hey britons

[almondcrush 9,143]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1789624,00.html

i read this a little bit ago

is this article exagerrated do you think?

or have a good chunk of kids really taken a blade to someone?

the numbers strike me as pretty wild

[Cue 17,260]

I think it's all a little trumped up ...

15 serious stabbings a week in London? out of 10m people? It's still not that high, but makes a great story

I live in South London too and normally feel pretty safe wandering around the areas they mention in the article.

But then, I'm not a kid getting into fights with other kids so don't really know what it's really like and if there are loads of knives being pulled (but neither do the journos writing for white, middle-class papers like the Guardian)

[sybaritical 684,396]

It's definitely been trumped up across London in the last couple of months - I live in a relatively posh borough of London and loads of "murder boards" - signs that the police put up on the street asking for help with a serious crime - appeared overnight everywhere. They've all disappeared again now it's dropped out of the news.

That said, I use public transport to get about and I know a) the current crop of Schoolkids are mental and I'd feel threatened a lot of the time if I let myself be. There IS a lot of racial tension here as well. IN the last few months I've been caught up in or witnessed several serious altercations between different factions in and around different parts of south London.

Edited by sybaritical on Jun 14, 2006 at 03:10 AM

[red 72,382]

sounds dangerous. im so happy i live in sierra leone.

[ally fu 53]

I'm up in Scotland, and it's pretty bad here (how bad depends on how much you believe the news hype), but places like Glasgow have always had a bit of a knife culture, ever since my dad's generation.

I'm currently in Edinburgh and there's knife related crimes every day in the news, mostly stupid kids.

[greentea 19,417]

Quote:

I'm up in Scotland, and it's pretty bad here (how bad depends on how much you believe the news hype), but places like Glasgow have always had a bit of a knife culture, ever since my dad's generation.

I'm currently in Edinburgh and there's knife related crimes every day in the news, mostly stupid kids.

--- Original message by ally fu on Jun 14, 2006 03:46 AM

how about the on going violence between protestants vs catholics? still pretty bad out there?

[ally fu 53]

There will always be a rivalry, especially on old firm football days (Rangers V Celtic), but I don't think it's as bad as it was when I was a kid. Or maybe I just don't notice it these days. It's far worse on the west as both teams are from Glasgow (in Edinburgh we have the 'new firm' clashes between Hibs and Hearts, but it's not as much of a religious thing). In Bannockburn where I grew up, almost everyone I knew was Protestant, and we were brought up around 'anti' Catholic people (parents, grandparents, older kids etc), but as I've got older I've grown away from it all. I couldn't even tell you what religion most of my mates are now, and I don't care either.

My sister lives in Belfast, so obviously it affects her more, there's a ceasefire over there now, but there is still an underground element to it all, and the hatred still exists as strong as ever.