Egg London - shooting

[Robder]

They could have just hired the upstairs room or something like that Ferd. I remember they did something like that for Fat Tony's birthday

I've just found myself defending clubs and clubbers to no avail here in the office. I've just had to listen to the women here go on about how "these clubs attract this type of violence ..." WTF!!!! They have absolutely no idea. I found myself getting really p*ssed off . They really wouldn't have it when I said I never see trouble in the clubs that I frequent in London. In fact, I've seen more aggression and p*ssed up idiots at the parties at work

I've got a picture of you letting fly at the woman in your office.

She's probably got you down as one of the perpetrators!

 

[Robbie G]

I've got a picture of you letting fly at the woman in your office.

She's probably got you down as one of the perpetrators!

Its not Kang's style, no hockey sticks where involved

 

[Robder]

I think that, in general, there's this mistaken impression around the world that everyone in the US is running around with guns and that's why there is more gun violence in the States. The reality is, there are other social and cultural factors that add up to create this unfortunate problem.

The European view that guns=violence is similarly flawed. Take Canada, where there's something like 2 guns per person but overall gun crime is less than in much of the developed world. Guns are used for hunting.

Then you've got the UK. Low gun crime but, if the British press is to be believed, there's a serious problem with knife crime.

Anyway, back to the subject of this thread, unfortunate anywhere when you've got violence in nightclubs. Clubs should be a place for people to relax and have a good time. Even worse when there's an incident in a place that you frequent as it strips away some of the veneer of safety.

I think everyone's just down on America because of the current political climate...it's easy to blame everything on the Americans.
The truth is, Brits aren't much better...my anger spans both sides of the atlantic.

I do feel safer in London than New York though...and that's not because it was foreign territory, there just seemed to be so many more divides and ghettos. The black vs white thing seemed much more apparent for starters.
...not sure about the knife thing over here - it's a problem if the stats are to be believed but I'm never conscious of having to be on my guard for fear of getting knifed.

When I was in NYC, there was a shooting on the subway and the local shop was held up at gunpoint - all over the same weekend...and the shopkeepers seemed really ambivalent in an, 'oh that happens all the time so we expect it' sort of way.

 

[Morbyd]

I think everyone's just down on America because of the current political climate...it's easy to blame everything on the Americans.
The truth is, Brits aren't much better...my anger spans both sides of the atlantic.

I think the impression of America as a gun-happy country is separate from that. It's our own stupid movies and other media, plus the compartive prevelance of gun-related crime. I think people, even at home, get a caricature in their minds. (I'm thinking of the late 1980s when Washington got a reputation as "the murder capital". Most of the city was totally safe... the killing was very localized as a result of the crack drug wars).

I do feel safer in London than New York though...and that's not because it was foreign territory, there just seemed to be so many more divides and ghettos. The black vs white thing seemed much more apparent for starters.

Ya, but London has its neighborhoods as well. I feel a lot safer, well founded or not, wandering around W. London than I do in areas like Kings Cross, Elephant & Castle or event Tottenham Court Road. Same in NYC - some areas are fine while others are a bit scary. And neighborhoods dominated by one ethnic group or another are not unique to either...

 

[Barbie]

Ya, but London has its neighborhoods as well. I feel a lot safer, well founded or not, wandering around W. London than I do in areas like Kings Cross, Elephant & Castle or event Tottenham Court Road. Same in NYC - some areas are fine while others are a bit scary. And neighborhoods dominated by one ethnic group or another are not unique to either...

As if Tottenham Court is scary you big wuss

 

[MARKB]

There are more guns in America and they are used more frequently in crimes than in the UK because of the accessibility.

Simple as that.

 

[Morbyd]

As if Tottenham Court is scary you big wuss

Gets a bit dodgy out there late at night in that area north of Oxford St.! Though I guess it's more drunken boys to worry about than crime.

 

[Morbyd]

There are more guns in America and they are used more frequently in crimes than in the UK because of the accessibility.

Simple as that.

That's an oversimplification. Again I'll point to Canada. Lots of guns. Less gun crime. There's obviously other social and cultural factors involved.

 

[Barbie]

Gets a bit dodgy out there late at night in that area north of Oxford St.! Though I guess it's more drunken boys to worry about than crime.

Dodgy, as if I'm working round there at the mo and never feel scared even if I'm getting the tube home late after drinks. It's mainly tourists in that area anyway, no self-respecting Londoner would choose to go out round there

 

[grego]

I do feel safer in London than New York though...and that's not because it was foreign territory, there just seemed to be so many more divides and ghettos. The black vs white thing seemed much more apparent for starters.

not that i feel unsafe in either but if i was pushed to make a decision i'd say i felt more safe in NYC than london. no small part in this was down to the police presence, which was clearly evident but never intrusive and always very very friendly, even jovial at times (and this was everywhere not just midtown or downtown)

 

[MARKB]

That's an oversimplification. Again I'll point to Canada. Lots of guns. Less gun crime. There's obviously other social and cultural factors involved.

You are going off on a tangent.

As a direct comparison between the UK and USA;

There are more guns in the USA ergo there is more gun crime.

I believe the cultures are relatively similar, but on a different scale.

Canada has nothing to do with the comparison I made.

 

[grego]

That's an oversimplification. Again I'll point to Canada. Lots of guns. Less gun crime. There's obviously other social and cultural factors involved.

yes but in canada they need to protect themselves from bigfoots (or is the plural bigfeet? ) and wild roaming bears and avalanches and stuff

 

[Morbyd]

You are going off on a tangent.

As a direct comparison between the UK and USA;

There are more guns in the USA ergo there is more gun crime.

I believe the cultures are relatively similar, but on a different scale.

Canada has nothing to do with the comparison I made.

My point by bringing up Canada is just that it would oversimplify things to say that more guns = more crime. There's a lot more to it.

 

[utagaura]

Like I said in an earlier post... I don't know my stats, so I could be wrong, but I don't know if there are more HAND guns in Canada as there are in the States.

Sure people hunt, but if there is any gun violence, I've maybe once heard of anyone being shot with a hunting rifle adn that was an accident.

There have been shootings in cities, for sure, but with handguns. I wonder how the amount per capita of hand guns is in Canada compared to the states?

I guess the GENERAL consensus among most Canadians is that same as many from other non-American countries.. much of the general population likes to think they are different from the US because we DON'T have guns... (but like grego says, we don't count when warding off Bigfoot.... in fact I knocked a couple off this morning while munching on my moose stew )

 

[Robder]

I feel a lot safer, well founded or not, wandering around W. London than I do in areas like Kings Cross, Elephant & Castle or event Tottenham Court Road. Same in NYC - some areas are fine while others are a bit scary. And neighborhoods dominated by one ethnic group or another are not unique to either...

Kings Cross, Elephant & Castle or event Tottenham Court Road

These areas aren't scary at all! They're just full of Jo Bloggs on a night out!

There are some areas next to Time Sq (v central) which are no go areas - and that talk comes from the locals in the area. There are some places near Crobar which are supposed to be quite dodgy (my friend was beaten up and threatened at knifepoint on a council estate very nearby).

I realise this is becoming a bit 'he said/she said' though.

Also London is a hotch potch of different communities living on top of one another...black ghettos are fairly non existent...arguably Brixton is one - but that's got very middle class and it's a place for everyone.

I live in Bangla Town and everyone just co-exists. It's something Londoners are proud of.

...but this could ping pong backwards and forwards forever.

 

[Morbyd]

Kings Cross, Elephant & Castle or event Tottenham Court Road

These areas aren't scary at all! They're just full of Jo Bloggs on a night out!

As you intimated, it's a matter of perception. Large numbers of people milling about late at night, many drunk, along with your requisite number of vagrants tends to make me nervous. I mean, of course, very late night.

Also London is a hotch potch of different communities living on top of one another...black ghettos are fairly non existent...arguably Brixton is one - but that's got very middle class and it's a place for everyone.

Same in NYC. Harlem has a huge middle class area (it's nearly gentrified nowadays) and much of the city, especially in Brooklyn & Queens, is mixed neighborhoods.

Not sure why I'm defending New York... not my city! But it is all about perceptions. Grego's got a good point there too about the hightened police presence over the past decade. NYC is statistically one of the safest metropolis-size cities in the world.

 

[utagaura]

I've always been more comfortable in cities I DON'T live in.. maybe because I'm just unaware of the dangers. I remember taking the N2 nightbus home loads of times, but was usually in such a blissfully unaware state that I had no idea if I was in danger or not!

Same in New York, I actually felt quite safe there... in big cities there are people about all the time, so I guess I feel safer. Then there are some areas of Edmonton, which only has a population of about a million, that I feel quite nervous about walking about at night and never would.. maybe because I know it too well..

I've (stupidly) wandered around other cities in the wee hours on my own like Manila or Cairo, where I possibly could have found myself in more danger there than NY or London... well maybe not Cairo but definitely Manila.

 

[Morbyd]

Ooh... you've been to Manila? How was that? Always been curious about the Phillipines. Good nightlife there? Much else to see?

 

[grego]

I realise this is becoming a bit 'he said/she said' though.

where would this forum/our lives be without it though.

 

[utagaura]

Actually the philippnnes was amazing. people always warned me about Manila and how horrendously dangerous it was, but I just happened to meet a group of people when I was eatign lunch, turned out they were clubbers, and I met up with them.. I ended up going back to my hotel through some alleyways. It does have its share of crime for sure.... but I found some good FRIENDLY nightlife

There is some AMAZING scenery up north.. particulary in Batad where you have to hike in to the village, Sagada and then I spent some time down in boracay with the clearest water and whitest sands you'll ever see.
I really enjoyed Manila. Unlike other south east asian couuntries, I actually met people who lived there, wondered why on earth a girl was traveling on her own and wanted to take care of me , take me out etc etc. i loved it..

I just google -imaged these but..


Batad

Boracay

great country!