Now It's KNIVES

[HONDO74]

London Mayor Sadiq Khan targets knives as murder rate spikes: 'There is never a reason to carry a knife'
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/04/08 ... knife.html

London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced a tough crackdown on knives Sunday as the city reels from a spike in stabbings that have led its number of homicides to top New York City's for two straight months.

He tweeted: “No excuses: there is never a reason to carry a knife. Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law.”

The tweet also included an action plan to boost police power and prevent future violence.
London has seen more than 50 homicides already in 2018.

Most of the city’s murder victims have been stabbed to death, as guns are tightly restricted in Britain and shootings are relatively rare.

If the bloody trend continues, London will far surpass the 130 murders in 2017 and reach a number not seen since the early 2000s.

In February and March, London hit the unwanted milestone of recording more homicides than New York, the first time in modern history, as Fox News previously reported.

The cities are roughly the same size, with more than 8 million people, and have similar extremes of poverty and wealth, but London has never recorded more murders in a year than the U.S. metropolis. New York had 290 homicides in 2017, the lowest number in decades.

There are multiple candidates to blame for the city’s rising homicide rate, investigators have said. Police and community workers say London’s surge is driven in part by battles over control of the illegal drug trade and a “postcode war” between street gangs.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

London Mayor Sadiq Khan targets knives as murder rate spikes: 'There is never a reason to carry a knife'
...
London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced a tough crackdown on knives Sunday as the city reels from a spike in stabbings that have led its number of homicides to top New York City's for two straight months.

He tweeted: “No excuses: there is never a reason to carry a knife. Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law.”

The tweet also included an action plan to boost police power and prevent future violence.
London has seen more than 50 homicides already in 2018.

Most of the city’s murder victims have been stabbed to death, as guns are tightly restricted in Britain and shootings are relatively rare.

...There are multiple candidates to blame for the city’s rising homicide rate, investigators have said. Police and community workers say London’s surge is driven in part by battles over control of the illegal drug trade and a “postcode war” between street gangs.

Stunning news, to me at least. If anybody had asked me to bet money about there being street gangs in London, I'd have bet there were none. Such a thing seems so out of character for how I perceived London to be. It's been decades since I was there last, and certainly never perceived any such phenomenon back in 1968-69. What has happened? What could be the factors influencing or causing such a condition to exist in such a place as London, I have to wonder.

Thanks for posting that, HONDO. I hadn't picked-up all that detail from cursory glances at the News on TV recently.
Murph

[up148]

It would be very interesting to know the nationalities of most of the victims. There is a very diverse culture in the UK, especially in the past decade or two.

I don't suppose they mean pocket knives, as I've carried one for the past 4-5 decades every day. I'd feel naked without it. Always a need for a pocket knife.

BH

[webenda]

Thanks for posting that, HONDO. I hadn't picked-up all that detail from cursory glances at the News on TV recently.
Murph

Guns too...

On 28 November 2007, a major offensive against gun crime by gangs in Birmingham, Liverpool, London and Manchester led to 118 arrests. More than 1,000 police officers were involved in the raids. Not all of the 118 arrests were gun related; others were linked to drugs, prostitution and other crimes. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said it showed the police could "fight back against gangs".

Increasingly, Britain's street gangs in certain inner city areas such as London and Manchester are becoming more of a cultural transmission of America's Crips and Bloods. This is evidenced by identification with colours, hand signs, graffiti tags[9] and in some cases gang names, for example Old Trafford Cripz and Moss Side Bloods or 031 (O-Tray-One) Bloods gang and ABM (All Bout Money) Crips.

Debate persists over the extent and nature of gang activity in the UK, with some academics and policy-makers arguing that the current focus of enforcement efforts on gang membership is inadvisable, given a lack of consensus over the relationship between gangs and crime.

That last line is telling. Deny there is a problem solution to a problem. Probably why you haven't heard about it on the News Murph.

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangs_in_ ... ed_Kingdom

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I can recall walking around London and Paris (including even the "Latin Quarter," ) at all times of the day and night (my philosophy was that I didn't go to Europe to sleep; I could do that when I got back to The States,) and not being the slightest bit (aware?) concerned about anything but the architecture, the enjoyable residents, and the history all around me. Perhaps I was naïve, or perhaps I was simply 40+ years younger and safe in my blithe viewpoint of being in Europe and completely joyful about teaching students there.

P.S. The only thing I wasn't particularly joyful about was the food in London and Stratford-upon-Avon. It was as nondescript as could be, in my limited viewpoint, and the beer was warm = inedible, to me, given my Pittsburgh "standards." I think all I ate was bread and drank Coca-Cola while there. I avoided any suggestion of "meat." That situation helped me keep my waist @ 31" though. I mean, have you ever heard of anybody returning from a trip to England and raving about the delicious food? I have not. If anyone here knows differently, please, inform me of what wonders I missed.

Of course, Paris was another story, when it came to food and drink.

[up148]

I think things have changed drastically, for the worse in the UK and Europe in general. Haven't been to France or UK in 20 years, but it felt pretty safe back then. I wouldn't even consider going today. The world is just a different place everywhere.

BH

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I mean, have you ever heard of anybody returning from a trip to England and raving about the delicious food? I have not. If anyone here knows differently, please, inform me of what wonders I missed.

Best salmon and chips I've ever had was at a restaurant in Durham, England, so I had it a 2nd time the week I was there. Food at Oxford was quite good. Food in Edinburgh was also quite good!

Of course, Paris was another story, when it came to food and drink.

Never a bad meal there even from any sidewalk cafe to any restaurant; in fact, none anywhere in France.

Never felt threatened or unsafe in any of the above.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I mean, have you ever heard of anybody returning from a trip to England and raving about the delicious food? I have not. If anyone here knows differently, please, inform me of what wonders I missed.

Best salmon and chips I've ever had was at a restaurant in Durham, England, so I had it a 2nd time the week I was there. Food at Oxford was quite good. Food in Edinburgh was also quite good! ....

May I ask you to be specific? What foods, Rufus ?

[HONDO74]

In the future the only food in the UK will be "finger Food". You won't be able to cut any food with a knife when they ban knives.....