A 14 YEAR-OLD is making a national legal challenge to late-night curfews on the basis that they breach his "human rights."

At the same time, a local police operation to cut bad behaviour on the streets during the school summer holidays is being hailed a success.

Officers patrolling Farnworth, Kearsley and Little Lever say there has been a marked decrease in youth nuisance compared to last year.

This tells you something, doesn't it?

Clamping down on misbehaving youngsters on the streets works, especially when you are stopping them from drinking alcohol.

Curfews have always struck me as a sensible idea too and have proved effective where they have been brought in.

Sadly, in 2004 we need available laws to prevent the yob element generally from spoiling other people's lives. And this applies equally to adults and children.

This is not to tar all youngsters with the same brush. Just as anti-social behaviour laws are not needed for all citizens, neither are laws aimed at unruly youngsters necessary for everyone under 17.

The difference about the latter's laws is that they are there to help youngsters stay away from temptation rather than find themselves on the wrong side of the law. It stops them from clocking up a criminal record.

In Little Lever, for example, where there have been real problems caused by drunk and drugged teenagers, police operations have already improved local life.

Sensibly, the police initiative ran alongside a Passport scheme run by youth services, offering young people free fun activities to keep them out of trouble.

The answer to targeting the troublesome young is not to ignore their behaviour and hope it goes away, because it will not. But tackling it and offering an alternative.

Breaching their human rights? Please, ask the victims of the daily barrage of abuse and vandalism about their human rights first.