One thing the article doesn't discuss is the total inability of the law-abiding to defend themselves without themselves being prosecuted. The right of self defense is no longer recognized in Britain.

Britain soft of criminality? No, not a bit of it! Recently a man was sent to prison for retrieving lost golf balls from a lake and selling them for a few pence each.

In this week's press we read of a man prosecuted before the criminal (not the the civil) courts for failing to pay a prostitute.

Purveyors of pornographic videos have been prosecuted because the content of the videos was less obscene than advertised. Ten-year-old schoolchildren are taken before adult criminal courts for uttering racist epithets in school playground fights. A girl was arrested at a country show for wearing a T-shirt saying "Bollock to Blair." A customer at a Chinese resturant was reported arrested by undercover police dining there as part of "Operation Napkin" for mimicking the accent of the waiter.

Of course some minor pecadillos like rape, armed robbery, mugging, car theft, home burglary, etc. often receive minor or non-existent punishments. Miss Melita Norwood was not prosecuted for the petty naughtiness of supplying nuclear weapons secrets to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, but you can't have everything and we don't want policing to go too far.

As an American, I can only say how truly disappointed I am to hear this about Great Britain. Even in America, we see Great Britain as a bastion of civilization, the capital of the Anglo-sphere. What hope is there for the Anglo-Celtic people if London cannot maintain order and civility? I do not expect much from most countries. Yet, from a few, Great Britain being one of them, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia being the others, I expected a hell of a lot more than this! Where is that Anglo-Saxon Common Sense that courses through our blood? Where is that innate respect for law and order that has marked our path through this world? Where is the rule of law and the rights of man? Where is your head?! Please, do not let London go the way of Moscow, Paris, Stockholm, and all of the rest. Let Britain stand for something other then appeasement and fear. Let Britain stand for strength, reason, justice, and courage. Having served with your 7th Mechanized Infantry in Basara, as a United States Marine, I considered it an honor to serve under the Union Jack and with British soldiers. I saw their strength and resolve first hand and know that what I have just read cannot stand for long in Britain. And all this coming from a Redneck Hill-Billy from Spring Hill, Tennessee. Who would of thunk it.