Scaring off the youths

Plenty of controversy this week about the Mosquito, a device used by irate shopkeepers to scare off loitering youths. The product, which has been sold in the thousands, emits an annoying sound which can only be heard by the under-20s. Liberty, the human rights group, is hoping to launch a legal campaign against its use.

There is an alternative, says the Local Government Association. It is called the "Manilow Method" and involves landlords playing naff music to deter teenagers.

Their top 20 suggestions:

1. Release Me – Engelbert Humperdinck
2. Unchained Melody – Robson and Jerome
3. (I’ve had) The Time of My Life – Bill Medley
4. Achy Breaky Heart – Billy Ray Cyrus
5. I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston
6. Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen – Neil Sedaka
7. (Everything I Do) I Do It for You – Bryan Adams
8. Bridge Over Troubled Water – Gene Pitney
9. How Am I Supposed to Live Without You – Michael Bolton (pictured bottom left)

Michael_bolton 10. (They Long to Be) Close to You – The Carpenters
11. There’s No one Quite Like Grandma – St Winifred’s School Choir
12. I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) – The Proclaimers
13. Diamond Lights – Glenn and Chris
14. The Power of Love – Jennifer Rush
15. Hello – Lionel Richie
16. Things Can Only Get Better – D:Ream (below)
17. Uptown Girl – Billy Joel
18. Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You – Glenn Medeiros
19. Mistletoe and Wine – Cliff Richard
20. I’ve Got A Crush On You – Des O’Connor

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Jim Pickard and Kiran Stacey, FT Westminster correspondents, share the latest news and analysis on the UK's political scene.

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Contact the Westminster blog team: Jim Pickard, Kiran Stacey, Nicholas Timmins, Elizabeth Rigby and Helen Warrell.

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The authors

Jim Pickard joined the lobby team in January 2008. He has been at the Financial Times since 1999 as a regional correspondent, assistant UK news editor and property correspondent.

Kiran Stacey is an FT political correspondent, having joined the lobby in 2011. He started at the FT as a graduate trainee in 2008, working on desks including UK companies and US equity markets before taking over the FT's Energy Source blog.

Contributors

Elizabeth Rigby, the FT's chief political correspondent, joined the lobby team in September 2010. Elizabeth has worked at the FT for more than a decade and was most recently its consumer industries editor.

Helen Warrell is the FT's UK reporter, covering home affairs, crime and policing. She joined the FT in 2008 and has spent time as a reporter in the Brussels bureau and more recently, editing the paper's Asia coverage on the world news desk.

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