Posted on 09/01/2002 6:28:36 AM PDT by ejdrapes
Joan Collins fears "crime-ridden" London
LONDON (Reuters) - Actress Joan Collins says she prefers life in New York over her birthplace of London, which she calls dirty, crime-ridden and rife with violent thugs.
The 69-year-old actress, who owns a flat in the fashionable west London neighbourhood of Belgravia, said she dreads walking even the few hundred yards to her hairdresser's for fear of being mugged.
"Groups of muggers are frequently attacking people in the area where I live. And the police don't appear to be able to do anything about it," she was quoted as saying in an interview with the Mail on Sunday.
"To be honest, I feel so much more comfortable there (in New York) than I do in London. I feel so much safer for a start."
The veteran actress's comments came a day after one of the country's top police officers said Prime Minister Tony Blair may fail in his pledge to bring the country's levels of street crime under control by the end of September.
London, in particular, has seen a sharp rise in street crime, with offences up 40 percent earlier this year over the previous year. Recent figures indicate, however, it may have reached a plateau with police data showing street crime in the capital was down 8.6 percent between April and July.
Collins said she worries about the safety of her daughters, the eldest of whom, Tara Newley, was mugged for her watch in Notting Hill last year.
She is not the only celebrity victim of London street crime -- thieves tried to grab a diamond necklace from U.S. entertainer Liza Minnelli while her car was stopped at a traffic light in March.
Collins, who married fifth husband Percy Gibson in London in February, heaped particular scorn on the large numbers of "louts" on the capital's streets.
"Yobbism in London is rife. In New York, people are more polite, more respectful," she said.
Okay, I had to look it up: Yob = rude and loutish young man.
Leni
Seriously, though--I spent a wonderful semester there back in 1990 and felt extremely safe. However, every year I've gone back to visit, the place has just become more and more of a pit.
Just a stroll through the West End (where I lived as a student) is real walk on the wild side--what with the discarded hypos and condoms in the gutter (of which I've seen both) and the panhandling losers on every street corner...
Oh... but they have nationalized health care... and no guns...
When Margaret Thatcher started making her reforms, people worried about how it would create a permanent, disaffected under-class. Instead, she created a happy, healthy society which (as you saw in 1990) was safe and wonderful. But Thatcher left and her reforms have been whittled away. Now the place is not safe and not wonderful.
Gee, maybe reformers like Reagan and Thatcher have the right idea -- they get portrayed as cold and mean, but in reality they are the only ones who know how to build warm and wonderful societies.
Also, when Joan Collins says she feels safer in New York City, I think she's paying some (subconscious) tribute to Rudy Giuliani (a Republican, of course) who turned NYC around with his tough attitude toward petty crime.
Silly Leftists. All the evidence is out there: conservatives build good societies. Leftists destroy societies. But Leftists are "good" because they do it for the children.
Sorry, Rog...RIP.
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