DIRECTOR Shane Meadows has a way of getting to reality. Indeed, he has all the makings of creating the kind of cult worship which surrounds such a director as Ken Loach. Meadows gives us a picture of England in the early 1980s set against a grim industria

DIRECTOR Shane Meadows has a way of getting to reality.

Indeed, he has all the makings of creating the kind of cult worship which surrounds such a director as Ken Loach.

Meadows gives us a picture of England in the early 1980s set against a grim industrial wasteland where, as has been said, the area was populated by yobs and polluted by the National Front.

In spite, however, of the disturbing background, Meadows manages to deliver a tirade about the state of the nation.

And it's all seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old who is one of those lost souls of the age who becomes involved with a gang of skinheads as he attempts to learn the lessons of growing up.