Xela Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 21 hours ago, leighavfc said: I am posting this tonight after another shooting in the city today, this time its in Handsworth. The amount of stabbings and shootings that are happening at the moment is shocking. Its bad enough when anything like this happens, but of late there seems to be at least a stabbing or shooting in north birmingham every day. If you include the last couple of months, there are many more of these kind of incidents. Now i know about the big gang problems in Aston and Handsworth etc but a lot of this had died down in the past couple of years and wasnt as bad as it had been over the years. It seems like it may be starting to kick off again which is really bad news, it just makes you wonder how many guns are on the streets of Brum these days, or how many people are actually carrying knives. I suspect it is a hell of a lot more then figures given by police etc Even down my local on xmas eve there was a stabbing of a young man, i was only in there with friends the night before. Its just terrible, i have young kids and it really does worry me that things could be starting to get bad again. I thought we had seen the back of the majority of it over the past few years. There has also been a lot of people killed in random acts of violence over xmas. Seriously what is wrong with people these days, cant people go out and have a drink and be merry anymore? I know it only takes one person to do something, but it just seems no matter where you go now there are always dangers of violence or even worse. Especially over the few days before xmas and after, there were at least a stabbing and shooting in 2 days in and around the area of Great Barr i live in. There were probably more incidents that havent even been reported. I love this city but things like this really tarnish our reputation as a city to visit, my missus has family down south and they just think birmingham is a massive city run by gangsters running around eveywhere. It annoys me that they think like this but how could they see it in any other light with the amount of bad news this city has reported on a regular basis. Im not even sure what the police can do about this unless they can get hold and track the people down with weapons, which on its own is a job and a half. I hope to god things settle down soon. Another sad day for Birmingham I don't think Birmingham is any worse than any other large city in England. Manchester has problems, Nottingham, the same. Liverpool as well. There is always going to be crime in large urban areas, unfortunately You say your missus has family down south? Do they think the same of London? Knife crime appears to be much worse there, but then, London is far bigger than any other city, so maybe it is relative? I know what you are saying, and in an ideal world there wouldn't be any of this, but I still think its fairly isolated and not likely to affect many law abiding citizens. Vast majority of gun crime is gang related and not likely to involve you or me. There is always the odd chance of violence when you go out but thankfully, its a rare occurrence. I've worked in Birmingham for 18 years, majority of which in Five Ways/Ladywood, a few years in Perry Barr and some time in the centre (Colmore Row) and so far, touch wood, I've never felt threatened or in danger. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 18 minutes ago, Xela said: I don't think Birmingham is any worse than any other large city in England. Manchester has problems, Nottingham, the same. Liverpool as well. There is always going to be crime in large urban areas, unfortunately You say your missus has family down south? Do they think the same of London? Knife crime appears to be much worse there, but then, London is far bigger than any other city, so maybe it is relative? I know what you are saying, and in an ideal world there wouldn't be any of this, but I still think its fairly isolated and not likely to affect many law abiding citizens. Vast majority of gun crime is gang related and not likely to involve you or me. There is always the odd chance of violence when you go out but thankfully, its a rare occurrence. I've worked in Birmingham for 18 years, majority of which in Five Ways/Ladywood, a few years in Perry Barr and some time in the centre (Colmore Row) and so far, touch wood, I've never felt threatened or in danger. bang on. id say london is more dangerous than any other city in the uk and my views of birmingham are not gangsters everywhere, infact birmingham like manchester suffers from a terrible reputation but the truth is they are both pretty cool places these days and i enjoy going to both cities. there are bad areas, really bad areas but you have dodgy parts in most places. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post limpid Posted January 4, 2016 Administrator Popular Post Share Posted January 4, 2016 40 minutes ago, Rugeley Villa said: as long as you have demand for drugs you have demand to control areas to distribute the drugs, therefore you have demand to control areas by the gun. drugs are not the entire problem but they are a big problem. There is pretty compelling evidence from around the world that legalising drugs removes a lot of crime. It also means more tax revenues and a cheaper, higher quality product. The savings to the NHS of not dealing with accidental overdoes and other health issues related to cutting would not be insignificant (and could be re-purposed to pay for drop in centres and similar). And the savings in police time.... It'll never happen in this climate of "war on everything", regardless of the evidence. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROTTERDAM1982 Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 More poverty?........we are better off than we have ever been. Its a drip, drip erosion of values, thankfully i live nowhere near a city, and never will,i think as someone intimated earlier, when i was younger it was fist fights, but if i was young now, i would probably carry a knife if i'm honest. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PongRiddims Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 as long as you have demand for drugs you have demand to control areas to distribute the drugs, therefore you have demand to control areas by the gun. drugs are not the entire problem but they are a big problem. There is pretty compelling evidence from around the world that legalising drugs removes a lot of crime. It also means more tax revenues and a cheaper, higher quality product. The savings to the NHS of not dealing with accidental overdoes and other health issues related to cutting would not be insignificant (and could be re-purposed to pay for drop in centres and similar). And the savings in police time.... It'll never happen in this climate of "war on everything", regardless of the evidence. You get my vote you big hippy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 1 minute ago, ROTTERDAM1982 said: More poverty?........we are better off than we have ever been. Its a drip, drip erosion of values, thankfully i live nowhere near a city, and never will,i think as someone intimated earlier, when i was younger it was fist fights, but if i was young now, i would probably carry a knife if i'm honest. the poor are getting poorer though, go to inner city areas in liverpool,birmingham,glasgow or wherever and you will probably see how bad things still are. even in small towns there are some really poor areas whether its down to neglect by local governments or self inflicted,either way there is still a lot of poverty in britain. glasgow alone has terrible poverty to rival eastern europe. you really would carry a knife? i dont think its got that bad ever for me to carry one, even in my fighting days but i suppose it depends on your enviroment. i know people who have been stabbed and even one person who got shot in the arse for owing money for drugs but thankfully its not too bad near me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowychap Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 14 minutes ago, ROTTERDAM1982 said: More poverty?........we are better off than we have ever been. I'm not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leighavfc Posted January 4, 2016 Author Share Posted January 4, 2016 (edited) 58 minutes ago, Xela said: I don't think Birmingham is any worse than any other large city in England. Manchester has problems, Nottingham, the same. Liverpool as well. There is always going to be crime in large urban areas, unfortunately You say your missus has family down south? Do they think the same of London? Knife crime appears to be much worse there, but then, London is far bigger than any other city, so maybe it is relative? I know what you are saying, and in an ideal world there wouldn't be any of this, but I still think its fairly isolated and not likely to affect many law abiding citizens. Vast majority of gun crime is gang related and not likely to involve you or me. There is always the odd chance of violence when you go out but thankfully, its a rare occurrence. I've worked in Birmingham for 18 years, majority of which in Five Ways/Ladywood, a few years in Perry Barr and some time in the centre (Colmore Row) and so far, touch wood, I've never felt threatened or in danger. Agree with everything you say there mate. Yeah i must ask my missus family their views on London next time as i would be very interested about what they think, they do visit London a lot aswell so would be very interesting. They live in Romsey which is about 7 miles outside of Southampton so they dont really understand living in a big city like ours i suppose. Yep this kind of stuff doesnt really effect people who are not involved with gangs an drugs etc but then you do get the occasional case of mistaken identity or wrong place wrong time thing. I would also say that it doent neccessarily just affect people and familys involved, i would also say communities get affected. Older people may well think twice about doing stuff if there has been a shooting or a stabbing near by recently for example. A lot of these crimes are limited to certain areas a lot of the time but as proved over xmas they can happen almost anywhere. I worked in Handsworth/Winson Green for over 10 years and although there were a couple of times where i nearly got robbed/mugged, i never actually did. There were also 2 incidents where i was just a matter of yards away from guns going off on 2 occassions which was very scary as i heard the gunshots go off. The worst one was when i actually witnessed a carspeed up the road stop then shots being fired from the car at a house. When i walked back to work from the shop there was like 5 bullet holes in the window. Frightening really when you think i could have been in that position if i had left work a few seconds earlier. i have also just read another article on the bham mail about the recent surge in violence which is here :http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/three-murders-triple-shooting-seven-10684400 Edited January 4, 2016 by leighavfc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 i blame the zulu's, or is it the lulu's? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Zen Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 (edited) 3 hours ago, Rugeley Villa said: yes but imo prisons are way too soft. there are too many luxuries in prison. Could you, or Dem who said something similar, elaborate on this, please? You both indicate you agree that rehabilitation should be the primary focus of the prison system yet you seem to oppose efforts towards said rehabilitation. Edited January 4, 2016 by Michelsen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leighavfc Posted January 4, 2016 Author Share Posted January 4, 2016 21 minutes ago, limpid said: There is pretty compelling evidence from around the world that legalising drugs removes a lot of crime. It also means more tax revenues and a cheaper, higher quality product. The savings to the NHS of not dealing with accidental overdoes and other health issues related to cutting would not be insignificant (and could be re-purposed to pay for drop in centres and similar). And the savings in police time.... It'll never happen in this climate of "war on everything", regardless of the evidence. This is exatly what i have been thinking for years, the war on drugs is actually just causing a war on the streets as gangs and dealers fight for territory. Even all the former drug advisers, (who all quit a few years ago about something the government went against their advice or something along them lines) say that this will be the only way to control the whole drug problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted January 4, 2016 Administrator Share Posted January 4, 2016 12 minutes ago, leighavfc said: This is exatly what i have been thinking for years, the war on drugs is actually just causing a war on the streets as gangs and dealers fight for territory. Even all the former drug advisers, (who all quit a few years ago about something the government went against their advice or something along them lines) say that this will be the only way to control the whole drug problem. There isn't a drug problem. There is a crime problem. It's a straightforward category error but causes all kinds of cognitive biases. But how do we persuade people that after years of "drugs are bad m'kay" that they aren't? Politicians find it very hard to change their minds as they get criticised for doing so, a bit like happens in on-topic. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Just now, Michelsen said: Could you, or Dem who said something similar, elaborate on this, please? You both inducate you agree that rehabilitation should be the primary focus of the prison system yet you seem to oppose efforts towards said rehabilitation. rehabilitation is very important,especially to certain people who have commited certain crimes but honestly the prison system is an absolute joke. how is a cell full of all the latest gadgets and with more food in them than tescos rehabilitating them? ive had loads of mates(old mates) who have done prison and they would tell you what a joke it is. prison is not working for the general prison population. there are plenty of classes which is good and i have an ex best mate who is serving 15 years and hes gave me a great insight into how they are trying to rehabilitate him but overall its just not working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 I think maybe on the subject of prisons being 'easy' or three star or a joke it very much depends on what wing of what prison you might find yourself in. There are simply too many variables on the quality of the environment to say 'prison' is good or bad for all prisoners. It's far too sweeping a statement to have any universal truth about it. On prison needing to be orrible like South Africa to deter people - I guess they must have low crime and low offending rates there then to prove that point? No. As for there being no severe poverty or people not being as poor as they used to be, I think maybe it's easy to think like this if you don't come in to contact with absolute or relative poverty. Sometimes the poverty is unfortunate, sometimes it can be self inflicted by poor decision making or ill health (including mental health). Sometimes it can be depravation inflicted by others, most often parents. I live in a town where every house is walking distance from a sandy beach yet there are kids in the town that don't go to the seaside until it's an organised school trip. When you're raised in those circumstances you are living with poverty, even if 'dad' has an x-box and a penchant for some blow. Poverty, poor education, mental health and prison all feed off each other. Equally, some people are just shits that see prison as a nuisance or risk in their profession of being low life scum. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 5 minutes ago, chrisp65 said: I think maybe on the subject of prisons being 'easy' or three star or a joke it very much depends on what wing of what prison you might find yourself in. There are simply too many variables on the quality of the environment to say 'prison' is good or bad for all prisoners. It's far too sweeping a statement to have any universal truth about it. On prison needing to be orrible like South Africa to deter people - I guess they must have low crime and low offending rates there then to prove that point? No. As for there being no severe poverty or people not being as poor as they used to be, I think maybe it's easy to think like this if you don't come in to contact with absolute or relative poverty. Sometimes the poverty is unfortunate, sometimes it can be self inflicted by poor decision making or ill health (including mental health). Sometimes it can be depravation inflicted by others, most often parents. I live in a town where every house is walking distance from a sandy beach yet there are kids in the town that don't go to the seaside until it's an organised school trip. When you're raised in those circumstances you are living with poverty, even if 'dad' has an x-box and a penchant for some blow. Poverty, poor education, mental health and prison all feed off each other. Equally, some people are just shits that see prison as a nuisance or risk in their profession of being low life scum. good point. from my perspective which does not cover every aspect of prison life my views are that prison is just considered a bit of a joke really. its very much like school and how school works in the classrooms and the school yard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leighavfc Posted January 4, 2016 Author Share Posted January 4, 2016 (edited) A lad i have known for years has recently just been released from prison, he had mobile phones, drugs and bottles of ciroc whilst in prison. He was posting videos up on facebook constantly! As much as i agree in the rehabilitation of offenders, i also believe that giving them playstations and luxurys like that is beyond a joke really. TV's i can agree with but that should be about it.Why are they getting rewarded for bad behaviour on the outside? There are lots of kids whos moms and dads cant afford to buy them stuff like this, yet prisoners are getting them handed out for so called good behaviour in prison. This for me is a big reason people think that prison is a joke. Of all the people i know who have been prison, only 1 is on the straight and narrow and has actually learnt a lesson from it so to speak. The rest either fell back into what they were doing before or moved on to worse things. Im sure there are many good cases that come out of prison but on the whole i dont believe these people are regimented enough. Like someone said earlier its a bit like school for a lot of prisoners. This is all based on people i know or hear from others. I just think we could be a little bit harsher on them. Edited January 4, 2016 by leighavfc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 (edited) 17yo stabbed to death in Bordesley Green today. 3rd teenager stabbed to death in 2 weeks following a 16yo in Small Heath and another 16yo in Balsall Heath, outside Joseph Chamberlain college. Feels to me as though Birmingham is the unsafest its ever been. Add this to the daily carjackings around the region and what seems like an spike in street robberies, it just feels lawless at times. Cuts to the Police force have caused this. edit: looking at my last post at the top of this page 3 years ago, I can definitely feel a change now. Edited February 25, 2019 by Xela Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 Knew about the two last week, but another one today? Jesus Christ. Is this gang related? I’m probably guessing with the area that it was in, it was another Muslim victim. Knife crime is getting ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 Someone died in Harborne on Saturday from a stabbing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted February 25, 2019 Moderator Share Posted February 25, 2019 1 hour ago, Xela said: Feels to me as though Birmingham is the unsafest its ever been. It's pretty much the same over the country. I suspect gun and knife crime is far more rampant in Liverpool than Brum. Rarely a day goes by here without a shooting or a stabbing. It's been like this for a couple of years. The police had some sort of operation going on today, I think they were boasting about an arrest for gun crime every 15 minutes during the operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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