London violence reaching epidemic proportions

Caporegime
Joined
23 Dec 2011
Posts
32,918
Location
Northern England
London has about 15% of the UK's population - 20% of England's, of course there's going to be 'loads' of stabbings but is it really a disproportionate amount compared to other urban areas?

It's always London this London that as if you'll get stabbed the second you get beyond the M25.

If you grouped together Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield etc together in the same area you'd probably have a 'blood soaked' evening in whatever fictional city this would make that would probably still be smaller than London.

The rates per head of population are available. London sits highest I believe.
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Jan 2018
Posts
14,733
Location
Hampshire
London has about 15% of the UK's population - 20% of England's, of course there's going to be 'loads' of stabbings but is it really a disproportionate amount compared to other urban areas?

It's always London this London that as if you'll get stabbed the second you get beyond the M25.

If you grouped together Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield etc together in the same area you'd probably have a 'blood soaked' evening in whatever fictional city this would make that would probably still be smaller than London.

The figures are adjusted for population, per 100000 of population London has the highest knife crime rate in the country.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn04304/
 
Commissario
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
33,024
Location
Panting like a fiend
So you are saying its fine, or its not fine?
I think what he's stating is that when you hear about London crimes you're always going to get more press than say Manchester crimes simply because of the number of people.
Even if the crime rate in London was lower than average you'd hear more about it because its by far our biggest city, and the one where most of the press and news companies have primary bases so they're able to cover things in far more detail.

My dad grew up in Newcastle just after the war, and from what he's said it wasn't at all uncommon for there to be a fair bit of knife crime, let alone the likes of the "mods and rockers" of the 60's...
Oddly people who like to push the idea that London is a hell hole and at record high levels tend not to be aware of how much knife crime there was going back even 30 years, let alone 60 years before modern reporting and easy access to news from outside your (very) local area. It's like a lot of crimes, you hear about stuff easily these days that 20-30 years ago you'd maybe have heard a mention of on the radio, and 40-50 years ago unless you were in the same town it was unlikely to have even made it into the papers.


And of course there is going to be an increase in reported and recorded knife crime in the last 30 years, they've cracked down massively on it and created new offences so things that 40 years ago wouldn't have raised an eyebrow now get reported, and things that 30 years ago would likely have gotten you a word in the ear get you prosecuted.
I remember when it was possible as a 10 year old to go into a store at the seaside and buy a knife*, now you can't even buy a bics razor for yourself until you're 18 (with ID to prove it, or about 30 without ;)), and they increased both the number of offences that are included in reported knife crimes, and how many of them got automatically prosecuted (pretty much any offence).
Hell I remember buying Stanley knife style blades for my dad in my early teens, these days as a teen you can run into issues buying plastic cutlery.



*I think I still have the scar on my thumb from that pen knife.
 
Caporegime
Joined
22 Nov 2005
Posts
45,269
Manchester used to be in the news loads for gang violence though, moss side was known by virtually everyone in the UK

oh seems moss sides still has huge problems, so maybe your right and the media ignores other cities these days
 
Last edited:
Man of Honour
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
29,518
Location
Surrey
I remember when it was possible as a 10 year old to go into a store at the seaside and buy a knife*, now you can't even buy a bics razor for yourself until you're 18
Very good point. I bought a large pen knife (might even hav been a flick knife?) from my local sweet shop as a boy in the 1970's. I can't even remember why I bought it; probably used it digging in the garden playing with my Action Man or something. I think it just looked cool and I wanted it.
 
Caporegime
Joined
22 Nov 2005
Posts
45,269
Very good point. I bought a flick knife from my local sweet shop as a boy in the 1970's.
I bought nunchuks from some martial arts shop when I was 16 in the 90s.

I'm going to guess you could buy BB guns well under 18 back then also, since the law changed in 2007
From 01/10/2007 the laws regarding airsoft guns have changed for the UK. Under the VCRA Bill 2006 it is illegal to buy or sell an airsoft gun to anyone under the age of 18 years. Under Section 36 of the V.C.R Act it is a criminal offence to alter the appearance or paint in a colour of an imitation firearm to make it into a realistic firearm...
 
Man of Honour
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
29,518
Location
Surrey
I bought nunchuks from some martial arts shop when I was 16 in the 90s.

I'm going to guess you could buy BB guns well under 18 back then also, since the law changed in 2007
That reminds me. My brother had nunchucks too as a teenager. He also had a crossbow and would practice it in a back alley - although I think that may have been illegal!
 
Associate
Joined
2 Jul 2003
Posts
2,436
WOW. Glad I don't live in that **** hole.

I live in that **** hole. It's really not. It's actually for zone two of London pretty quiet, lots of parkland and riverfront. Everyone around here is shocked at what happened and it's not the norm. Never not felt safe walking home.
There is however more and more development of high density flats being built (400k+ for one bed, so not cheap) so it seems inevitably you get trouble makers coming in selling their stuff to people living here. Get more than one group and there's a recipe for trouble.
There's also the issue where a % of new builds have to be social housing. That's fine but a % of that can go to council and they sometimes move problem families in. Combine that with developers locating their whole % of social housing in one or two blocks you might get a hotspot for trouble. By trouble we're normally talking parties going on a bit too long, not knife fights in the street!
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Nov 2006
Posts
23,973
If you're referring to the recent incident, wasn't the culprit swiftly identified?

Yeah, a white dude, which means forum regulars have no reason to froth about it and the mods don’t want people to talk about anything other than the London BLOOD SHED EPIDEMIC.

Shrug shoulders and carry on... until the next non-white stabbing.
 
Caporegime
OP
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
37,804
Location
block 16, cell 12
Yeah, a white dude, which means forum regulars have no reason to froth about it and the mods don’t want people to talk about anything other than the London BLOOD SHED EPIDEMIC.

Shrug shoulders and carry on... until the next non-white stabbing.

If you go back two pages I posted in outrage at the lax sentencing of a white man for attacking another person.

So you can go bsck into your shell now.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Sep 2005
Posts
4,301
Hey you go can't go around raising valid concerns about the behaviours of certain groups based of abstract things like crime statistics. Dats wacist!

This thread basically.
 
Back
Top Bottom