaurant. The skinheads live for "agro" (causing "aggravation") and "bovver" (street fighting). While they favor the boot as a primary weapon, they also use their heads to "nut" or butt a victim, and whatever other weapons come to hand: bricks, rocks, bottles, knives and razors. "Scar stuff," one skinhead explains. "We don't use weapons that will kill...
...Guys. "You've got to be in a crew or there's nothing for you to do," a skinhead explains. "If you're out, you're a loner, and in bovver no one will help you." Admits one: "I don't say any of us are nice guys. We want to be 'tasty'-y'know, big guys." Most if not all the skinheads are working-class boys from 15 to 18, stuck in low-paying manual-labor jobs and reflecting the crudest prejudices of their blue-collar parents. Few have read...
...Beyond bovver, pleasures are simple: beer, a very occasional whiff of pot and dancing in seedy clubs to the solid, punchy beat of West Indian blues. Skinheads don't bovver with the West Indians, probably because they are tough. Pakistanis are a favorite target because they seem passive, weak and, above all, different. "They smell, don't they?" says the son of a London docker. "It's all that garlic. I mean, they've no right to be here." One skinhead described the "Paki-bashing" technique to a British television interviewer: "You go up to them...