Real hate crimes, unreal responses.

Posted by Guessedworker on Sunday, 05 December 2004 22:28.

A spate of shockingly violent, fatal stabbings have brought home to London’s gentle middle-class the insecurity in which they live in the capital.

On 17th September 74 year-old Derek Robinson and his 60 year-old wife, Jean, were attacked by an intruder in the hallway of their home on a private estate in Highgate Hill. They were found stabbed and with their throats cut. One Daniel Gonzalez was arrested at Kings Cross and subsequently charged with other recent murders as well.

On 20th October Robert Symons, 45, of Airdale Avenue, Chiswick, was killed with a single stab wound to the heart after a struggle with an intruder in his home. Yousef Bouhaddaou, 26, has been charged with murder. Four others have been arrested in connection with the incident. Mr Symons, a teacher, left a wife and two daughters aged 2 and 5.

Then last Monday 29th November John Monckton and his wife Homeyra were savagely attacked by two youths who had burst through their front door. Mr Monckton died of stab wounds. His wife was critically injured and police are still waiting to speak to her in hospital. Mr Monckton had two daughters, aged 9 and 12. The younger, Isabel, was in the house at the time of the attack.

One of the attackers was black. The other is described as “light-skinned”. His ethnic background is unknown.

The reaction to all this by John Stevens, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and Britain’s most senior and super-politicised policeman, has been to make a speech calling for clarity in the law. That implies an end to the vexed issue of “reasonable force” and more rights to householders. It does not imply that said householders will be physically able to act in their self-defence, even if they are free to do so. Freedom and ability are not at all the same thing. And on that calculation rests the criminal choices of the violent who don’t think straight when pumped up for a break-in - and the drug-addicted who don’t think at all.

From the Tories, meanwhile, there has been official backing for a Private Members Bill granting no doubt very similar new rights. There has also been a promise of manifesto pledges to attract the suddenly insecure middle-class vote. But in the absence of a carte blanche right to shoot Jehovah’s Witnesses in the back as they flee headlong out the front gate, Bibles and Watchtowers spilling everywhere, the effectiveness of such measures will surely be limited. Mr Smith at no.32 is not Dirty Harry and violent criminals know it.

Meanwhile, the surprisingly fertile mind of our Home Secretary is already decided upon tightening the law on the possession of a knife. In August his unisexual spokesperson said, “The Home Secretary is aware of growing concern about the use of knives. We are actively looking at how best to deal with this situation through legislation.” Weren’t active enough for some, though, were they?

However, this statement is an acknowledgment of two things. First, the adoption of a mandatory five-year prison term for possession of a firearm has forced many intent on crime to downgrade to a hunting knife. Second, politicians continue to respond to public concern even when they know it is ill-founded. In this case, the truth is that actual crimes commissioned with a knife have fallen by 11% over the last year.

In the print media they know this too, of course. But, surprise, surprise, selling papers is not about truth-speaking, especially on the left. So we await the attack of the killer lawyers. They’ve been on the broadcast news, informing the world that no change in the rights of householders is warranted and, anyway, they have excellent private security. No Dirty Harry’s hiding behind the aspidistras of Neasden, thank you. But as yet the Guardian stands aloof from such criminal-friendly, marxist twaddle. It can’t last.

On the right, though, Janet Daley got out of the blocks quickly (what a thought: Janet in lycra). She focussed on crime management. Her solution is that astonishingly successful New York, New York scenario of zero tolerance. If it works – and it does - why aren’t we zero heroes already? Answer: the Labour Party wants to empty prisons, not build new ones. Sorry, Janet.

But it is way out in the wild fastnesses of the British gun lobby that trigger fingers are really twitching and “make my day” mania busting out all over. Shotgun Perry’s Samizdata has run three pieces in the wake of the Cheyne Walk killing. The threads have garnered in excess of one hundred and fifty comments. Nine out of ten commenters exalt in the prospect of bearing arms, this being a terribly important expression of personal liberty. Unless you are shot, of course.

But nobody there, not a soul, has noticed that the recent killings do not appear to have been the work of chaps whose forefathers stood foursquare on Senlac Field. Nobody is incorrect enough to mention the word “immigrant” or “multiculturalism” or, heaven forfend, “rates of black crime”. It’s like a debate about management of the economy without anybody referring to the supply side.

But that’s life in the Multi-Cult. Not even the right-wingers want to point to the criminally-intent elephant hauling itself through the kitchen window.

Tags: British Politics

Comments:

Posted by Phil on Sun, 05 Dec 2004 23:30 | #

Guessedworker,

Excellent post. As someone who once lived in London, I can only watch with a feeling of temporary relief.

All this talk of legislation this and legislation that is nonsense and arming people with Guns to the last man wont make things better. A Question to the idiots at Samizdata: Are the people of downtown Detroit not well armed? :D

London has changed phenomenally. It bears little resemblance to the rest of the country. And much of London looks like Jamaica or any other wretched hell-hole in the West Indies than England. And that has more to do with the spiralling crime rates than anything else.

I don’t know how many of our co-bloggers who are from this country have ever spent a little time driving through South London. Its an education, believe me.

Blacks commit crimes at about 12-15 times the white rate in Britain. Blacks are 2 percent of the population but 25 percent of the convicts. The more Blacks we have in this country - the more murders, rapes, robberies, gangland shootings and other assorted crimes we will have. And I shall cease to be Phil Peterson if any politician in this country has the guts to say that openly before the TV cameras.

regards,

Phil

Posted by Braveheart on Mon, 06 Dec 2004 10:54 | #

What does Eurostat (urbanaudit) write about the quality of life in European cities?

London has most of the inhabitants, Athens most of the hours sun, Brussels most of the unemployed and murders, Lisbon most of the doctors, Copenhagen most of the car thefts and Dublin most of the heart attacks.

In London the yearly probability to get murdered it is 3/100.000, but In Brussels it is 10/100.000. I suppose for the other crimes it is proportional. I mean on the ground, as there are strong indications that crime statistics are manipulated in Belgium, except for the murders of course.

More detailed information at: http://www.urbanaudit.org

Also to note, the title of the article in the Flemish newspaper de Standaard (21/10/2004) was: “London more sunny than Brussels.” This seems to be an extreme form of understatement to me. I suppose the newspaper indeed doesn’t like to write about the Belgian Establishment’s immigration/import policy of north-African Arabs to Brussels, to counter the Flemish demographical majority. For those who don’t know Belgium, the Belgian Establishment is principally composed out of Stalinist Wallonia + the Flemish left. They are afraid of Flemish Interest conservative party.

In fact I’m a little bit “jealous” . In Belgium discussions like this are very difficult, also because of the Thought Police (Centrum voor Gelijkheid van Kansen).

Flanders in Belgium.

Posted by Geoff M. Beck on Mon, 06 Dec 2004 15:34 | #

crimes…have fallen by 11%...

Crime statistics provided by government agencies are problematic. Agencies in the USA have manipulated the data for many years:

1) Categorizing rapes as non-violent attacks.

2) Categorizing hispanics as whites

3) Local cops don’t report certain crimes for fear they will be shown ‘racial profiling’.

4) Many local cops don’t arrest illegal aliens. Illegals are seen as federal concern and if arrested locally the city or township pays the incarceration fee.

I have little confidence in the reporting of crime statistics by my government, can’t speak about Britian, though.

http://www.jocosheriff.org/Default.asp?incl=br

THIS IS THE BOOKING REPORT FOR THE COUNTRY I LIVE IN. NOTICE ALL THE HISPANICS ARE LABELED AS WHITE:

MORALES EDWARD GONZALES “W”
LEMUS MIGUEL “W”
...

Posted by Braveheart on Mon, 06 Dec 2004 19:51 | #

A weird story in Brussels

I have no references thus believe about it what you want, but I experienced the following.

Last year (if my memory does well - time passes so quickly) came on my screen the story of two American businessmen attacked by seven Arab youths in Brussels, apparently only because they had the “wrong” nationality on the wrong place. One was beaten to death and the other survived his injuries.

Normally, I would have forgotten this event long ago, but the strange thing is that the message already disappeared from my screen after let’s say thirty minutes. I never experienced something like that.

As I am a suspicious person, I stayed with some questions. For instance, who gave the order to delete that message. Indeed, on the same billboard were surely messages of less importance. Another question. Is this (non European) murder incorporated in the Belgian Eurostat statistics? Let’s hope!

Flanders in Belgium

Posted by Ryan Smith on Tue, 19 Jul 2005 16:16 | #

About Daniel Gonzalez:

1) In spite of his surname, he is as English as Michael Portillo: he does have a Spanish father, but he was born and brought up in England.

2) Daniel Gonzalez didn’t murder because his father is Spanish, but because he is mentally ill, seriously ill. That’s why he is in Broadmoor Hospital and not in prison.

3) Did you know that English people in Spain also commit murders??? Read this article about an English serial killer (Alexander King) who enjoyed killing Spanish teenagers. Would you like to pay for his sins the next time you go to Spain?

http://www.andalucia.com/news/cdsn/2003-10-01.htm

Posted by Ryan Smith on Tue, 19 Jul 2005 16:21 | #

By the way,

I forgot to say that Daniel Gonzalez’s mother is English.

I would like to tell Geoff Beck that Cameron Diaz would probably qualify as white as well in spite of her Spanish surname. Just because you have one Spanish great-great-grandfather doesn’t mean that you are more hispanic than WASP.