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Sceptical of knife epidemic * Mark Easton * 7 Jul 08, 16:11 GMT After my post on Friday looking at the hospital admission figures for stab and gunshot victims in England, a story was widely reported that knife violence accounts for 14,000 people in Britain being admitted into hospital last year. You may have seen it in the Independent on Sunday which claimed an exclusive and then almost everywhere else, including the BBC. Well, I have checked out the story and discovered that the figure includes not only attacks but also accidental injuries from knives and other sharp implements. If one looks only at assaults with sharp objects (stabbings to you and me) the figure for the UK halves to about 7,000. I have now been able to lay my hands on the Scottish data for the same category which shows approximately 1,300 stab victims north of the border for 2006/7, which is actually a fall from 2002/3. The figures for Northern Ireland are small, but again the numbers of hospital admissions has fallen over the same period. The inflation of the figures seems unnecessary to make the point: injuries from stabbings have gone up in England - particularly in London. However, knives have become political weapons. No politician wants to be accused of complacency, so rhetoric trumps analysis. It wouldn't matter if exaggerating the scale of the problem didn't make it more likely youngsters will seek to protect themselves with knives and the wider population will needlessly worry about what is a tiny risk for all but a few. I was puzzled, having studied this data, why the Home Office should be suggesting that doctors need to report stab wounds in the same way they report gunshot wounds to the police since we have the figures already The reason, I understand, is that the hospital figures only apply to those admitted to hospital rather than treated and sent home. Ministers want police to have better information for their community crime mapping. What I suspect such an exercise would reveal is that knife crime is rising in some inner-city areas, fuelled by gang culture, drugs and alcohol. However, it may actually be falling in much of the UK and I remain sceptical that there is good evidence of a national "epidemic". PS: I have done a bit more number-crunching for a piece on tonight's BBC News at Ten and I think it is quite informative. By my calculations, knife crime has risen three times faster in London over the past five years than the rest of England. This, I think, demonstrates how the situation in the capital has driven the claims of an epidemic. BBC NEWS | The Reporters | Mark Easton's UK

I was in a bad place last night. What I did was wrong. I in no way condone my actions, nor do I make excuses for them. Rigging vbookie gambling events is probably a daily occurance amongs the global forum fraternity. Not enough focus goes on the risk management areas, those compliance areas, those settlement areas that can ultimately save them vcash. I know I did wrong, ... but I've done my time and now I want to get on with my life. Please stop negging me. As soon as the donate buttons get activated I'll donate all my vcash to irat.

two lads settle their differences outside a cafe on lordship lane east dulwich (by me) under the guidence of their mates, gloves on and handshakes an all at the end.

Fuck me is anyone watching this?

I think this will be an easy poll, but I could be wrong...

Is what i am, i am 18 and can't use the oven, just trying to cook a pizza there, firstly i left all the pan things in there so no heat could get to the pizza then i sat there and watched it burn to death, im a shit cook.

Reading this BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran in warning to US and Israel made me think of this YouTube - NTNON "There's A Man In Iran" (Ayatollah Song) Comedy gold

That is how much your chances of winning a hand in Texas Hold'em Poker increase if you have a suited pair of cards as opposed to non-suited cards of the same value. Just found that out last night playing in a local tourny. Interesting though, would've thought it was higher than that!

:whistle:

I do

...if you hate Fiona Phillips. I've just heard her voice on the TV in the other room and decided that she destroying society. NB: I don't really know what this list will acheive, apart from making me feel that other people recognise this woman's demonic qualities. westderbian

The sharleen spiterri or whatever thread made me think of this little rat bag, an outspoken, ugly, female, lesbian comedian AS.BAD.AS.IT.GETS. Shaft called he said your suit was "jive".

like them.? :thumbdown. Judy is always shaking(just like bo selecter sketch).

"You're obviously a hippie because you're not wearing a bra" nJmvarTv0Tw

YouTube - Die Hard 2 - Safe for TV Version

I've just spent the weekend on a stag doo in swansea. fuck me it's a cross between iraq and ibiza. never see so many hen doos and flesh hanging out. top marks went to laura croft and the group of girls done up caveman style. we got knocked back from a club for wearing trainers even though they'd just let colonel sanders, batman and a whoopie cushion in.

Warning! The following content is NOT WORK SAFE. Click the Show button to reveal. I knew you had to see this one Monty.

I'm trying to find out if there is a link between two companies. To cut a long story short, a firm tried to get planning permission for something and was refused, and now another firm - which only came into existance in January - has applied for the same planning permission for the SAME project. I've done a search on companies house and it has no contact info other than c/o a solicitors. This is a £10m project though! I've tried doing directors searches but those websites are all after payment. Any ideas of resources I could use?

Get your Tommy Cooper/ Eric Morcambe here [YOUTUBE]9nNGlaiVypU[/YOUTUBE] [YOUTUBE]KHYnahPkJI8[/YOUTUBE] ALL YOU CHILDREN. THIS IS THE FUNNIEST THING EVER. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE YOU ARE CUNTS. SIMPLE AS/END OF [YOUTUBE]vP8TUe993uo[/YOUTUBE]

Ok, I was never a massive Pixies fan and I admit all I really know of the Breeders is Cannonball. They any good though? Suggested choons / albums to get my mits on? I reckon they must be ok. Can't imagine the Dandies writing a song about how cool Kim Deal is if the Breeders were shite. Ta muchly.

In the new JD sports in Liverpool One .Really long legs and a tight pair of pink hot pants .Great arse . Can't even remember if she had a head I think I need help .

[YOUTUBE]Xaeopola8eA[/YOUTUBE]

Latest instalment in the ongoing saga of Purps. It's the headline that made me giggle. icLiverpool - Muscle squeezer Aki loses appeal A LIVERPOOL man has failed in his bid to get an order banning him from squeezing young men’s muscles lifted. Akinwale Arobieke is notorious across Merseyside for his "obsession" with groping and measuring boys muscles and seeing young men squat. His behaviour led to police hitting him with a restrictive sexual offenders prevention order (SOPO) the day he was released from a six-year prison sentence for harassment and witness intimidation in 2006. All this week the 20-stone body-building obsessive has been bidding to get the magistrates order quashed – despite allegations he has continued to grope and intimidate men in prison. The 46-year-old, who admitted he was "infamous, notorious, everything from a bogeyman to whatever", claimed the order had been made illegally and was far too punitive. But yesterday Judge William George, sitting with two magistrates, rejected the appeal. Judge George told 6ft 5in Arobieke, who has never been convicted of a sexual offence, the order was valid. It will remain in full until July 21 when he will give his formal judgement. Judge George added he would be "amenable" to relaxing some of the conditions on that day, such as giving asthma sufferer Arobieke permission to travel through areas he is currently banned from, including St Helens, Widnes and Warrington. Judge George said Arobieke’s breach of the SOPO on April 24, 2007, when he squeezed a man’s arm in a Preston shopping centre, revealed his continuing fascination with muscles. He said: "It does show he is out of control. He is out of his own control according to his own evidence." He was jailed for a further 21 months following the breach. Judge George added: "At the end of the day, Akinwale Arobieke, we are not going to allow this appeal." Liverpool Crown Court heard Arobieke, formerly of Cavendish Gardens, Toxteth, kept a "stalker’s manual" packed with personal details about his victims. Kenderik (corr) Horne, prosecuting, said he would become sexually excited as he groped athletic young boys, performed bear hugs and jumped on their backs. But Arobieke insisted he had never got any sexual pleasure from the touching and had only been motivated by his desire to find the world’s next body-building champion. Robert Wynn-Jones, defending, said: "He was achieving infamy in Liverpool and surrounding areas and he was engaging in – in his own words – eccentric behaviour. "His reputation grew as a local bogeyman. Stories about him grew wilder and wilder."

I am in a really difficult situation at the moment. I have been looking for a new job for a while ideally in the same town as the other half as we have had a long distance relationship for a while (Bournemouth & Birmingham). Last friday I had an interview in a commutable distance from B'mouth (a place I love to bits) in a decent job with a modest (tiny in fact) pay rise which I have now been offered. However last night I was called about a job I had long given up hope on. The salary is way higher with amazing development opportunities however this is in Oxford. We have had a long distance for a while and it is getting a little bit of a strain she cant move as she is studying and would continue for the next 18 months. Now do I give up what could be an amazing opportunity and struggle to find a job of equal caliber that would give us both the stability and possibly let us achieve our dreams or put more strain on our relationship which I dont think either of us can stand. Bugger.