One of the sad things about being an ex-Londoner is observing from afar how the place has declined and how rapidly that decline has accelerated under Greater London Mayor Sadiq Khan (I refuse to use his new title as I don’t believe he deserved to be knighted) along with seeing how extreme violence has become normalised and commonplace there. Places that my parents were quite happy to let me mooch around as a teenager, because they knew that they were safe, are now places where today’s teenagers run the risk of being murdered.

My parents were quite happy for me to take the 101 bus to the Woolwich Ferry, cross the river and wander around South Woolwich where I’d spend my pocket money on books or magazines or photographic film from the camera shop near the market. Fast forward a few years and Woolwich was a place where my first live in girlfriend and myself used to get cheap bulk food such as cornflakes from the Weigh And Save place. The area was safe for us and safe for me.

It’s not like that now. It’s a violent hell hole. Since September 2024 there have been two fatal stabbings in the area of teenagers with the latest being only yesterday.

According to a report on the BBC, a 14 year old boy was stabbed to death on the top deck of a 472 bus on Woolwich Church Street. Paramedics were called to the scene and although they appeared to arrive swiftly, the boy could not be saved.

The BBC said:

A 14-year-old boy has been stabbed to death on a double-decker bus in what police have described as “a horrendous crime”.

The victim was killed on the 472 bus on Woolwich Church Street near the junction with the A205 South Circular Road in Woolwich, south-east London, at about 14:30 GMT.

The teenager died at the scene shortly after paramedics from London Ambulance Service and the air ambulance arrived, the Metropolitan Police added.

Ch Supt Louise Sargent said: “Our thoughts at the time are with the victim’s family and friends… I can’t imagine what they must be going through right now.”

Sadly this is a situation that has been repeated across London and for dozens and dozens of families across the capital for years. Parents send their children out in London to shop or to go to school or to other places and wonder if their child is going to come back in one piece or not at all. These London parents don’t know if it is their home that is going to get the knock on the door from a police officer telling them that their child has been murdered over some trivial matter such as being seen in the ‘wrong’ postcode area.

Khan, in his role as the Police and Crime Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police, has dismally failed to properly police London or keep its residents safe. Also, an influx of people from cultures where violence is normalised and a breakdown of family structures has played its part in turning formerly relatively safe parts of London into places where you’d now think twice about entering.

London needs better policing but it’s not going to get it under either Khan or the supine politically correct leadership of the Metropolitan Police. Kids will continue to be senselessly stabbed whilst London is policed by a force that expends thousands of pounds on hunting down politically incorrect ‘meme criminals’ when those resources could be far better used for general policing of the sort that London needs. The decline of safety and security in London makes me wonder what’s happened to all the millions of pounds that Khan has got from ULEZ fees and fines? Wherever that money is going it’s certainly NOT being spent on making London safer or making London’s transport system safer.

May the memory of this latest murdered child be for a blessing and may the curses of heaven fall down on to Khan and his useless administration and equally useless police force.