I live right at the epicentre of the carnival and was here all weekend. It was actually all rather lovely - a very relaxed vibe, very good humoured and less crowded than a lot of years. You can't have hundreds of thousands of people - in fact 2 million people go the carnival! - on the streets without having some troublemakers and some arrests. It's a tiny minority. How many arrests do you think there are in London every day.
I've lived here for 40 years. It's part of the culture. I think it reflect sa lot of what is great about multi-cultural London - people mingleing, celebratin Afro-Caribbean culture with food, music and fun.
As a resident I did used to get a bit tired of it and think it happening every year was maybe too much but I've re-embraced it and stay her all weekend and can dip in and out. It's fantastic to have a street carnival like this in one of the best cities in the world.
And yes, of course there is little litter: RBKC do a great job of tidying up afterwards. The roads were completely clear this morning, although the pavements still need a bit of work but within a couple of days all will be gone and people had a great time.
It was the same after the wonderful Arsenal Parade earlier this year. I was in that all day and it was jous and yet the right wing press could only nbang on about arrest. There were 1.5 million people on the streets. Of course, there were arrests.
I find it deeply depressing that people immediately assume it was terrible. It really wasn't. It was pretty grat.