Is London a crime infested shithole?

Its depressing to think that there are adults in the UK who apparently can't tell the difference between London and Gotham City.

Now I have the image of Sadiq Khan as Batman in my head.

OP said she "copied this from social media" so quite likely the source is as described in the article. The fact that Epsom isn't in London might well escape a non-UK based bot (to be clear I am not saying the OP is a bot and I don't think she is one. But she might unwittingly have copied from one, thinking it was a reputable source).

Thanks for sharing this. I really feel we need to push back on this. I love my city and I am fucked if I am having it ruined by a combination of bot farms and people who are so timid they can’t walk down their own high street without a chaperone.

Probably an opportune moment to share what the Spectator (not exactly a lefty/islamist vessel) has posted on X just this morning.

Before MN deletes, I'm not suggesting the OP is from a Sri-Lankan based troll farm, but perhap they are the unthinking, uncritical consequence of one:

@HoppityBun a woman was gang raped. Shame on you for making jokes about it.

Surely part of the reasons why there is so much phone theft is, unlike 20 - 30 years ago, everyone (including children) is walking around with a highly portable, highly fenceable personal computer worth several hundred pounds.

It's opportunity.

I feel safer travelling on the tube in the late evening nowadays than I did in the 1980s. Back then if you boarded a tube at 9pm it was pretty much empty. Nowadays they are packed.

I travel into central London (from outer ditto) regularly, and the only place I’ve ever been pickpocketed (if that’s a word) is Madrid. Only it was pick-bagged, purse very ‘professionally’ lifted.

In London, as in any city or on any busy street, you need to make sure any valuables are secure, and FGS don’t walk around glued to your phone, just asking for anyone to grab it. And don’t leave it on e.g. a cafe/pub table for anyone to take while you’re distracted. Use a cross-body bag, and don’t leave that untethered by a cafe chair, either.

Central London id anything has too much wealth, on Saturday I saw a very expensive car and feel like this is not the London I was born and grew up in. The wealth inequality is vast!

Ok, but you could read Dickens, or look at the work of Lord Shaftesbury, the writings of Henry Mayhew and, going back in time, the needs addressed by George Peabody. Or look at Hogarth cartoons.

I am currently reading a Dickens where London is essentially a crime infested shithole with coaches being mugged on Shooter's Hill.

Which wasn't in London at the time. And the coach wasn't in fact mugged, passengers were just fearful it would be, like people on this thread.

Through the rough?? There's a typo in haven't seen before. It's also not true.

Dubai? Sharia law?
Hong Kong? Communist China?

Interesting choices.

I am currently reading a Dickens where London is essentially a crime infested shithole with coaches being mugged on Shooter's Hill. Any big city through time will track similarly with certain reputations.

These posters (bots) never say where they live despite repeated questioning. I wonder if they've ever been there

@NonComm

I will say, that it has become much more prevalent since we got (three times voted in) Sadiq Khan as Mayor...........why could that be I wonder?

Of course. And it's weaponised by Reform all the time.

But that alone doesn't account for the astonishing lack of education and awareness of London.

I can't believe anyone would raise a child and not take that child just once to its capital city.

100% agree with this. On occasion, I have to work outside London and I have been truly shocked by the fear and incorrect assumptions about my city. Sadly, I have also noticed this develop in former Londoners who have retired out to rural areas - some of whom have developed some very 'odd' beliefs.
I will say, that it has become much more prevalent since we got (three times voted in) Sadiq Khan as Mayor...........why could that be I wonder?

Indeed.

And there's also a shocking amount of ignorance displayed on some of these threads from people with an incredibly low amount of basic life experience.

There is thread after thread on here from people saying things like: "I'm going to London next week for half term. Should I be scared?" or "Is the underground dangerous?" You'd think they were talking about Khartoum or Mogadishu.

It makes me worry about people's levels of education and awareness, and also the astonishing timidity and fear that people, most of whom are born and bred in the UK, find the prospect of a day trip to a large, affluent capital city frightening.

Have any of these people ever left their village or market town? It sounds like many of them have never been in a large city of any description at all.

When I was a child at a rural primary school we were taken to London and other large cities precisely to inoculate children agains tthis kind of ignorance and parochialism. We went to London twice and Birmingham once. I now live in London but I didn't grow up thinking of it as some terrifying hotbed of vice and sin because the adults around me were sensible enough to understand that it serves no one to raise a generation of kids who are terrified of everything.

Its depressing to think that there are adults in the UK who apparently can't tell the difference between London and Gotham City.

Yeah, Dubai is so safe right now, it's not like it's getting bombed or anything, right? They're not arresting people for taking pictures either, right?

Exactly. In fact, Epsom is considered a very naice area. So YABU.

Birmingham is even worse than London. It's completely shit and I hate going there. The only redeeming thing is that some restaurants are nice.

Was silly to still not report it at all.

Places in Europe as well that are much safer. Hungary, Poland , Czech Republic

There's lots of fun things to do. Lots of good food, museums , galleries and culture.

But it definitely is a crime infested shit hole. Thefts are through the rough. ASB and violence as well. And everyone is too scared to say anything about it and intervene.

There are lots of safe nearly crime free cities in the world. Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai etc we'd love to move to.

I don't remember which letters before they were replaced by numbers.

WHItehall 1212
MUSeum was another exchange and I think ABBey was another.

Inevitably there are parts of London that feel a bit more unsafe than others. For example i wouldn't want to be in Stratford alone at night, it often feels a bit edgy to me, whereas most of central London like soho, Leicester Square, the touristy bits, feel safer at night as there are always lots of people around, mostly families and groups of tourists. I'm also a bit on edge if I'm on the underground late at night at weekends, as there are often big groups of aggressive drunken blokes, i usually move away from these. I do think it's got a bit worse recently, mostly because of phone theft by men on bikes /scooters. But i think most cities are similar.

Well indeed. I recall our dial telephones 0-9 and above each number three letters. I don't remember which letters before they were replaced by numbers. My grannie used to answer the phone "town 1234".

When I first came to London it was 01; then 071 then 0171 then 020 7.

Apropos this thread we now have an 020 3 number. London number, Surrey postcode!