Other "Birds" to Avoid

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Recent annoyance: aimlessness

British girls among most violent in the world
"British girls are some of the most violent in the world, according to new research.

England and Scotland came fifth and sixth in a league table showing levels of violence among 11 to 15-year-old schoolgirls in 35 developed countries.

In both the UK countries, almost one-third of the girls (29%) had been in at least one physical fight in the previous year.

Britain's "ladette" culture - in which women and girls imitate macho behaviour - has been blamed for fuelling such violence.

Across all the countries, the average number of girls who had been involved in fighting was 23%. At 32%, the worst-scoring country, Hungary, was not far ahead of England and Scotland.

Directly below Hungary in the female violence stakes were Estonia, Lithuania and Belgium. Wales was in 12th place, with a figure of 25%, while Finland did best with 13%.

The study, which surveyed 161,000 pupils, found that, while boys were more violent overall, British schoolboys were further down the league table than their female counterparts.

Scottish boys were the most violent of the British, in 10th place on the table with a rate of 60% who had been involved infights. English schooolboys were not far behind, in 13th place, with a score of 59%.

Welsh youngsters came 26th, 53% of boys having been in a fight.

The researchers reported that girls were most likely to fight with friends and family members, while boys were much more likely to engage in violence with strangers."

Wow, remind me to keep my mouth shut in London.