to wonder what is happening to London!?

[AisforAria]

Anyone else worried about the sudden rise in acid attacks, moped thieves etc? It feels a bit like the rule of law is breaking down. All this simmering violence - London feels really alien and hostile these days.

The Crime Survey vs official Crime Stats is always interesting. It's traditional to torture undergraduate social scientists and criminologists by asking them to account for the differences in 3000 words

No.

Serf "It's traditional to torture undergraduate social scientists and criminologists by asking them to account for the differences in 3000 word"

but 3000 words is quite a lot? I would have thought there's more risk of writing something libellous

Thing is, London is huge. Something like 9 million? Whereas Glasgow is just over half a million, Birmingham just over a full million, Cardiff a mere third of a million. I don't think London is worse than anywhere else, there's just a lot more of us so more things happen.

Yes, terror attacks, acid attacks, etc are horrific, but it would not occur to me to be worried when out and about. It's still very, very safe, relatively speaking.

...though I suspect the discussion has moved on. < ahem >

/wasn't paying attention to the fact it now ran to 9 pages.

Acid attacks are horrific crimes but nothing new. Relative had acid thrown in his face in a robbery in north London back in the 70s. And, yes, it is a fad with media. It's the silly season, they will grab on to something if nothing else going on. Fully expect return of killer flesh-eating bug. That regularly makes an appearance in media in a quiet August patch. And as a lifelong Londoner, can say atmosphere is no worse or better than usual. It's actually quite a cool place, just like any other, but with an awful lot of people. Amazing we all get on as well as we do.

@Slimthistime

It IS quite a lot.

I have been feeling the same OP, have always felt very safe here but recently not so much. I've witnessed three aggressive incidents in the last 2 weeks, one of which was yesterday with the DCs (8 and 6) while on the Tube - a woman violently assaulted another woman for a minor cause. Road rage is terrible, on one regular journey I just keep my head down and avoid any trouble! Today the crime stats are scary. There's obvious, and justified, fury about Grenfell. Possibly all coincidences but am trying to stay a bit more alert than usual vague state

'the government purposely trying to divide the country scapegoat certain communities for years......'

We all know which community you are referring to, the one that is largely responsible for knife crime, acid attacks, street robberies, burglaries, drug dealing etc. Are we meant to ignore their massively disproportionate over-representation in crime statistics then? And is failure to do so tantamount to 'scapgoating' in your view? In which case there may as well be different laws and different punishments for breaking the law for different social groups.

I agree with you OP. Acid attacks have increased, whilst some are against Asians/Muslims and others as part of a mugging. People need to see the effects of acid attacks if you think it's just media hysteria.
I think maybe criminals have cottoned onto the fact that it's easy to get hold. But it's a sad world we live in now. Maybe crimes weren't reported as much in the past but it does feel more unsafe now.

Just stop reading the newspapers.

Acid attacks have been part of British crime culture since the 19th century.

Ladyincement I think you'll find
I said "people" shouldn't wave mobiles around not women shouldn't... just so happens my DDs live there not my DSs.

Of course we should all be safe all the time I just think we need to have our wits about us.

Mary, I don't find that too strange. A sample is always limited in how much it can be accurate when you start extrapolating data. Good point.

I lived in London 1983-2003 and have worked there 1987 to 2017, with a break from 2003-11. So I have either worked or lived in London for 26 years.

And no, London is not more crime-ridden now than back then - it's actually much less, as even the briefest glance at the statistics will show. There were plenty of no go areas back then - this is rare enough now.

I've lived in inner London all my life, and have never been particularly worried about crime or felt unsafe. But the rise in acid attacks is really bothering me - there were a few in my area recently. It's such a horrible, sickening thing to do to someone.

And my grimy, beloved neighborhood does seem exceptionally filthy and full of poverty, mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction etc. Blame the cuts? Maybe.

The acid thing has been imported from Asia where it's been rampant for decades. In Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Afghanistan it's the favoured method of punishing (usually) women for reasons of honor, refusing marriage proposals, divorce, infidelity etc. 'Bride burning' will probably catch on soon.

I'm expecting a backlash for 'scapegoating' but frankly there are ethnic dimensions to ALL crime statistics and failing to be open about it actually leads to situations like Rotherham where everyone is terrified of being called racist. I'm a Guardian reading, green voting liberal before anyone starts throwing accusations around.

Are the majority of Acid attack victims not men now involved in gangs ? I don't know for sure but I'm sure I read it somewhere .

Found it

"About 80% of the victims and about 82% of the suspects are male so it's a predominantly male-pattern behaviour," Mr Mackey said

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-40672248

Knife crime is up. Fatal stabbings this year are already at the same number for the entirety of last year. And yes, I find these acid attacks really disturbing ☹️

Think that statistic was countrywide though as opposed to just London

I think its London that statistics from, It was Deputy Met Commissioner in the article who gave it.

I live in London - an outer borough - but work in central London every day as a tourist guide. I am, therefore, on the streets of Westminster, the City, Southwark, Kensington, Chelsea etc on a very regular basis and in 16 years of the job I've never had one client be the victim of crime or seen any incident. Yes they do happen but given the size of the place and the number of people here it's still a very low incidence. If you don't live here it is still your capital city so come and visit and enjoy.

ManyManyShoes - I will really like to believe you were in a trance to have made the comment about thinking you were in Africa and third world country shit. Sorry you say africa, please is that a country or continent. Such a stupid phrase as it so annoys me. It's like going or coming from to Poland or Romania and saying it felt going to Europe and feeling like I was in a 2nd world country. Such a dumb statement. Yeah all in Europe but totally different cultures, scenes, life experiences and so forth and I have been and lived in all 3 countries mentioned. I'm sure Europe also has countries like United kingdom and Switzerland in it so making such a stupid low comment and stating I'm an immigrant is suppose to justify such a daft comment. Don't even get me started. Such ridiculous sheer ignorance.

Tearsinmyeyes - thank you so much for seeing through that. You were the only one that actually commented on such an ignorant statement which I didn't think was relevant to the thread in my opinion. Couldn't believe people were actually jumping down ur chat once u stuck up for a shit statement and then referencing oh I didn't realise or follow that once they knew u were going to back down.

The people commiting these crimes are born and bred in the uk, how does that have anything to do with so called Africa and third world country.

Smh - the emphasis of I am very educated and an immigrant myself shows how much your certificate of education was a total waste of money.

Sorry was going to rnr abut couldn't let that sort of comment pass by without a word.

Sorry tearsinmyeyes - that you wasn't backing down.

Seriously you hear certain comments and just have to take a minute. It's like Donald trump saying the police don't go to certain parts of london and Paris. Seriously like he had been there himself and could comment freely. Show you his level of intelligence, also forgetting his mother is in immigrant and so is his wife and ex wife.