Anarchy in the Uk

The newspapers have always been accused of exaggerating the levels of crime and violence in the country.The past week has seen increasing evidence of a lawlessness and the Tabloids this morning concentrate on the fear factor

No more so than the Mirror which releases a poll which claims that we are now too scared to leave our homes.

A disturbing 42 per cent of people are too afraid of yobs to leave home at night, a Mirror poll reveals today.
Half of those quizzed feel less safe than a decade ago. A third have called police about anti-social behaviour.
And 62 per cent believe parents are to blame for their children's loutishness.
Yob rule on our streets and estates is now so out of control Britain is a nation gripped by fear.
Despite a record number of police on patrol half of us feel less safe than a decade ago, an exclusive Mirror/GMTV poll reveals today.
An overwhelming 65 per cent of people believe that under-16s should not be allowed out unsupervised after dark.
And 62 per cent believe the most blame for youngsters' loutishness lies with parents.

Following up recent incidents the front page of the Sun takes it a stage further proclaiming "Anarchy in the Uk."

As figures revealed knife crime had DOUBLED in two years, a string of incidents left law-abiding citizens living in terror.
A mob BESIEGED a police station.
A man and a teenage boy were MURDERED in separate incidents and paramedics were ATTACKED as they tended a father and son.
In one county, 999 callers were told there were only THREE police on duty in a town of 22,000 people.
Norman Brennan, director of the Victims of Crime Trust and a serving cop, said: “Violent crime has reached epidemic proportions.

That latest report on knife crime is covered in many of the papers,the Telegraph amongst them which reports

The number of muggings involving knives soared from 25,500 in 2005 to 64,000 in the year up to April 2007, according to the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies (CCJS) of King's College, London.
Last year an average of 175 knife-point robberies a day took place on the nation's streets - up from 110 in 2005/06 and 69 the year before, the CCJS disclosed.
Knives are now used in one in five muggings, twice the frequency of two years ago, the research says.

The front page of the Mail also jumps on the bandwagon with a story telling us that

Shocking figures today cast doubts on the effectiveness of police community support officers. They show that, on average, each one solves a crime every six years. And they hand out fines for anti-social behaviour, public disorder or motoring offences at a rate of one every four months ...

So are we in the midst of a new crime wave or is the press once again scaremongering the public?