Martin Amis did say those very words! I erred (as did Terry Eagleton – my initial source) only in attributing them to the essay “The Age Of Horrorism” and not to the interview with the Times.

Martin Amis said no such thing, you have admitted that you stand corrected, now please make the correction!

There is far too much misinformation and manufactured “the west hates Islam” propoganda flying around, don’t let your words be hijacked in it’s name. Reach for your keyboard and correct the blog.

Please.

Otherwise an interesting topic. I was sorry to read of Sara’s experience. Skinheads? I’ve only seen them on 1980′s TV shows. As for being chased in the street with a knife, well this happened to me once in Berea but if anything like that happens here, it makes the national (country-wide) news.
I don’t want to get into a tit-for-tat “Oh life here in the UK is sooo crime-free” debate, mainly because it isn’t, but I have to say it is a world apart from living in Cape Town, where I was burgled, harassed by aggressive beggars, street-children beg at every street light, stabbings don’t even make the news, burglar bars on houses, just for starters! I grew up there and love the place, I still go back for holidays but every time it is scarier.
As a child I walked alone on Table Mountain, often after school. After the string of muggings (violent, nasty muggings, not just hand-over-your-wallet muggings) I no longer go there, when I am in CT.

I come home from London at ten ‘o clock at night. There are few street lights in my town and I pass rows of houses and people out for a stroll; walking the dog, maybe going to the shop, others coming home from work.

There are NO burglar bars anywhere, I have yet to see one on any house here. Burglars here run away if disturbed, or at the worst they will never shoot you or assault you. My 3-year old car is parked on the street every night like most other people’s and has never been damaged. Hijacking is unheard of. If anyone tried pulling that here, they would be caught and chucked in jail. And the criminals know it.

Essentially there is some crime, even violent crime here in the UK, but a heck of a lot less of it per head. Don’t take my word for it – do some research.

Personally I don’t mind CCTV cameras. There is a lot of debate here about it – many people are opposed to it in terms of invasion of privacy, but myself I’m all for it, when I am walking down the street I don’t care if I am videoed. They don’t make my skin crawl.

The criminals care because they are caught like this.

I’ve recently moved to Oxford for a gap year (and have EVERY intention of returning to SA as it out-strips this place 10:1) and I am horrified at the constant crawling feeling on my skin from those cameras. I have nothing to hide: I am a law abiding citizen who is constantly under suspicion. It is Orwellian to a disturbing degree. Now the UK government is looking to pass legislation that requires all resident adults to register a DNA sample. This after they have only just recently been lambasted for forgetting CDs of critical sensitive data on desks or losing them in the mail.

As TDR said: “Those who would give up Essential Liberty for Temporal Safety deserve neither.”

On the crime front: within the first 2 days of arrival, my boyfriend had been chased down the street by a pack of skin heads and another friend had had her bag lifted in a pub. Within 3 weeks, my one house-mate had been chased by a knife-wielding maniac on a bike down the road threatening to kill her, and only came to no harm by the grace of a passing motorist. Don’t be fooled: the crime here is high.

Given this, I think we can conclude quite safely (har har) that the cameras efficacy is limited?

What I find the MOST disturbing here is that crime is not committed out of desperation or greed like back in SA, but out of boredom. Back home, my experiences of crime involved guys caught up in gangs because they didn’t really have a chance at an education or a decent job, controlled by ruthless crime bosses who make a packet of money by exploiting the rampant poverty. Many criminals here are just socially dysfunctional bored guys who could have jobs but are just not bothered. Who think harassing and attacking people is funny.

Now which is the more sick society?

The argument that CCTV cameras rob you of privacy and civil liberties is utter rubbish – these are devices in public places, not people’s homes. What is the difference if a person sees you in public or a camera records your actions?