TW

The "stabbing rate" in London is now the highest of any capital in the Western world, and that includes New York. Figures from London's Metropolitan Police showed that knife crime has surged by 16 per cent in the capital - as Britain’s crime epidemic continues. Excluding those killed in terror attacks like London Bridge, Westminster and Manchester, there was still a 12 per cent rise in murders - the highest numbers in a decade.

The total number of offences involving a knife or bladed instrument that have been recorded by cops in the year to March 2018 rose to 40,147, a seven-year-high. There were 1,299 stabbings in London up to the end of April, according to official statistics from the Met Police. A glut of cocaine flooding the country has been partly blamed for the country’s violent crime. In February more than 250 knives and swords were seized across London in just one week and 283 people, many of them teenagers, were arrested for carrying them. By August, stabbings were reported on a nearly daily basis as the summer stabbing spree continued.

Apart from embarrasing the UK and winding up President Trump and trying to console Londoners over traffic and rail chaos, what is the mayor, Sadiq Khan, exactly doing? He now has the Met on a major recruitment drive, but I honestly think that the finger should be pointed at him, not the police.