Police numbers and violent crime: An open letter to Amber Rudd

  Chris Hobbs is a former officer of the Metropolitan Police who served for 32 years   Well Home Secretary, you certainly stirred up a hornet’s nest with your carefully timed statement over the weekend that spiralling violent crime involving shootings and stabbings is not as a result of reductions in police numbers. This of course, was paving the way for your pre-violent crime strategy launch on the Monday. I could almost see those cops on the front line sitting in their canteens...

Are we ignoring the lessons from tower block fires?

The Grenfell Tower tragedy shocked the nation, and a full enquiry is underway. But, if lessons from the Lakanal Tower block fire in Camberwell in 2009 didn’t effect change, what hope can we have that Grenfell will? Are the lessons from social housing tower block fire tragedies being ignored? Many aren’t convinced that lessons have been learned, and confidence in the Grenfell Inquiry amongst the surviving local community is at an all-time low. Musician, and Grime star, Stormzy brought renewed...

Public safety and terrorism: is London prepared?

The threat of another terrorist attack in London is very real. In March and June last year, Islamic extremists snuck under the counter-terrorism radar to commit two deadly terror attacks. They ended London’s status as having escaped the recent Islamic terrorist focus on attacks in Europe. Today the UK’s capital remains a prominent target for terror. The terror threat level as assessed by MI5 is severe. So the question on everyone’s minds – is London prepared for further potential terrorist...

Centrists dream up new political trinket for the rich in an attempt to derail Corbynism

If there is one thing British politics does not need right now it is another elitist party run by the well off, but according to an Observer revelation published today that is precisely what it may be getting thanks to a new “centrist” movement spearheaded by a former Labour benefactor. With dozens of powerful Blairites cast aside by Labour’s shift to the left it seems a new dawn for the former PM’s re-hashed Thatcherism could be in the offing, with...

Why the Kremlin is funding Europe’s far right and the links to Number 10

  By Roger Cottrell, PhD Russian financial interests funding the Conservative Party, to a sum in excess of £800 000, may be directly linked to the manipulation of Britain’s Brexit vote and to the funding of Europe’s fascist Right. Core to this nefarious connection are the links between Aggregate IQ (AIQ), Cambridge Analytica (CA) and Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL), recently exposed in a joint report by Channel 4 News, The Observer and The New York Times.  Facebook has just banned...

Analysis: If you take 20 per cent of the Met’s funding away – something gives

Former Met Commissioner Ian Blair echoed the sentiments of Jeremy Corbyn this week by highlighting the impact cuts to police funding have had on the recent violent crime spree. A Freedom of Information request obtained by The London Economic following a spate of attacks in the capital showed some London boroughs now have higher homicide rates than many major UK cities. Appearing on the Andrew Marr Show this morning, Sajid Javid appeared stumped as he attempted to defend the rise in crime in relation to police...

Our economies are killing us. Here’s how to fix them.

By Ben Martin, Green Economy Coalition Today is World Health Day, which every year is a great excuse for journalists and editors to trot out finger-wagging articles about how unhealthy we’re all getting. We’re drinking too much, not exercising enough, our food is basically just sugar and chemicals, and our lungs are clogged with car exhaust. But these aren’t just symptoms of unhealthy people. They’re the side-effects of an unhealthy environment – and a diseased economy. Diesel fumes, contaminated chicken and...

Boris’s “dodgy dossier” shows Corbyn may not make popular decisions, but he makes the right ones

In the immediate aftermath of the Spygate revelations politicians on both sides of the house poured scorn on Jeremy Corbyn for not immediately pointing the finger at Russia. Shouts of "shame" could be heard from the Tory backbench in the Commons, with Theresa May saying the Labour leader could have "taken the opportunity as the UK government has done to condemn the culpability of the Russian state". But the inferred culpability has been called into question in recent days following revelations...

Why an inequality busting “maximum wage” is both economically viable and politically practical

A maximum wage could be both economically viable and politically practical, a leading analyst has claimed. With minimum wages well established in many countries around the world, new research suggests capping income could create "a world without a super rich" and reduce the gap between the rich and poor. The paper comes hot on the heels of Resolution Foundation research that found the UK's wealth gap has been widening over the past decade. The think tank estimates 1 per cent of adults, some...

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