Reports that hate crime is on the rise don't really surprise us. In the wake of the earlier shocking news about the murdered French students and the relentless wave of violent crime we seem to be riding at the moment, we're not really feeling the love at all.
However, Barnet is specifically reporting a 20% increase in reported race crime, whilst other boroughs report a decline. Statistics, of course, can be wonderfully open to interpretation and, naturally, Barnet chooses to interpret this trend as reflective of the public's increased confidence in reporting such crime, rather than an actual increase in incidents.
We live in hope.
Meanwhile, back in the troubled world of young people, knives and innocent victims the family of murdered Ben Kinsella, who was stabbed in Holloway on Sunday, have set up a fund in his memory to help campaign for peace on the streets. Making the most of his celebrity sister's connections (Brooke looks pretty sick about it to be honest but what family wouldn't in these tragic circumstance) they've bunged up a website urging teenagers to
put down your knives and weapons and think about the pain and suffering they will cause
This is also the message from the Met and the Mayor. Don't carry knives. We say it again. Just don't.
Image taken from the Ben Kinsella fund website.
