London’s Knife Crime Crisis: Labour’s Promises Fall Short

[Social Media]

 

Keir Starmer recently pledged swift intervention and harsh consequences to tackle knife crime, but mere words are insufficient to protect our children. Take the tragic case of Pharrell Garcia, a 15-year-old boy sent to pick up his sister from Benthal Primary, a school familiar to many in north London. Nearing his old school earlier this week, Pharrell was mugged and, after refusing to hand over his phone, was fatally stabbed. Despite paramedics' best efforts, he bled to death on the street at four in the afternoon.

 

In another horrifying incident from May, a nine-year-old girl from Birmingham was excitedly heading out for dinner during a visit to London. The chosen venue was Evin, a popular Turkish restaurant where patrons often dine outside on warm evenings. Around 9pm, a helmeted figure on a stolen motorcycle opened fire, injuring three adults and critically wounding the little girl. She may never walk or talk again.

 

These incidents highlight the stark reality of Hackney, a gentrified yet troubled area of multicultural London. Despite Victorian terraced homes valued at over £1.5 million, the neighborhood remains plagued by violence. Just before Christmas, local mother Lianne Gordon, 42, was killed in a bungled home attack meant for someone else. She was among three people shot, including a 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy.

 

Violence seems ever-present, affecting even those of us who try to return to our routines after initial shock. We wonder if continuing to walk our dogs in the park where Lianne lived is foolish or simply a testament to Londoners’ resilience in the face of violence. But the brutal truth is that we are all personally affected by the knowledge that children are being killed and grievously injured in our streets. Calling it “black-on-black” violence diminishes its broader threat to our community and society as a whole.

 

As Westminster debates the defense budget, it's crucial to remember that safety begins at home. For residents like me, who pay exorbitant income and council taxes, crime seems out of control. It’s unsettling that my children feel lucky to avoid crossfire on a night out. This leads to the pressing question: what concrete actions will Keir Starmer and Labour take? Their manifesto claims they will halve knife crime in a decade and end "empty warnings" with rapid intervention and tough consequences for knife-carrying individuals. But what is their actual plan? Telling teenagers not to carry knives has clearly failed. The shift towards guns is even more terrifying, with teenage gangs controlling entire postcodes.

 

Hackney’s dual image is evident: to Gen Z, it’s a hub of edgy, artistic creativity, while to worried grandparents in the Shires, it’s a crime hotspot validating their preference for quieter towns like Chichester. Yet for families like mine, London is home, and we deserve to feel safe. Unfortunately, we don’t.

 

The juxtaposition of affluence and violence isn’t unique to Hackney. Even Kensington & Chelsea, home to some of London’s safest streets, witnessed the shooting of 15-year-old Rene Graham at a family fun day. Four men were arrested on suspicion of murder, demonstrating that knife crime permeates even elite areas.

 

 

The current situation demands more than hand-wringing and condolences. The debate over stop and search illustrates the divide: the black community often views it as harmful, while bereaved mothers see it as essential. Statistics from Statista show that 14% of stop and search interventions lead to arrests. Such measures might have prevented my daughter and her boyfriend from being mugged one Sunday afternoon near our home. Two men, smelling of skunk, separated them, and one threatened her boyfriend with a zombie knife, taking both their phones. The police responded quickly but were limited in their actions. My daughter chalked it up to experience.

 

Boys are more often targeted for muggings due to being “less screamy,” while children in “posh” uniforms are frequently mugged. Parent groups in Enfield and Dulwich have started patrolling streets themselves, but citizen armies are not a long-term solution. Labour’s promise to ban zombie blades, ninja swords, and machetes is a start, but a more comprehensive policing strategy focused on youth is crucial. After all, the attacker arrested for Pharrell Garcia’s murder was another 15-year-old boy.

 

In London, halving knife crime in a decade feels like an eternity. We need immediate and decisive action to stop the senseless violence and protect our communities.

 

Credit: Daily Telegraph 2024-07-27

 

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[Chomper Higgot]

The Telegraph gives Labour 3 weeks to fix knife crime before declaring a Labour failure.

 

Or to put it another way.

 

The election results came out three weeks ago, the staff of The Telegraph still haven’t got over it.

 

[stevenl]

5 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The Telegraph gives Labour 3 weeks to fix knife crime before declaring a Labour failure.

 

Or to put it another way.

 

The election results came out three weeks ago, the staff of The Telegraph still haven’t got over it.

 

And that's not talking about a shooting in May. 

Even for Telegraph standings this article is below par.

[RichardColeman]

5 hours ago, Social Media said:

Keir Starmer recently pledged swift intervention and harsh consequences to tackle knife crime, but mere words are insufficient to protect our children.

Sorry Keir, but unless you lock up all the blacks 24/7 in London it will just keep getting worse - not better. May sound racist but I really do not see any other solution to stop black knife crime - nothing has worked in the past because the sentences just do not work and YOU are against stopping blacks for stop and search

[Chomper Higgot]

3 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Sorry Keir, but unless you lock up all the blacks 24/7 in London it will just keep getting worse - not better. May sound racist but I really do not see any other solution to stop black knife crime - nothing has worked in the past because the sentences just do not work and YOU are against stopping blacks for stop and search

There’s a reason it sounds racist Richard.

 

Because it is.

 

“Nothing has worked in the past”
 

Except something has worked in the past:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-45572691

[jayboy]

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

There’s a reason it sounds racist Richard.

 

Because it is.

 

“Nothing has worked in the past”
 

Except something has worked in the past:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-45572691

 

Not as simple as you seem to think

 

 

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-community-approach-alone-wont-solve-knife-crime/

[stoner]

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

There’s a reason it sounds racist Richard.

 

Because it is.

 

“Nothing has worked in the past”
 

Except something has worked in the past:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-45572691

 

Scotland is not England though. 

[Chomper Higgot]

3 minutes ago, stoner said:

 

Scotland is not England though. 

I think I knew that, but thanks anyway.

[stoner]

Just now, Chomper Higgot said:

I think I knew that, but thanks anyway.

 

Posting the link means nothing then. What's working in Scotland may or may not work in England. Quite different cultures. 

[Chomper Higgot]

6 minutes ago, jayboy said:

 

Not as simple as you seem to think

 

 

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-community-approach-alone-wont-solve-knife-crime/

 

This bit is:

 

“It paid extraordinary dividends, achieving a 48 per cent decrease in non-sexual violent crime, a 38 per cent fall in homicide and a 43 per cent fall in attempted murder and serious assault since 2006/7.”

That it was achieved by a broad swath of policies is not disputed.

 

But here’s a thing, it wasn’t achieved resorting to the overt racism Richard calls for;

 

“Sorry Keir, but unless you lock up all the blacks 24/7in London it will just keep getting worse”

 

It seems the lessons of the ‘suss laws’ have been forgotten.

[stoner]

4 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

But here’s a thing, it wasn’t achieved resorting to the overt racism Richard calls for;

 

This I agree with. 

[john donson]

now is there a certain culture that likes to settle things with knives, let me think

[Watawattana]

56 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Except something has worked in the past:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-45572691

 

Let's compare the quality of journalism in the quoted article, when compared by the Telegraph's reporting quality.  Oh, let's not waste time.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, Watawattana said:

 

Let's compare the quality of journalism in the quoted article, when compared by the Telegraph's reporting quality.  Oh, let's not waste time.

I agree.

 

The Telegraph report fails to understand a complex problem can’t be fixed in three weeks.

 

[Watawattana]

46 minutes ago, stoner said:

 

Posting the link means nothing then. What's working in Scotland may or may not work in England. Quite different cultures. 

 

This is not 100% wrong, but close to it.  I 100% agree that exactly what worked in Jockland might not work in every area of England.  I somehow think London might be a bit different to Newcastle, Norwich or St Austell, just the same as Glasgow is wildly different from Oban.  Hope the politicians can get their heads up, look at what's worked elsewhere (or indeed not), and the national Government gives the support, tools and resources to allow local politicians to find a plan for their local areas.

[James105]

39 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I agree.

 

The Telegraph report fails to understand a complex problem can’t be fixed in three weeks.

 

 

It's only complicated if you think it is a problem that can only be solved with hugs and non-punitive measures.  

 

Increase stop and search for the "communities" who commit the most crimes, zero tolerance even for first offences and extremely punitive punishments would go a long way to reducing this.  Appeasement continues to be a non working strategy.   

[Chomper Higgot]

4 minutes ago, James105 said:

 

It's only complicated if you think it is a problem that can only be solved with hugs and non-punitive measures.  

 

Increase stop and search for the "communities" who commit the most crimes, zero tolerance even for first offences and extremely punitive punishments would go a long way to reducing this.  Appeasement continues to be a non working strategy.   

Thanks for inventing a point of view on my behalf.

 

 

[Will B Good]

Imagine the London population was totally white, but 95% had a blue ink dot on their forehead and the other 5% had a red ink dot.

 

The blue dots historically enjoy access to better education, the chance to network and had a powerful tendency to stick together and exclude the red dots.

 

The red dots, frustrated by lack of opportunities, find themselves oppressed and turn to crime, particularly lucrative drug dealing. This leads to extreme violence, gun crimes and knife crimes.

 

It's pretty obvious that there must something in the red ink that is causing the 5% to behave as they do.

[James105]

32 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

Imagine the London population was totally white, but 95% had a blue ink dot on their forehead and the other 5% had a red ink dot.

 

The blue dots historically enjoy access to better education, the chance to network and had a powerful tendency to stick together and exclude the red dots.

 

The red dots, frustrated by lack of opportunities, find themselves oppressed and turn to crime, particularly lucrative drug dealing. This leads to extreme violence, gun crimes and knife crimes.

 

It's pretty obvious that there must something in the red ink that is causing the 5% to behave as they do.

 

Did the 5% grow up in rape friendly violent cultures before migrating to London?  Lack of opportunities in... London??  Seriously?  

[Will B Good]

1 minute ago, James105 said:

 

Did the 5% grow up in rape friendly violent cultures before migrating to London?  Lack of opportunities in... London??  Seriously?  

No. Born in London.

 

There are certainly lots of opportunities for the whinging red dots.....toilet attendant, bus driver, refuse collection, security guards.....no end of opportunities.

[James105]

4 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

No. Born in London.

 

There are certainly lots of opportunities for the whinging red dots.....toilet attendant, bus driver, refuse collection, security guards.....no end of opportunities.

 

The problem with London is that only 2 types of people can "afford" to live there:

 

1. People who have zero skills or aspiration that get their housing free of charge thanks to the taxpayer.

2. People who are actually rich enough to live there. 

 

I'm guessing here but my guess is that the first group are the ones causing the most amount of trouble.  It's a shame that the middle class hard workers were mostly priced out of London as it really used to be a great place to live.   

[steve187]

3 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The Telegraph gives Labour 3 weeks to fix knife crime before declaring a Labour failure.

 

Or to put it another way.

 

The election results came out three weeks ago, the staff of The Telegraph still haven’t got over it.

 

Labour or in fact any Government will not solve the knife crime until the courts do their job and give longer sentence's and make life in the prisons tougher, not a soft touch holiday for a few months, 4 years should mean 4 years, maximum penalty for knife crime, the punishment should fit the crime.

 

as a cockney born in the east end of London, I went to school in the east end, drove buses throughout London and having served in the Uk police, i shake my head when i see the way London is now, no respect is given to anyone, police, and other emergency services, the local population or tourists, London is not the London i grew up to Love, I still have family living there, I feel for them.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, James105 said:

 

Did the 5% grow up in rape friendly violent cultures before migrating to London?  Lack of opportunities in... London??  Seriously?  

We are not discussing the MET.

 

[Purdey]

On 7/27/2024 at 3:35 AM, Social Media said:

In another horrifying incident from May

I thought there was a Tory government in May?

       The Telegraph - the Tory rag with no memory.

Edited July 28 by Purdey

[Will B Good]

On 7/27/2024 at 1:01 PM, steve187 said:

Labour or in fact any Government will not solve the knife crime until the courts do their job and give longer sentence's and make life in the prisons tougher, not a soft touch holiday for a few months, 4 years should mean 4 years, maximum penalty for knife crime, the punishment should fit the crime.

 

as a cockney born in the east end of London, I went to school in the east end, drove buses throughout London and having served in the Uk police, i shake my head when i see the way London is now, no respect is given to anyone, police, and other emergency services, the local population or tourists, London is not the London i grew up to Love, I still have family living there, I feel for them.

 

Got to miss Reggie and Ronnie....lovely guys.

[Nick Carter icp]

9 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

Got to miss Reggie and Ronnie....lovely guys.

 

   They used knives to stab people and they also used guns to shoot people (not to mention their like of young boys) 

[Will B Good]

1 minute ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   They used knives to stab people and they also used guns to shoot people (not to mention their like of young boys) 

Kind of my point....but thanks for spelling it out...😀

[transam]

6 minutes ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   They used knives to stab people and they also used guns to shoot people (not to mention their like of young boys) 

"Their", where did you get that from...? 🤔

[NanLaew]

On 7/27/2024 at 9:11 AM, stevenl said:

And that's not talking about a shooting in May. 

Even for Telegraph standings this article is below par.

 

Awful Tory rag. Even got the cheek to ask for a subscription to read their gurning.

[ElwoodP]

Please, both of you, stop the bickering.