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Knife crimes soar to record in England and Wales

73 Comments
By Alistair Smout

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73 Comments

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As I have always said, if you want to hurt or kill someone, if you don’t have a gun, the next most lethal weapon is the knife.

Right! That's why we need to get rid of guns, since knives are so much less deadly.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Knife crime in London has risen over 2000% since Sadiq Khan took office as mayor. He's not fit to be in such a noble position

I agree.

Why do you agree with incorrect numbers?

Is it because you like them?

6 ( +6 / -0 )

It’s basic mathematics.

Most liberals aren’t that great in math.

I don’t think liberal or conservative has much to do with it. I majored in Physics and Maths and I didn’t see any evidence that political persuasion is indicative of maths skills.

So you are quoting sources and stating yourself that the 2000% rise in knife crime isn’t correct.

Good. You are getting the basics. Accuracy matters in Maths, as does spelling, grammar and logic when writing.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

... and of course this knife crime wave occurs without any context, just randomly. Got to love the corporate media.

5 ( +11 / -6 )

... and of course this knife crime wave occurs without any context, just randomly. Got to love the corporate media

I must admit that was my first reaction.

An unwillingness to focus on who is primarily involved doesn’t help anyone.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

As I have always said, if you want to hurt or kill someone, if you don’t have a gun, the next most lethal weapon is the knife.

Great argument for keeping guns out of circulation.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

@ilovecofee

The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world.

But I know you hate the UK and the British people, so you have to have your tuppence worth. You best watch out though, in the UK, a hate crime is defined as:

'*Any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by hostility or prejudice based on a person's race or perceived race; religion or perceived religion; sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation; disability or perceived disability and any crime motivated by hostility or prejudice against a person who is transgender or perceived to be transgender.'*

https://www.met.police.uk/advice/advice-and-information/hco/hate-crime/what-is-hate-crime/

I perceive your constant anti British comments as a form of bigotry which targets those of British nationality.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

What are the motives for the stabbings?

What's the motive for stabbing a pregnant woman to death?

Are the stabbings being carried out by teenagers?

Are the stabbings being carried out by minorities?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Knife crime in London has risen over 2000% since Sadiq Khan took office as mayor. He's not fit to be in such a noble position!

Mass shootings in the US have over doubled since Trump took office.

Is he fit to be in such a noble position? And if not, then how does your simplistic evaluation on the fitness of the mayor of London not have equal value as a simplistic evaluation on the fitness of the president of the US?

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Trump and the USA and guns is not the topic, Khan and the UK and knives are.

Is Khan not responsible for what is happening?

Many Trump supporters dislike Khan and also blame immigration for the rise in knife crime. Khan doesn’t have control over immigration into the UK and so that seems to be a non-starter.

@Stormcrow

Good post. Very commonsensical questions.

Can we please focus on who is doing this? The answers may be awkward, but this cannot be dealt with until we start getting honest.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

@bass

What do you think is the root cause of growing knife crime in the UK?

After you identify this, what should Khan do within his powers as London Mayor ( bear in mind his budget which you must be aware of ) to stop this?

By the way, I’m no fan of Khan.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

My comments are mainly intended for Americans. Most Europeans are well aware of the reality of England. We all speak English, and we have access to your media and public discourse. I have no illusions that my comments will persuade any English person or anything, they are not intended for you, but to merely expose Americans to information they are never exposed to. And when i say information, i mean facts, not mere rhetoric.

@ILoveCoffee -

What you do is spread lies and disinformation for Americans to give them a misleading impression about the UK.

I am not going to claim that it is a paradise without any discrimination at all, but it achieves a good level of integration, with the exception of a few areas.

You point out a handful of cases and claim that they are representative - they simply aren't. Ask people of different ethnicities from the UK or those with foreign spouses. You seem to get your news from done weird sources.

Visit an office in London and you will see people from different backgrounds and nationalities working together as equals. Get on the tube and it will be incredibly diverse and it works.

The hate crime cases are due to reporting differences and technical differences in crime. As an example, all of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church fanatics who hold up "God hates fags" signs would all be attested in the UK. Even if they weren't, anyone who claimed would have it recorded as a hate incident. I think that in the USA they are protected by free speech laws.

Ps - dontcha just hate it when JT logs you out while typing?

5 ( +5 / -0 )

When will the British Government learn that unless it provides enough ping pong tables for the youths, they'll start stabbing anyone and everyone within sight?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@Stormcrow

What are the motives for the stabbings?

Some are domestic disputes, but a large portion of these are gang territorial disputes or initiation attacks.

What's the motive for stabbing a pregnant woman to death?

The pregnant woman and unborn child were killed by her ex-partner. Motive remains unclear.

Are the stabbings being carried out by teenagers?

Yes, especially in London. However, some attacks are commited by men a little older in their 20s.

Are the stabbings being carried out by minorities?

Not all, but a disproportionate amount of these attackw are being carried out by people from BAME backgrounds.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Don't think it's a uniquely English pbm tbh. From what i have seen, heard and read, there's a similar phenomenon in europe (mostly in germany, sweden, france, the neth/belgium etc) where young ppl shoot/kill each other (often, but not always, gang/drugs-related).

The only noticeable difference is that in England knives/machetes are the weapon of choice vs guns/ak47 on euro soil.

Re 'who's involved/responsible', reckon this is valid for most (north/western) EU countries & the uk:

"Most of the shooters and victims are unemployed young men with immigrant backgrounds, under 30 years of age, living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods and often without a high school diploma."

https://www.thelocal.se/20190704/in-depth-whats-behind-the-rise-in-gang-violence-across-sweden

4 ( +4 / -0 )

@zichi

When you see those figures, it's concerning it's risen so much, so quickly.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

the appalling impact of nearly 10 years of Tory austerity

The real issue is hate crime

lots of Russians 

 ping pong tables

LOL, got to love the desperate fumbling to stick to a PC narrative. 

Here’s a weird idea - it could be a combination of elements and not just the one which is contained in the political package you swallowed whole.

Crazy idea, eh?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Knife crime in London has risen over 2000% since Sadiq Khan took office as mayor. He's not fit to be in such a noble position

Incorrect on both points.

Yeah, liberals try and spin it.

It’s basic mathematics. Knife crime has not risen by 2000%. It’s got nothing to do with spin.

Why did you agree with the post containing incorrect numbers? Can’t you do basic maths?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Even in the German media is reporting on this. So when it comes to believing the stats and experience over the posters, the posters are going to lose all day long.

The stats you posted confirmed that Belrick lied and that the 2000% statistic is wrong.

I can't believe I'm saying this for what seems like the 100th time, but: READ. YOUR. SOURCES.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

That's literally just the tip of the iceberg. The real issue is hate crime. Hate crime in England is similar to America back in the 50s and 60s. According to Human Right Organizations, between 2015 and 2016, there were 62,518 recorded hate crimes in England, 79 percent of which were motivated by racial hatred. For comparison, there were 5,850 recorded hate crimes in the United States for the same period. United States, a continental size nation with over 300 million people has over 6 times less hate crime than England, a tiny island nation of 50 million people. This fact alone speak volumes.

@ILoveCoffee - This is a false assertion - England is a pretty well-integrated nation, particularly in relation to the USA which still has enormous problems with race and still a population that lives almost entirely separately in neighbourhoods that are nearly 100% white or black.

The "hate crime" figures you quote are purely down to recording methodology - what is recorded as a "hate crime" in England would not be in the USA.

Minorities and foreigners in England live in constant fear of being abused on a daily basis, told to go back home, or shouted racial slurs on the streets.

Laughable nonsense. It will occasionally happen, and is terrible, but very rare.

"No Poles required", "Polish vermin F-off!" signs are casual sight in England. 

No they are not - never seen one in my life. Perhaps somewhere somebody has scrawled this on a wall, but your assertion that they are "casual" is simply a lie and an attempt to spread misinformation.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Still his city and still his job. Had Giuliani made as many excuses, NYC would still be the murder capital of the modern first world nation world.

Time to put down the bottle and go to bed.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

@bass4 When I was living in Europe as a teenager in Germany, we had a lot of knife attacks, it wasn’t that much of an uncommon thing.

Are you going to re-tell the account of your knife fight victory while growing up in Germany? Or are you saying it's Germans in the UK who are leading the increase in knife attacks there.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Makes me think of Sir Condoms(Mason) comment that the British people are the greatest danger to the nation. Distroying the nation by design.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Give young people nothing to do and nowhere to go and criminal elements will happily step in and provide them. Especially if there are fewer officers to police the streets.

Remember you can finance lots of education and training with the cost of incarcerating someone for a year. We either pay to help people make more of themselves or suffer crime and pay more to lock them up.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Is Khan not responsible for what is happening?

To a limited extent, in London, yes. Outside of London, not really.

Before becoming Mayor of London, Khan vowed to end stop and search. He said certain members of the community were being unfairly targeted and it was a form of racial discrimination.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/sadiq-khan-i-d-do-everything-in-my-power-to-cut-stop-and-search-a2924706.html

After doing so, knife crime shot up again. Such a bad move was his mistake that he had to re-introduce stop and search.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/sadiq-khan-stop-search-london-crime-plan-violence-police-metropolitan-stabbings-acid-murder-moped-a8152371.html

2 ( +3 / -1 )

What is the utility of firearms outside of killing compared to that of knives?

What are the relative harmful externalities?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

and of course this knife crime wave occurs without any context, just randomly. Got to love the corporate media.

Yep, absolutely no mention of the appalling impact of nearly 10 years of Tory austerity on the British public:

Front-line police numbers down by 21000

Per-pupil spending down by 8% (20% on over-16s according to BBC News last week)

1189 Sure Start centres closed

760 youth clubs closed

Teens stabbed up by 93%

NHS A&E crisis at a 14-year high

NHS patient satisfaction at an 11-year low of 53%

Rough sleeping up by an astonishing 163%

Foodbank usage up to a shaming 1.3m

A horrific 4.1 million children in poverty

2,620 deaths of rough sleepers

Two out of three children in poverty in working households – the idea that work is a route out of poverty is a lie for millions

100 NHS walk-in centres closed

600 police stations closed

675 libraries closed

760 youth centres closed

470 schools closed

50 fire stations closed

433 HMRC tax offices closed

100 Job Centres closed

700 public tennis courts closed

https://skwawkbox.org/2019/03/12/list-of-tory-achievements-makes-horrifying-reading/

Take 21,000 police off the streets, close everywhere young teenagers can go to do stuff and destroy the domestic economy for most people, that's a recipe for disaster. And now the insane Brexit will destroy what's left of the economy and cause the break up of the UK. Well done Tories, top top work.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

An increase of 2,730 crimes or a 22% increase

That's well on the way to being 2,000%.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

and one a crossbow.

Always thought England was a longbow nation. Hashtag RememberAgincourt.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Something not covered in the statistics that I would love to see- the relation between single motherhood and crime amongst children raised in that situation. How many of the criminals were boys brought up in single parent homes?

0 ( +4 / -4 )

@kestrel Knife culture has been imported en masse to the UK. But we mustnt say it.

Who's 'we'? I've read that lots of Russians are living in the UK.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Compared to Japan, the UK is a War Zone - but compared to the US it's well I guess, just another day in Gotham City....

From pictures shown in the media a lot of these knife crimes are between Kids of Coloured background, and are deemed Gang related. The local media even reports kids as young as 7 being used as Drug mules between gangs and Dealers. However, the Media is also quite sensationalist, (and willing to kick up a response one way of another) you can read one version from one source, and find a few words missing in another to make the story seem even more dramatic... so it's hard to tell the real situation, except when told to you personally by those who you know who actually witnessed a situation.

The UK has changed significantly since I left it, and by the likes of things, Europe should be more than happy, perhaps even Paying the UK, to cut their ties with that cesspool of self-destruction lest it become infectious.

Maybe once isolated, the rats/locust will seek to jump ship and find another place more suitable for themselves, leaving the UK to finally rebuild itself upon it's own. It's going to require hard work, and tough times will be ahead - which may not suit a lot of those vermin, so encourage emigration, and on the other-hand, let those who want to be rewarded for their enterprises, stay and rebuild the Country - let's see where that takes us.

A Strong Government leader will be required, however no one at present fits the bill, neither Boris nor Corbyn for starters - and the alternatives are simply uninspiring has-beens... maybe putting a certain Scottish comedian with Dementia in charge would be more effective - at least he's got more marbles rolling around up there than a fair number in the House or Lords & Parliament combined - now wouldn't that give a chuckle to Robby Burns.

When Gordon Brown stated that Boris could be the last UK prime minister, I wasn't really surprised at that.... either for that of being a Prime Minister, or Prime Minister of a "United" Kingdom.

We shall see.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

According to Human Right Organizations, between 2015 and 2016, there were 62,518 recorded hate crimes in England, 79 percent of which were motivated by racial hatred.

I think it is important to point out that the key word is 'recorded'.

When someone reports what they perceive to be a hate crime to the police, it has to be recorded. Please notice that the words 'arrest' or 'prosecution' don't appear. The vast majority of these hate crimes are not actually crimes, but daft complaints. Many police officers view may of these claims of hate crime as a waste of police time, but they have to record them anyway. These 'recorded' figures are then used to paint a false picture of a huge hate crime problem that doesn't actually exist.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Or maybe... do a Donald Trump, (Zenophobic) lock down the borders between England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and send those committing significant crimes back to whence they came from, an for non-UK nationals that would extend sending back those originally from overseas to their Cultural environment ...

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

@Alfie Noakes

700 public tennis courts closed

I think you’ve put your finger on it.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

As I have always said, if you want to hurt or kill someone, if you don’t have a gun, the next most lethal weapon is the knife.

Knife culture has been imported en masse to the UK. But we mustnt say it.

Oh, most definitely. When I was living in Europe as a teenager in Germany, we had a lot of knife attacks, it wasn’t that much of an uncommon thing.

-4 ( +5 / -9 )

Knife crime in London has risen over 2000% since Sadiq Khan took office as mayor. He's not fit to be in such a noble position!

-4 ( +6 / -10 )

Trump and the USA and guns is not the topic, Khan and the UK and knives are.

Is Khan not responsible for what is happening?

-4 ( +6 / -10 )

It’s basic mathematics.

Most liberals aren’t that great in math.

There were 43,516 knife crime offences in the 12 months ending March 2019. 

This is an 80% increase from the low-point in the year ending March 2014, when there were 23,945 offences, and is the highest number since comparable data was compiled. 

These statistics do not include those from Greater Manchester Police because of data recording issues.

Out of the 44 police forces, 43 recorded a rise in knife crime since 2011

Ok, You can believe that, I don’t.

https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/grossbritannien-zahl-der-gewalttaten-durch-messer-steigt-was-sind-die-gruende-a-1270211.html

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

@zichi

One figure America exceeds above all other countries are the 2.3 million people in prison.

And you mean they shouldn’t be there?

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

If the problem were knives, the solution would be simple: ban knives. But then forks would come next ...

The problem is people and for that there is no solution. Experiments in social engineering have failed.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Right! That's why we need to get rid of guns, since knives are so much less deadly.

They can be.

Knife crime in London has risen over 2000% since Sadiq Khan took office as mayor. He's not fit to be in such a noble position

I agree.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Knife crime in London has risen over 2000% since Sadiq Khan took office as mayor. He's not fit to be in such a noble position

Incorrect on both points.

Yeah, liberals try and spin it.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42749089

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/violent-knife-crime-rise-stabbing-murders-reasons-increase-london-why-a8326171.html

Even in the German media is reporting on this. So when it comes to believing the stats and experience over the posters, the posters are going to lose all day long.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Your BBC link shows London knife crime for year ending March 2019, at 170 cases for 100,000 residents.

For a country that small, that’s no drop in the bucket. Still one too many. Scary!

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Hope you have learnt something?

Yes, indeed! 170 knife attacks in a country that size is too much, too scary.

In London, in 2018 there were 132 murders by all types of weapons or not.

Again, for the size, scary!

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

That is what is scary

As is London, I find it scary as well.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Knife culture has been imported en masse to the UK. But we mustnt say it.

-6 ( +5 / -11 )

I can't believe I'm saying this for what seems like the 100th time, but: READ. YOUR. SOURCES

I really get a chuckle when liberals try to school people on checking sources. Hey, be so kind and tell that to all of the media networks with deplorable ratings and retractions. I wish they would do just that.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

The murder rate in America is more than three times that of England and Wales.

We are a larger country with a larger population, so it makes sense, however, for the size of the country, it’s still out of control and especially the city, it’s very significant, alarming indeed.

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

London is larger than any city in America

Exactly and you just made my point for me, scary

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

If you're foolish enough to think the blame for violent crime can be laid at the feet of the person who happens to be mayor.

Still his city and still his job. Had Giuliani made as many excuses, NYC would still be the murder capital of the modern first world nation world.

Perhaps instead of blaming liberal spin, a more realistic approach for you would be to accept that no mayor of London has been completely on top of this problem, 

We’re talking about Khan, I’m not accepting that garbage, “oh well” approach. They said the same about Giuliani and he cleaned up NYC, now that DeBlasio has been Mayor it’s sliding back into crime and this is the difference, liberals are always weak on crime.

you have reduced yourself to a wind-up merchant, not so good from someone claiming to be journalist.

No, I just have an opposing viewpoint.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

No in your country, 100,000 people is exactly the same as 100,000 people in England/Wales or 100,000 people in Japan or even 100,000 people on the moon. 100,000 is the same number in every country. You are just playing dumb.

The murder rate in America per 100,000 people is more than three the murder rate per 100,000 people in England and Wales. (Scotland) have their own figures.

But for London nonetheless, it’s still scary for even a city that size.

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

@Tangerine2000 and Ah_so

I know truth hurts, especially when you are so accustomed to the one-sided narrative emanating from your press, but as it always happens, truth is like a ball, you can't keep it underwater forever, sooner or later it finds its way to the surface, and as it happens, i seem to be the only one with balls to speak out and expose the truth. My comments are mainly intended for Americans. Most Europeans are well aware of the reality of England. We all speak English, and we have access to your media and public discourse. I have no illusions that my comments will persuade any English person or anything, they are not intended for you, but to merely expose Americans to information they are never exposed to. And when i say information, i mean facts, not mere rhetoric.

You are right about the fact that, these hate crime numbers are only the ones that got actually reported, the real hate crime number is much larger, as hundreds, if not thousands of hate crimes goes unreported.

Polish people living in England scared to report hate crimes out of fear of retaliation. (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jan/07/poles-lin-uk-scared-to-speak-up-on-hate-crimes)

Hard to imagine, isn't it? You want to deny this reality with every fiber of your body, but it just won't go away.

Furthermore, as i am sure you didn't watch the video i gave you, hate crimes is not the only abuse occurring in your country. Verbal abuse against minorities, such as the news story about the German lady i described above, are also regular. I have never met any long-term foreign-born resident of England who have never experienced some sort of abuse or discrimination. I guess if you work in academia, or something with high-profile people, you would probably experience less abuse, just the casual bigotry of low-expectations, but if you work anything that is close to the mainstream, there is no way you won't get abused and treated like sub-human animal.

Denying this fact and truth of your country, and denying the experiences of millions of foreigners and residents of foreign background living in your country is not going to fix the problem, you need to accept the truth and work towards becoming a more tolerant and less hate-filled society. You should perhaps start with the source of hate, which is the tabloids, the oligarchs running your country, and your educational system.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

What do you think is the root cause of growing knife crime in the UK? 

I really couldn’t say. My background where I’m from is I’m not a problem solver, more of a problem eliminator.

After you identify this, what should Khan do within his powers as London Mayor ( bear in mind his budget which you must be aware of ) to stop this? 

Step aside and let someone that really cares go in aggressively and try to fix the city. I remember the same liberal excuses being made in the 70’s about NYC and Giuliani proved them all wrong and DeBlasio has proven to be the exact opposite.

By the way, I’m no fan of Khan.

Neither am I.

-7 ( +0 / -7 )

That's literally just the tip of the iceberg. The real issue is hate crime. Hate crime in England is similar to America back in the 50s and 60s. According to Human Right Organizations, between 2015 and 2016, there were 62,518 recorded hate crimes in England, 79 percent of which were motivated by racial hatred. For comparison, there were 5,850 recorded hate crimes in the United States for the same period. United States, a continental size nation with over 300 million people has over 6 times less hate crime than England, a tiny island nation of 50 million people. This fact alone speak volumes.

People here complain about racism in Japan.. but racism in England is on another level. Minorities and foreigners in England live in constant fear of being abused on a daily basis, told to go back home, or shouted racial slurs on the streets. Foreigners in Japan are treated like tourists, even if they have lived in Japan for 50 years, but foreigners in England are treated like sub-humans. "No Poles required", "Polish vermin F-off!" signs are casual sight in England. Can you imagine seeing that in Japan or America? It would be all over the news, but in England, that's casual.

I recently listened a news story about a German old lady whose English husband passed away, she says she is terrorized almost regularly. People are throwing food at her house, and one time she was out sitting at a bench, speaking with a relative from Germany in German, when a gang of English thugs approached her and shouted at her "F-off to EU!!". Can you imagine so much hate against foreigners in one place? The mainstream media is ignoring this, because most of the mainstream media is English media, and the American media only relies on the English press.

You think i am exaggerating? Look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aNLTEdGUyw

-8 ( +7 / -15 )

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