Humphrey CarterPalma06/11/2018 19:26
TW

Foster a tree, drive safely and apologies for the constant breakdown of the capital’s rail and underground networks are the radio advertisements the Mayor of London has spent months investing in while virtual anarchy has broken out on the streets of London. There have been 118 homicides in the capital this year, including 73 stabbings and 12 shootings, compared to 116 this time last year.

Jay Hughes, 15, was stabbed to death in a chicken shop on Thursday and Malcolm Mide-Madariola, 17, was killed outside a Tube station on Friday. And Met Police commander Stuart Cundy said there were "hundreds of additional duty officers on the streets" - doing what exactly? What is more, this is not only a police matter but a huge social and educational problem which London’s authority needs to tackle and fast. The mayor said children as young as primary school age are now carrying knives and warned it could take "a generation" to solve the problem.

Well how is he going to do it? A friend of mine, who now lives and works in Palma but spent years working in London, recently returned from a quick catch-up visit with friends. He told how they had pulled up at a set of traffic lights and he had wound down his passenger window. His friend, who was driving, immediately told him to close the window. Why? Because you never know who is going chuck some acid in.