Comments on: The truth about Hackney, do you feel safe walking there?

By: Introducing Top of the Blogs: The Dirty Dozen #1 | Liberal Democrat Voice

Introducing Top of the Blogs: The Dirty Dozen #1 | Liberal Democrat Voice — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:56:45 +0000

[...] A more serious take on gang violence is offered by Elle Seymour, who writes of a friend’s experiences of teaching in Hackney. [...]

By: Rastaman

Rastaman — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:57:19 +0000

Cry me a river. Of course if you let people run amok, they will. Britains have been trained through generations to behave themselves but all those muslims, and I have no doubt at least 90% of these problem people are muslims, have been trained to riot, destroy, rob, murder. These people come from societies where a common form of mayhem is to stuff a burning tire over someones shoulders.

I don’t see ONE WORD in all this describing the steps being taken to rectify this mess you folks have gotten yourselves into with your laxness.

Start doing something about it instead of crying over spilt milk. You spilled it.

By: electro-kevin

electro-kevin — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:42:04 +0000

‘Poverty is the cause’ what nonsense. No one starves in the UK (unless you’re a feeble pensioner)and we’ve been a lot poorer than these people in the past. We just had good ethical standards and family bonds.

Lawlessness begets poverty – remember that.

The left wing refuse to accept this and prefer to lie about it in order to further their spiteful agenda of wealth redistribution against those who dare to think and take care of themselves. The left wing idealists have brought about this situation and are determined to drag us ALL down.

By: Philipa

Philipa — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:58:47 +0000

Cheezy – I would go back further than the 80′s; this wasn’t Thatchers doing (however much people like to blame her for all ills) she was for the ‘common market’ but when she realised it was a sham she tried to get us out and did quite a good job of negotiating the cap which Bliar just threw away. I would say the effective loss of border control started with Ted Heath (what a mistake he was) and the liberalism towards crime and punishment started by Roy Jenkins in the late 50′s early 60′s. Jenkins was, like Heath, pro-Europe and “When Labour returned to power he was made Home Secretary again, serving from 1974 to 1976. In this period he undermined his previous liberal credentials to some extent by pushing through the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act, which, among other things, extended the length of time suspects could be held in custody and instituted exclusion orders.” So you see the left-leaning cultural Marxism which makes it a crime to tell the wrong sort of joke but does sod all about muggings and burglary, and seeks to get rid of habeus corpus, really started long before Thatcher.

By: Cheezy

Cheezy — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 09:50:57 +0000

“Diane Abbott (MP for Hackney area) has recently come out and said that she would like to invite Jacqui Smith to go on a late night walk through Hackney.”

Presumably this is because Abbott doesn’t want to walk around Hackney at night all by herself!

I think you’re absolutely correct in saying Labour hasn’t done enough to tackle childhood poverty and the associated crime & violence that it helps to foster. But equally, it’s surely not all the present government’s doing – as others have mentioned, I think the seeds of this situation were mainly sowed during the 80s.

By: Flowerpot

Flowerpot — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 09:16:56 +0000

I think it depends where in Hackney – Ive got friends who live there and they haven’t complained about walking at night.

By: Ellee

Ellee — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 07:24:52 +0000

Geoff, I’m not sure how long ago you used to visit Hackney, as I have too, but I can tell you I have no fear in walking about Cambridge at any time of day or night, are you suggesting that there are comparisons there with Hackney?
You are fortunate that your daughter goes to one of the finest and most highly regarded sixth form schools in the country, does it have daily police guards when she leaves to protect her from the kind of violence which has been witnessed by this teacher? Would you send her to such a school?

By: Steven_L

Steven_L — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:45:41 +0000

“The teaching staff refer to him as a ‘proper G’ …”

Says it all really. If I ever have kids they’re going to an all white school in a rural area, and I don’t care how racist that sounds, because it is racist, but who would want their kids stabbed by a load of scumbag foreigners in Hackney?

By: jameshigham

jameshigham — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:12:31 +0000

Don’t think I’ve ever walked in Hackney, Ellee.

By: Welshcakes Limoncello

Welshcakes Limoncello — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:56:01 +0000

A brave post, Ellee. I identify with much of what this teacher says and this is not a new thing. It’s not Jacqui Smith’s or “Labour’s” fault for it has been going on for decades. It began with the divisions created by Thatcher.