Is Violence Really In Decline?
The respected study from Cardiff University on violence as reported on the BBC’s web site is saying that injuries due to violence is at a new low. This is the first two paragraphs.
The number of violence-related injuries in England and Wales is at its lowest level for at least 15 years, an annual study suggests.
Cardiff University’s survey of 117 hospital units showed about 211,000 victims of violence went to hospital in 2014 – 10% fewer than in 2013.
All sorts of explanations have been offered and they’re probably all a bit responsible.
Since I moved here to Dalston in 2010, one of the biggest differences, is that the streets just feel so much safer. It’s only a personal view and not backed by any statistics, but generally everything just seems a lot quieter.
Why?
I put it down to an long list of little factors, which have worked together to create the improvement. The Overground has opened, pavements, the built environment and buses have improved, there are busy cafes everywhere and generally you see more families and older people on the street.
I think it’s probably mainly down to the beneficial link between a better environment and improved behaviour, that has been suggested by Stephen Bayley and other commentators.
Am I The Supermarkets Worst Customer?
There has been a lot of reports lately about misleading special offers in supermarkets, like this one in the Independent.
As I’m a 67-year-old widower living alone, who because I don’t drive, has to carry everything home from the supermarket, I only rarely buy any bogofs, but then only with something that doesn’t have sell-by date like washing tablets, soap, tissues or bottles of cider or olive oil.
If I’m cooking a casserole that needs one onion, one carrot, a leek and say two hundred grams of mince then that is what I buy.
I also have given up on fresh herbs and use the dried ones in pots , as I don’t like throwing the unused ones away.
As I regularly complain about the bags in Waitrose at the Angel, they must consider me a bad customer, especially as I usually enter with a half-full bag of bread, biscuits and lemonade from the Marks and Spencer next door.
A Surprising Election Leaflet
I have got quite a bit of electoral junk mail this election, but one today was different.
It was the usual A4 or A5 well-printed flyer, from a party I have voted for in the past, but my name and correct address was actually printed on the glossy paper.
Admittedly, they had used last year’s register with my incorrect name, but that was understandable, as the register was only finally corrected a couple of weeks ago.
Perhaps, we need a law to say that nothing goes through a letter box, unless it is properly addressed.
I’d probably get about four letters a week.
Do We Featherbed Groups In Society?
I got my monthly State Pension today and at £677.16, that will do me for my day-to-day expenses for the next month. It doesn’t cover trips out of London, but it does allow me the odd light lunch in a restaurant.
But I also get other benefits just because of my circumstances, as a 67-year-old man, who lives alone.
I get a Council Tax discount because I live alone. But is that right as I live in a family house with a garage in a desirable part of London? If I didn’t get it, I’d still live here as that would be my choice, but I am blocking someone more worthy than me of buying this house.
I have a highly-insulated house with an efficient boiler, but should I get a winter fuel allowance? It would be better if the money was not paid at all, but used to improve our housing stock’s energy efficiency, so that those on a pension actually saved the money all through the year.
I have a Freedom Pass, which gives me free transport on buses, Underground, Overground and trains within the Central London area. This is one of the reasons I moved to Dalston. But is it too generous on the one hand and not universal enough on the other? Surely, a better system, would be one where you nominated your bank card as your transport pass and in the free areas, the system didn’t charge you. The advantage of this would be that London could enter into reciprocal arrangements with areas like Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle, so that we could use each other’s concessionary area at a discount. Would this encourage more of us to travel to explore the country and perhaps spend money in attractions, cafes and shops, we wouldn’t dream of visiting now?
This morning according to this report on the BBC, the Liberal Democrats are saying that those who have a second house they use in a beautiful area, should pay double Council Tax on their second home. Here! Here!
I live in Central London and I am starting to resent the traffic. Not because I drive, but because of the pollution and noise often put out by cars used as glorified shopping trolleys and baby buggies. We let all drivers get off too lightly with the problems they cause in cities and if they got the message, we may see more cycling and walking, and better air quality. We might even see better delivery systems for goods, where transmissions were hybrid or electric, like London’s newer buses.
It will happen eventually, that all cars pay road charges based on mileage, fuel used and congestion. But I doubt we’ll see it soon, as there are no votes in it. It’ll probably be introduced in London first, as cycling gets more common and Crossrail shows everybody what real railways can be like.
But would a city like Birmingham, where the car is king, and pedestrians are targets to hit when crossing the road, accept charging to pay for the updating of the numerous railways and more trams in the city?
And then there’s lifestyle, fitness and health!
Many people drink, eat and smoke too much and governments don’t really discourage it forcefully. It would be an interesting exercise for a town or city to declare a city centre non-smoking and see what happens. I can remember, when ahead of the smoking ban the landlord of my local pub in Suffolk declared it a smoke-free zone. He got some moans, but not from his bank manager.
The NHS is in crisis, but this is mainly a problem of the irresponsible patients making. So if we can get people back to the straight and narrow, we might help the dear old NHS out.
For a start, I would like to see a law, that no-one could stand for elected office or sit on the board of an NHS body, if they were a smoker!
I could go on a lot more. But we must all change our lifestyle, if we want this country to be a place, that is really worth living in.
The Two Big Election Issues The Politicians Aren’t Addressing
The tragedy unfolding off the Libya coast, where hundreds are dying every day as they try to get to Europe is impossible to solve.
We can’t say it’s an Italian problem and put our heads in the sand, as most politicians seem to be doing. Especially, as it seems most of the migrants want to get to Northern Europe and often the UK, where the jobs are.
Suppose we just said that none of these migrants would be let into the UK, as probably the Ukippers would say. How long would it be before the rest of Europe applied policies to get us to accept our fair share?
If on the other hand, we took a selective number, then this would signal to those organising the trade, that there was a good chance you may get residence in the UK.
I haven’t a clue what you do! And neither have the politicians!
I do have some sympathy though for the migrants as three hundred years ago, my two closest male lines; one Jewish and one Huguenot, were welcomed in this country, after escaping from persecution. One was probably a tailor and the other was an engraver, so all they brought was their brains and skills. I don’t know about the Huguenot, but the Jew was probably single and converted to Christianity within a few years, so he could find a lady and get married. My two close female lines are both internal migrants from Devon and Northants. London has always been a magnet for migrants, so nothing has changed.
There is also the problem of Greece going bust, which could happen before our General Election.
It could be argued that it is nothing to do with us, as we’re outside the Euro zone!
But then we have a strong economy and a country where there are a lot of Greeks.
Certainly, if I was a Greek engineer living in Athens with a cousin in London, my savings would have been long gone.
I do wonder how much of the Greek bailout money ended up safely invested outside of Greece.
So we may not lose money, but we are probably going to suffer some collateral damage. Especially, if the various financial institutions want their money back!
It will not be as serious a problem as the Libyan migrants, but where are the politicians heads on this one?
Deep in the sand!
The Iron Lady Rides Again
I don’t think I saw Margaret Thatcher in a debate like last night’s, although I did hear her many times on the radio during Prime Minister’s Questions.
I was speaking to a Scot this morning, and we both felt that Nicola Sturgeon has a lot of Margaret Thatcher about her.
I’ll probably be sent to The Tower for treason or whatever the Scots do, for such a thought!
Last Night’s Mass Debate
The Times has a leader article entitled The SNP Challenge, where it discusses last night’s political debate between party leaders on the BBC.
It is very much a must-read and it sums the debate up like this.
There was a lot of discussion of what politicians will spend money on. There was very little on how money will be created.
I suppose that the parties, who took part last night will be borrowing it from foolish lenders!
Does Milband Want To Alienate Voters?
Ed Miliband today launched the Labour party’s manifesto in Manchester.
Knowing Liverpool as I do, I can imagine some of the chat in the pubs in that city. And probably in other cities like Birmingham, Leeds and Newcastle. And certainly, London!
Certainly, this Londoner feels it was not a good idea to launch in Manchester and perhaps the only worse place would be Scotland.
I think that the only policy you’d launch in Manchester would be one that is specific to the area. Surely, that way if you launched specific policies all over the country, you’d get the most good coverage.
Van Sales Are Rising!
I had a shipment today from IKEA and it was delivered in a new truck efficiently at the time they said it would come.
The growth in on-line purchases is according to this article on the BBC responsible for a rise in truck and van sales.
So are we spending more and boosting jobs in retail and logistics businesses? The BBC article says this!
Online sales in the UK hit £103bn last year, according to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, creating a booming market for home delivery of orders.
The figure is expected to rise by 12% in 2015 to about £1 in every £4 spent by Britons.
Could this rise in online sales be attributed in part to much better on-line systems and more confidence on the part of purchasers that on-line systems work?
I think it is and if so this will have other effects.
I processed a complex order on-line with IKEA, but why can’t I deal the same way with the NHS on simple repeat prescriptions and appointments?
In a few years time, citizens will want to deal with all health and government business on-line.
We’re getting there in parts, but when we’ve got all simple processes on-line we’ll see a large improvement in service and hopefully a reduction in costs.
It all adds up to another factor, that will ensure whoever wins the 2015 election will have a head-start to winning the next.
Whoever loses this election, will really be a loser for all time! Unless the Luddites make a late comeback!
Clocks In Stereo
I took this picture early one morning.
Clocks In Stereo
They do seem pretty much in agreement!
The Anonymous Widower 