How safe do you feel in the UK?

New article on the BBC website in the 'Have your say section', in response to the car bombs in London and Glasgow -

http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=6686&&edition=1&ttl=20070703005629

Interesting comments from the public, including this one -

'I moved to The Netherlands in January 2007, and all I hear from UK is the rise in murders of our teenage kids due to gang related crime'

And this one -

'I'm more scared of how other people will react if I chose to get the train to work. I'm Asian (Hindu, not Muslim) but I still get the suspicious looks from people in the street.
I'm so very angry at the men who tried to bomb London and Glasgow airport last week - thanks to them I have become a suspect in the eyes of the public and I am British, born and bred and support my country 100%
What have the bombers achieved? Just caused more fear and hate.'

I think she's right, it does inspire distrust and abuse.
But, the question is, how safe do you feel in the UK? Coming in on a plane, on a bus, going shopping, whatever. When you're out on the streets of the UK, do you feel 'safe'?

Sam_Garland wrote:

New article on the BBC website in the 'Have your say section', in response to the car bombs in London and Glasgow -

http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=6686&&edition=1&ttl=20070703005629

Interesting comments from the public, including this one -

'I moved to The Netherlands in January 2007, and all I hear from UK is the rise in murders of our teenage kids due to gang related crime'

And this one -

'I'm more scared of how other people will react if I chose to get the train to work. I'm Asian (Hindu, not Muslim) but I still get the suspicious looks from people in the street.
I'm so very angry at the men who tried to bomb London and Glasgow airport last week - thanks to them I have become a suspect in the eyes of the public and I am British, born and bred and support my country 100%
What have the bombers achieved? Just caused more fear and hate.'

I think she's right, it does inspire distrust and abuse.
But, the question is, how safe do you feel in the UK? Coming in on a plane, on a bus, going shopping, whatever. When you're out on the streets of the UK, do you feel 'safe'?

I totally agree with what the woman said and this of course is part of the agenda that the terrorist have, to sow confusion and suspicion between the different parts of our community and the vast majority of Muslims are angry at the extremist for causing this.

Generally I feel very safe, sure after an incident like those recently you might think twice when using the tube or a plane but overall I think we are safe. Speaking as someone who lived in London at the time of the IRA campaigns in the 70's and 80's the situation is little different from now and people then like now just got on with their lives.

Mauri wrote:

I totally agree with what the woman said and this of course is part of the agenda that the terrorist have, to sow confusion and suspicion between the different parts of our community and the vast majority of Muslims are angry at the extremist for causing this.

I agree. About a year ago Wormy and I were in the pub with one of my muslim mates and some of his family and friends were there and one of them said the same as that woman.

He was VERY angry at the fact that because of the terrorists he now feels that people look at him differently and seem scared if he has a backpack with him on the bus etc.

I do feel safe going about my day to day life and the bombs etc would not stop me using public transport or going to London/ Glasgow.

I don't see why I should let terrorists stop me from doing all these things and I refuse to become almost like a prisoner in my own country.

This is the Brtish establishments plan all a long. Demonise Islam in the Uk tojustify our foreign policy. Of every 100 Muslims arrested on terror charges 99 are freed. But do we hear about the 99?

Two of the seven arrested this weekend were known to police and SIS previously. I recall saying that on Saturday. MI5-6 and their people embedded and can orchestrate these attacks..in theory. So in that case im not scared. One attack a year at the most convienent of times for New Labour. There doesnt seem to be anything capricious about these attacks.

I feel very safe as I didnt invade Iraq:>

Must admit it does not really change how I feel, mind you neither did the IRA bombings even when the building opposite us got blown up and my branch sufferred damage, it was still work as usual the next day all be it frm a different location while repairs were carried out.

Can't say I really look at people any differently either, if some one started screaming something in arabic on the tube I might react a bit differently rather than assuming it is just another care in the community case I might assume it is a bomber but cetainly given the wide range of races on the public transport in London the prescence of someone asian is unlikely to really register.

If someone of asian descent is carrying a backpack on public transport I might get a bit nervous BUT in the main I havnt let the situation change my lifestyle in the slightest.

May I apologise to Worm on behalf of our foreign policy that has unfairly got the Worm feling guilty for being where they are from.

Hope you guys are watching C4..

What Big Brother? No way that is really scary.

I'm not worried about terrorism.

I drive on the M6 every day - I'm much more scared of white van men.

koshkha wrote:

I'm not worried about terrorism.

I drive on the M6 every day - I'm much more scared of white van men.

Statistically you should be far more scared of white vans!

I don't think worry is the right word. We have to accept that for whatever reason there is a real threat but that this threat is still very unlikely to affect any of us directly. Although when such a threat is realised then the consequences are horrific even if they don't affect you directly.

Mauri wrote:

Statistically you should be far more scared of white vans!

If Wormy is anything to go by then you should be lol:P

I grew up on Salisbury Plain - classic first strike target in the days when we worried about nuclear anihilation. Throughout my childhood we were always looking for abandoned bags and having IRA bomb scares at school and in the shops.

Then I moved to Oxford - well within the zone likely to suffer from an attack on RAF Upper Heyford (I was in Oxford when the USAF 'accidentally' bombed the French Embassy in Libya - that was a hairy few days).

I was working in Warrington when the two bombings occured and living in Manchester when the IRA 'redesigned' the Arndale Centre.

I then moved to Suffolk - again near a US Air base.

Frankly, I've never felt less scared of bad things that could happen than I do now. Yes there are plenty of bad folks about but there always have been and compared to the days when we feared a nuclear attack on anywhere in Europe, I think things aren't so bad. I'm much more likely to be killed or injured just going about my every day life - drowning in a flood, having a pile up on the M6, getting salmonella or MRSA.

But if I could please have wormy's registration plate, I will do my best to take evasive action.

I feel safe, as you can't see where I live on Google Earth.

I fell safe as houses. You shouldnt let others change how you live your life, thats what they want. Were only here once, live it

By the way, I am a safe 'white van man'. I drive for a living and have no points, no convictions, no accidents and full no claims discount. The roads are particularly bad at the moment because its full of mums taking kids to places during the school holidays who get distracted, completely unaware of others or are crap drivers - there the ones you need to worry about !!

This morning I saw three or four really dodgy driving incidents - including a couple of cars determined to disprove the laws of physics by attempting to occupy the same space at the same time.

Tired truck drivers scare the crap out of me - you see them all the time wobbling around in their lanes.

I'm glad you are a safe WVM - I've just done my ROSPA advanced driving test and whilst I now feel sure I'm safer, it's alerted me to a frightening level of danger all around me.

Mums in cars - absolutely agree with you.

Distracted parents and smokers - both are exceptionally dangerous in cars.

Foreign lorries.lol

I understand that we all feel safe - we're all white British people, for the most part. But what about second or third (or whatever) generation immigrants or muslims or people who don't fit in with the British norm? I imagine that for them, Britain is becoming increasingly unsafe. There's no doubt that the mistrust towards foreigners seems to be growing.
Take a look at this website and you'll see that although the majority of people writing on it justify their arguments and aren't particularly abusive, the general feel is that there's no place for people like muslims in their country.

http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/52662

You may be right that they feel LESS safe than the average white Brit - but I'd also be willing to bet that most of them feel a LOT MORE safe than they would do in the countries they or their families originally came from (whether they were born here or are more recently arrived).

Yes, it's not acceptable that some parts of society feel less safe than others - but it's also not 'fair' that certain parts of society commit more crime than others either. Cause and effect? We could argue that for a long time but it's definitely the case that the UK prison population does not reflect national demographics on race.

Ziggy! wrote:

Foreign lorries.lol

Have to agree with you on that one, three friends or people I know I have been side swiped on the M1 between Junction 14 and 15 in the last year and every tme if has been by lorries with left hand drive.

Almost happened o me yesterday as well but fortunately I had space to move across into but he definately had not seen me.

koshkha wrote:

Mums in cars - absolutely agree with you.

Or dads if the prat I was following today is anything to go by!

I followed someone today who stopped at 3 roundabouts on the trot when noone was coming, noone even in sight. Some people just cannot drive properly.