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This reader points out what makes London 'unsafe', despite dropping murder rate
Robert Boston accuses Reform’s London mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham of contributing to an ‘epidemic of untruths’ in saying London is ‘unsafe’ (MetroTalk, Tue).
But he provides no evidence to the contrary, beyond the positive news that the capital’s murder rate has dropped significantly. However, murder is statistically rare beyond the confines of drug and criminal gangs.
What is not rare is what is often dismissively referred to as ‘low-level’ crime, which has soared in London and both demoralises and frustrates those who live and work there.
Around 2,000 phones are stolen each week (including mine last year). It’s not the end of the world and l did stop my phone being grabbed in Naples a few weeks later but it does not make us citizens feel ‘safe’.
Shoplifting is observable to any inner-city shopper and is taking place on a regular and sustained scale.
No effort is made, either, by Transport for London to stop the widespread gate-jumping by young people on the Tube and trains. Staff turn a blind eye and transport police do not seem inclined to chase the ubiquitous fare dodgers.
Few bus drivers seem to take action when young people bundle onto the buses and refuse to pay. London really is a fare-free place for the those so inclined.
Unlike Robert, I am on the Tube, trains and buses every day. This ‘epidemic of untruths’ is sadly real. Chris Shepherd, London
Reader defends Sadiq Khan
Robert Boston is right to criticise Reform’s London mayoral candidate for saying London is unsafe. I recently returned from a trip to the Philippine capital of Manila where I got chatting with one of the locals and asked if he’d ever visited London (the one place in the UK all Filipinos are familiar with).
He said he’d always wanted to but wouldn’t be doing so now because he’d read how dangerous the city had become since a Muslim mayor was elected who had put it under Sharia law!
I did my utmost to convince him of the true situation but could tell I hadn’t succeeded in changing his mind.
Perhaps I’m naive but I was shocked by my encounter. I realise that one potential foreign visitor does not a survey make, but it certainly demonstrated the harm that can be done by politicians and others carelessly or maliciously making statements that are palpably untrue. William Buckley, Reading
Are stats on murder in London misleading?
The statement that the 2025 murder rate in London is the lowest since records began is misleading – that ‘since records began’ is some caveat given that was in 1997.
Some 97 people were killed in the capital last year, a rate of 1.1 per 100,000. The Met’s figures (held at the National Archives) record 17 homicides in greater London in 1914 (around 0.2 per 100,000), while in the 1920s/30s, the average was 26 (around 0.3).
Even during the post-war crime boom, the figure in 1949 was 38 (around 0.5). On the positive side, the 2025 figure is less than in 2004-06, when the total across the three years topped 400. Dr Jonathan Oates, Iver
Is ‘gender irrelevant’ when discussing burkas?
Latest London news
- Protester tears down Iranian flag outside London embassy
- Nicolas Cage film blocked by East London council over Nazi flag concerns
- London’s murder rate drops to lowest in a decade after organised crime gang blitz
To get the latest news from the capital visit Metro's London news hub.
Asked whether he would support a ban on burkas being worn in public, London mayor Sadiq Khan said it would be wrong for him to tell women what to wear because he is a man.
Either anonymity – which burkas afford – is a problem or it isn’t. Or perhaps Sir Sadiq doesn’t have the authority to adjudicate. In either case, gender is irrelevant. Daniel, Middlesex
Pensioners ‘unfairly targeted’ by this government, says reader
As a pensioner living in London on a below-average income, I feel unfairly targeted by this government.
The winter fuel allowance cut – while now reinstated – showed their attitude towards us. The ‘mansion tax’ will mean we will probably have to leave our home of nearly 40 years to make way for someone richer. And now, proposed restrictions to the London Freedom Pass – restricting free travel on public transport – feels like rubbing salt in the wound.
We are not nearly as poor as many, but neither do we deserve to suffer the big lifestyle changes the fat cats seem to be avoiding.
Even more irritating is that our sacrifices are saving piffling amounts of money, nothing like as much as raising tax on massive incomes would produce. I don’t want Reform but I’m not enjoying this. Jane Wess, London
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