Britain is a lawless hellhole. Don't believe me? I came face to face with it on my way to work
I’ve been commenting in the media about crime and policing for nearly a quarter of a century. It remains a great privilege and a role that I take very seriously.Last week, during an interview on GBNEWS, I described the UK as, ‘rapidly descending into a lawless hell hole.’ It wasn’t long before the man from the channel who commissions me to write these articles messaged me. ‘Prove it’ he said. He was far more polite than that, but I hope you get my drift.I pondered for a while on how I was going to evidence what I’d said. I love being held to account, and I wanted to get this right. There’s a mountain of statistics that could lend weight to my claim, and a heap of evidence from friends and neighbours, as I live in a London suburb that was recently the Met Police’s motor vehicle crime hotspot. You don’t have to stray very far from my front door to find someone who has recently had their car stolen or broken into.Britain is a lawless hellhole. I confronted seven disturbing examples on my way to work - Peter BleksleyGetty ImagesI could use testimonies from many of the young women who I meet during my work, who tell me appalling stories of harassment, assault, pickpocketing, stalking and worse, that they are regularly subjected to. But I felt this article should be based on my experiences, so I decided that I would tell you about a day in the life of me.That day would be Saturday 12th April 2025… After spending the morning at home, I jumped in my car around 1pm. I was heading off to my beloved Queens Park Rangers Football Club. During the 15-minute journey to North Greenwich underground station, I was overtaken by some clown in a BMW who was travelling way faster than the 50 mph speed limit that I was sticking to, and as he undertook and overtook many cars in front of me I thought to myself, ‘Where’s the traffic police when you want them?’ Unfortunately, traffic police numbers have been butchered by the Met in recent years. Cutbacks you see… After paying £15.20 to park at the tube station - a crime in its own right - I made my way down the escalator and through the ticket barrier. To my right, several Transport for London security staff were surrounding a young black man. He had a hood pulled up over his head, and a mask covering most of his face. He was loud, angry, excitable, and had a very threatening manner. I’ve no idea why he was being detained, but I could see why all the security teams were wearing stab vests. After the game, I had some time to kill before I needed to be at the GBNEWS studios for Ben Leo Tonight, a show where I can be found between 9pm and 11pm every Saturday evening. As I walked to my favourite and relatively inexpensive Shepherd’s Bush restaurant, I passed a scruffily dressed old man with bloodshot eyes, who was blowing plumes of cannabis smoke into the faces of anyone unfortunate enough not to swerve him. Blatant, inconsiderate, and still illegal. Why couldn’t he stew his brains at home I thought? I crossed the road and gave another wide berth to a man who was ranting loudly and incoherently to himself. His dreadlocks suggested to me that he might have become far too familiar with cannabis during his lifetime.As I was paying for my chicken, chips and salad, a whole plethora of police vehicles went screaming past with sirens blasting and lights flashing. Soon afterwards I counted no less than ten officers gathered, several of whom were paying very close attention to an abandoned motorcycle. After a few minutes, their numbers dwindled, and I caught another tube train. As I walked to the television studios, I noticed how the street was littered with what, in the main, appeared to be food packaging. It was unsightly, unhygienic, and utterly unnecessary as rubbish bins were plentiful and nearby.After the show, I returned to the extortionately priced car park of North Greenwich underground station. The clock was approaching midnight. A music event had been held at the neighbouring O2 Arena, and there were still plenty of people milling around. Two men were urinating over a car. One had chosen to relieve himself over the boot, the other was using the passenger side of the vehicle as a toilet. They laughed as they did their obnoxious business. I was very glad to get home, put the steering lock on my car and check the immobiliser. I set the burglar alarm before flopping into bed. Lawless hellhole? I’d say so.
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