Wednesday, April 23, 2008

If Only...

I have just got home, having spent an hour at Bloomsbury Police Station and two hours on the phone trying to freeze my bank accounts and cancel my credit cards. Why? Because our car was broken into this evening. Idiots that we are, we had locked our computer cases and laptops in the boot, and my wallet was in the case too. Worst of all it contained my West Ham season ticket and four tickets for Mamma Mia tomorrow night. God knows if I will be able to get them replaced.

The car was parked on Bloomsbury Square on a reasonably busy road, the kind of road you'd never think anyone would have the time to break into a car without anyone seeing. I feel as though a part of my life has disappeared with that laptop. We keep telling each other that at least no one was hurt - it's only possessions. But there's a part of you that feels personally violated. And then of course, there's the 'if only' aspect...

  • If only we had left the office when we had intended to and hadn't had to wait for someone to lock up.
  • If only I had parked the car in the space I had originally chosen but seemed a bit small.
  • If only we had left the gallery viewing when we had intended, instead of staying for a good gossip with a friend.
So in March we were burgled at home and in April the car was broken into. Yes, Gordon, crime really is on the decline, isn't it?

Anyway, as you might imagine, tomorrow will be a little busy, so forgive me if I don't devote as much attention to the blog as I normally would.

86 comments:

  1. My sympathies...great country to live in.

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  2. Poor people have money stolen from them all the time, mostly by the liberal economics of the state.

    Sometimes you can't but help feeling like karma exists.

    You can't be a Tory, screw the working class, and not expect to get screwed yourself once in a while for driving a flash car to show off your privilages.

    It's a shame it takes this for people to get their point across, but the poor will be heard!

    Time to end poverty!

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  3. Oh, Iain, that is simply awful! I hate thieves not just for stealing things that are personal and important to me but also for the terrible sense of violation. It's a personal assault and leaves one breathless and disbelieving.

    I was burgled once in Texas - and if I'd been at home, I would have been allowed to shoot their brains out because they were over my threshhold. And I would have had no hesitation. But I was out, and came home to find my clothes and rugs gone. Gone.

    I was burgled in France when I was having dinner in a little restaurant around the corner from my impasse and heard heavy hammering. I thought it was odd to be hammering at that time of night. When we walked round the corner into my impasse after dinner, we saw that the hammering had been hammering my door down. All my jewellery, including my deceased mother's wedding ring, were gone. Gone.

    The assault is brutal.

    My sympathies to both of you. Personally, I have no problems with the Islamic solution for thieves. Right hand chopped off in the old days. Now humanely removed in an operating theatre.

    Against their 'human rights'?

    Why are my 'human rights' to enjoy my legal property in peace diminished in the cause of their "human" rights not to have their hand chopped off? Why is a criminal elevated above me in "rights"?

    The Conservatives have to address this problem with some vigour and not wimpy, reasoned "Let's all be good chaps" Dave quotes.

    In Singapore, prison consists of a mat on the floor and three meals a day of mainly rice, but with little bits of shredded meat and vegetables mixed in.

    That's it. Day after day after day until the end of their sentence. Few return.

    That Britain elevates the rights of law-breakers over the rights of legal owners of property tells me that title doesn't mean diddley in Britain. Weak, weak, weak. Britain is weak.

    I cannot understand why there hasn't been a mass emigration of intelligent,law-abiding people. Oh, wait a minute ...

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  4. It's small comfort, but thank goodness you weren't mugged.

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  5. Normally at this time it is customary to blame the police.

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  6. thats shitty ,

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  7. In that area of London the thieves must be on telly somewhere.. ask the cops to find the video.

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  8. Iain,

    My commiserations. I, too, have had my car broken into in Bloomsbury. I know exactly how it feels.

    Also be wary when parking in the NCP at Festival Hall - or anywhere, come to think of it. It's my view that crime figures are down because people really cannot be bothered to report these incidents any longer.

    Apart from the personal upset and - as you say - violation, you'll be getting the usual patronising letter from the cops. I do wish they'd spend rather less time and money on that kind of garbage and rather more on street visibility.

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  9. This is reality of Britain today, Its not what Browns fiddled stats say though is it.
    Man fined for overfilling his bin just about tells you all you need to know about a Labour Britain.
    Its a nasty thing to happen. Hope you soon recover.

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  10. I understand totally the shock and dismay you must have felt plus , of course, the ensuing chaos in your private affairs as you sort everything out.
    However at least you are lucky the Police showed interest.When our car and 7 others were broken into overnight in an NCP car park in the middle of London in February the lack of police interest was most remarkable i.e they didnt care in the slightest and NEVER ever came to investigate even though there was CCTV available to view.

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  11. Sorry to hear that, Iain. I hope you get your tickets, cards etc replaced with minimum fuss.

    Best wishes, Bel.

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  12. Sorry to hear about that Iain. but you were a bit silly to leave that stuff in your car (a sign of the times more than anything else). My car was broken into once, but I only had the stereo nicked. I would have been better off leaving the car unlocked as the cost of fixing the locks was much more than the stereo was.

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  13. I'm sorry to hear about your theft Iain but please spare a thought for the poor drug addict who, through no fault of his own, had no option but to burgle your car in order to survive. I found a drug addict smoking heroin outside my flat on Saturday morning. It was only hours later when I realised how little understanding I had shown him by booting him very hard down the stairs when I should have invited him in for a cuppa, a meal and a bed for the night.

    Broon's britain eh?

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  14. iain sorry to hear of your experience it is bloody awful and I know what you mean you feel violated. Bastards that dont work or contribute anything parasites I could go on.

    During an appointment at Guys St Thomas's with my sick son my car was broken into and that was the final straw for me I would have killed the person if I had caught them and what good would that have done to me and my family.

    However what i did was move I am now in Singapore and if anyone breaks into a car here they dont do it a second time that is for sure!

    I still own a house in London but the longer I am away the less I think I am coming back, Boris or not London while lovely at times i.e. Mama Mia is fantastic but when you come out of the theatre you have to run the guantlet of drunken scum and muggers speed cameras, etc.

    Why not move to Le Touqet and commute in its almost the same as being in Kent but with better food!

    Good luck today....and be patient.

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  15. I trust whoever sits in your seats at West Ham and Mama Mia will have their collars felt.

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  16. iain, i am very sorry to hear this and hope you have not lost anything too irreplaceable.

    verity, my sympathy too for your personal losses - that must be very hard. However, as both of the awful times you quote of being burgled were abroad, I am not sure that the emigration option will assist - sounds like you are better off in good old broon's britain.

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  17. Dear Mr Dale,
    I'm sorry you've been a victim of crime. Here is your crime no for insurance purposes :xxxxxxx and if you feel pissed off about it may we suggest you contact Victim Support because we can't be bothered to do anything about it and we're certainly not going to waste our valuable time trawling through CCTV - and no, you can't volunteer to do it yourself.
    Yours sincerely,
    Your friendly, fat, 4'11", community support officer.

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  18. Iain, having had a laptop nicked myself I have had a great deal of sympathy with you this morning.

    Try and eat the elephant in chunks - get the bank cards stuff stopped first - save the West Ham stuff until.

    I mean they are hardly likely to use it themselves ? On the other hand, anyone who is sleazy enough to break into cars may be thick enough to show up, so you could arrange for your usual compatriots on the terraces to give him a bit of a kicking...

    I, like you, think the 'tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime' bollox will come back to bite labour at the next election..

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  19. Sorry to hear that...I would have thought keeping the stuff in a locked boot was low risk too.
    Hope you get everything sorted out quickly. At least the banks, credit card companies etc are so used to this happening now they should have all the mechanisms in place for it to be done quickly and smoothly. Enjoy Mama Mia.

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  20. Bad luck Iain - hope the locks and windows on the new beast are sorted soon. My main car is nothing so fancy as yours but I make sure I take the old banger if I'm going to be parked anywhere for hours - the scum just assume I wouldn't have anything worth stealing in there. Mind you, once had the spare wheel taken from a 1993 Corsa so it's no guarantee!

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  21. "If only we had left the gallery viewing when we had intended, instead of staying for a good gossip with a friend."

    Oh Iain, don't.. - life is all about 'a good gossip with a friend' - if we deny ourselves that pleasure because of the fear of crime, then it's those bastards that have won !!

    And anyway, I'm sure that people have, before now, avoided train or car crashes, or some horrendous fate, because they had an extra tea or coffee so that they could chat for a few more minutes..

    Try not to blame yourself - revenge is a dish best served cold, and you would be surprised the natural law of 'what goes around, comes around' can catch up with these people far more effectively than we might imagine..

    Chin up, son..

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  22. "You can't be a Tory, screw the working class, and not expect to get screwed yourself once in a while for driving a flash car to show off your privilages."

    Ah, the good old politics of envy. Yes, I'm sure that's exactly what motivates thieves...

    "It's a shame it takes this for people to get their point across, but the poor will be heard!"

    Oh, no, it seems thieves are motivated by a gripping possion for class warfare instead.

    Make up your mind.

    Cretin.

    My sympathies. Still, if caught, at least you know the justice system will ensure they are properly puni....

    Oh, wait.

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  23. Sorry to hear that, but I find it odd that someone breaks into the boot of a car on the off-chance of finding something. They either saw you loading in the gear or they knew it was Ian Dale...

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  24. I am sorry for your misadventure, it does fell like one is violated in some way.

    But I am surprised that a brand new car was obviously so easy to get into.

    A friend of mine had a different experience, in that her car was stolen from her house which they burgled for the keys but the car was found, dna'd or whatever, and 4 people arrested. So the police can be useful sometimes...

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  25. I'm orry you had all your stuff stolen, Iain; it is a violation.

    one thing to note though (I chair the SNTP panel at Crystal Paalce and there's a big car park at the NSC that has a problem with theft); putting your valuables in the boot doesn't particularly help as the thief is often watching for people to do it..you need to take your valuables in with you.

    Also with sat navs, be careful not to leave the little mark on the windscreen where the sucker sticks as that is a clue that there is a Sat Nav in the glove compartment.

    I hope you get to go to Mamma Mia all the same....

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  26. At least you won't have to sit through Mama Mia now. Every cloud...

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  27. Labour, tough on crime, even tougher on manipulating the statistics of crime.

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  28. Iain,
    Hard luck about having your car broken into. I was burgled in Manchester in the early nineties and the Victim support lady (very nice, drank a lot of tea) asked if if I needed anything. I don't think my request for five minutes batting practice with the burglar was quite what the Guardian-reading dear meant.
    Another bit of trust in Society is eroded.

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  29. I sympathise with you. My car has been broken into 3 times in the last year, twice just for fun... once my roof was slashed, and twice my windows smashed. All this on a fairly busy road in Earls Court.

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  30. eslbells - Time to end poverty? Yes, indeed! And the only way to do it is through capitalism and full employment. And removing the vote from the public and welfare sectors so they can't keep voting themselves raises.

    "It's a shame it takes this for people to get their point across, but the poor will be heard!" Oh, so you think this theft of high-tech items was a sort of direct-action deal, do you? They didn't want the things in the trunk of Iain's car to sell them; they were just making their voices heard to say that their benefits are too low. It must be awful to feel so powerless. Boo hoo.

    Plus what Juliam said.

    Johnny Norfolk - The man wasn't just fined for overfilling his bin, he now has a criminal record! Apparently putting out too much rubbish is a crime in Britain. What are you supposed to do with it if you can't put it out in your bin?

    Blackacre, my two burglaries were many years apart. Iain's had three in a row. Britain? No thanks! Besides, I always suspected that the Texas burglary was a couple of drag queens because they took designer rugs and designer clothes and nothing else. (I'd still have shot them, though.)

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  31. My sympathies too Iain.

    But come on, buck up, as Widdy might say, generalising from this to a crime spree afflicting the metropolis, oh and rural Kent?

    They didn't teach statistics on that German and TEFL degree of yours now did they?

    Let's hear from Chris Paul, anecdotally experiencing a drastic drop in criminality in Brown's Britain:

    Is it Brown (and indeed Blair) that turned the tide of four burglaries in less than two years? Or three bloody big shouty dogs?

    If I get the chance I'll post a little anecdote that might bring a smile to your face even in such trying times as this.

    Make that two little anecdotes. Probably this evening now. Busy, busy, busy.

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  32. Well, you just did your bit to finance the local junkie who in turn finances the local drug dealer, who in finances the smugglers, who then finance the Taliban.

    It's good, this war on drugs thing, isn't it?

    I see from the comments that you're not the only one who was contributing to the Terrorist's cause...

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  33. There is a two part solution to the disintegration of Britain (besides clearing out all the illegals) and that is: 1. Pass a law to make it legal for citizens to bear arms, with a background check and a licence. As in Texas, make it absolutely legal to shoot anyone who has both feet over your threshhold.

    2. Disenfranchise the public sector and the welfare sector. No one is forced to be in either sector, and if they value their vote so much, they'll get out. Meanwhile, we have to put a stop to these two massive blocks of voting themselves rises by voting for the socialists. (I would exempt the military and OAPs.)

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  34. Sorry to hear your bad news Iain. Having suffered the misery of laptop loss due to a break-in, you have my every sympathy.

    A burglary at home, and then theft from your car in the space of a month or so - a coincidence or something more sinister?

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  35. Sorry to hear about this. Was it your MacBook that got taken? I know in this instance this is a bit late for you but if you get another Mac laptop may I recommend this nifty piece of theft-recovery software:

    http://www.orbicule.com/undercover/

    When a laptop is stolen the application is activated remotely when it is next online, which will then transmit network info like IP addresses and the router address. It will also capture screenshots of what the thief is doing on your laptop and it will use the built in camera to take pics of the thief and his surroundings. All this info is passed on to the police.

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  36. Tories - extrapolating anecdotes to represent actual crime statistics since 1997.

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  37. Iain. It's never pleasant and you have my sympathies. But it was really stupid to leave so much valuable stuff in your car.

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  38. Ah yes, Never would have happened under Thatcher. Or Major. Erm, as if. Crime happens.

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  39. Robert Falconer, you are right. Crime did happen under Thatcher and Major. Just not so often.

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  40. the little creeps were probably watching you put your laptops into the boot as well.

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  41. If only you didn't want to drive such a flash and vulgar car...

    Not very streetwise of you...

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  42. Sorry to disappoint, but we weren't in the car you describe as flash and vulgar.

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  43. Sorry Iain, I'm not convinced that crime is any higher than before. Just different items get stolen. I have lived in London for years and never been the victim of any crime. The Tories have never had low crime years either. From Michael Howard's infamous "prison works" rant to his erm "Prison is not the answer, we need alternatives to custodial sentencing"; "more police on the beat" "less police but better equiped" - it is all pretty much nonsense.

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  44. Robert, lucky you. All I know is that I have been a victim of crime on four occasions in the last 12 months - 3 times in the Bloomsbury area and once in Kent. The police in Bloomsbury told me last night car crime (drug fuelled) was out of control.

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  45. To davidC@10:38

    Absolutely, a personal experience of crime is an actual crime statistic. Its the only crime statistic people can really trust.
    But in your mind Tories aren't people so I'm talking to the wall.
    Maybe Iain (+ partner, sorry I can't remember his name) should play the system and say it was a gay-hate crime.
    When I lived in London I lost count of the number of times my car was broken into or vandalised and no eslbells (23/04/08 2.02AM) it wasn't a flash car.
    I do however remember the rate of attacks on my car did increase after the Labour mayor was installed.

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  46. Very sorry to hear this Iain.

    Unfortunately Bloomsbury Sq is popular with crack and heroin addicts (they use the park and the car park under the YMCA round the corner to take their drugs), so there is massive levels of this kind of crime in the area.

    Unfortunately Sir Ian Blair's too busy to trouble himself with proper policing.

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  47. It just shows that 'tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime' was just a load of nonsense - how about tough on the causes of Bliarism?

    In some ways, you know how the low earners who have been robbed by the abolition of the 10p tax band feel.

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  48. Iain, sounds like they see you coming in Bloomsbury. Perhaps you had better walk there in the future.

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  49. I dont go with these people saying you should not have left things in the boot of the car. Its these attitudes blaming the victim that have brought us to where we are.

    How far down does this country have to go before any government will lead the fight back to a civilised land.and it is a fight back the softly softly approach has be tried fo 50 years and has failed. I would have Verity as Home Secretary

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  50. Really sorry to hear about this Iain.

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  51. Bad luck Iain.

    Crime is down in London but up 400%in your own experience.

    I had a bike nicked from my underground carpark and recently dropped my laptop (I was inconsolable - £350 to fix it - there are more thieves than yours!) si I empathise.

    I also brought my Mum to Mamma Mia when she came over to London last year - being a woman in her sixties she loved it but I thought it was rubbish.

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  52. I wonder if this is the sort of stupidity (The kind of muppet who leaves their valuables in the car despite the repeated instructions that it is not safe) that stops police from being able to attend domestic burglaries due to the backlog of autocrime....


    well I guess it's just one of those unfortunate things... except that you Iain, do not extend the same understanding to the police who have to deal with incidences of abject stupidity that you demonstrate as you do to yourself. You moaned and railed against the police response to your burglary- 'what if' I migh respond... 'what if' they were dealing with a serious sexual offence, a robbery, a child in need of police protection. Such quibbles pale in comparison to your demands for immediate police response, but when it is YOU possily at fault there are no end of possible 'what ifs'..


    You are a reactionary, and to be honest- increasingly pompous. Your views thrive on kicking those who cannot kick back and excusing the behaviour of yourself or your cronies. To be honest, the idea of you in parliament is one that deeply concerns me; I strongly suspect that the electorate will agree and vote accordingly.

    Of course, you might wish to revisit and evaluate your post on the police response to your burglary if you think this response is OTT and consider how it comes across in light of this new blog post. I expect (if you have a shred of self-awareness) that you will be more than a little embarrassed.

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  53. Verity said ...."so they can't keep voting themselves raises."

    In British English we say "rises".

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  54. Verity said ... "Johnny Norfolk - The man wasn't just fined for overfilling his bin, he now has a criminal record! Apparently putting out too much rubbish is a crime in Britain. What are you supposed to do with it if you can't put it out in your bin?"

    He has a criminal record not because he overfilled his bin but because he refused to pay the fine for doing so.

    He is obviously pretty stupid. His neighbours, some of whom have much larger families, cope with a standard wheelie bin. He was given a special extra-large bin by the council and was advised on how to deal with his rubbish (including squashing it down in the bin so that the lid would close). He had been formally warned several times that he would be fined if he didn't close the lid properly.

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  55. verity: Disenfranchise the public and welfare sectors? How democratic, how socialist of you to think of individuals as blocks. Do you assume every called verity is like you? How would you define people who work for companies that provide goods and services for the public sector? Aren't they just further along the food chain?

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  56. That's horrible.

    I am amazed how well you seem to have handled it.

    It's not as if you can go home and have an industrial strength Gin and Tonic.

    My thoughts are with you.

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  57. nonny@12:52

    You're a pompous muppet. If you don't like Iain's blog, don't read it.

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  58. You've lost your West Ham season ticket? They've done you a favour mate........!!!

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  59. verity, re rice dish - is the rice organic? and does one get a nice glass of new zealand sauvignon blanc with the meal? let us know....thanks...

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  60. Iain - really poor luck. Why do some people feel they have a right to take what they have not earnt and is not theirs.

    And you are right - the worst bit is the sense of violation. The sense of 'how dare they'!

    But look on the bright side of it.

    1. It isn't a 'serious' crime worth proper investigation, unless you can show that the crime was racially motivated, or because you are gay - then it's blue lights all the way, no stone unturned, and rest assured Mr Dale, someone will cop for it guvna!

    2. The police will co-operate fully - and give you a crime reference number, so you can get the insurance claim sorted (far easier than investigating a crime they have no chance of solving), thus shifting the cost of crime onto the law abiding who bother to have insurance rather than the criminal underclass who do not.

    3. The crime wasn't really a crime, but actually a political act of wealth re-distribution. I fact Iain, you are the real criminal here, and the blokes with the jemmy who did your car over are in fact victims. They probably had a bad relationship with their father. Actually, they probably had no relationship with their father - and certainly not one which instilled discipline in them.

    4. Next time, either buy a cheap car (serves you right for flaunting your wealth, doubtless earnt by exploiting children in India or by poisoning the environment), or employ a lacky to keep an eye on it when you park it up.

    I like Verity's solution! I increasingly understand what drives people to be vigilantes!

    Eslbells - I would tell you what I really think, but I don't think it would get past comment moderation. I hope however that you are burgled and have your car nicked soon - and then maybe you can come back on here and be all bleeding heart about it whilst we laugh at your stupidity.

    People don't steal because they are poor. They steal because they are dishonest and criminally minded. I know lots of honest poor people and more than a few rich crooks!

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  61. anon @ 12.52. Perhaps you should re-read your post and maybe you will realise what a pompous c--- you sound.

    Was it you who started slaggin' off the "lower middle-classes" yesterday? Wouldn't surprise me at all, same fuckwit tone in each post.

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  62. I know we all should feel able to leave our laptops and wallets (!!!!!) in the boot of our cars but anyone who does so in Bloomsbury (which no-one surely can assume is a "nice" area) is, let's be euphemistic and say, not very streetwise. Horrid thing to happen and I do sympathise, but you didn't help yourself. And, no, I would not think it reasonable to expect the police (i) to be constantly on the scene (ii) to make following this up any sort of priority.

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  63. Eslbells - I don't know what to say. You're a failed human being.

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  64. "Sorry Iain, I'm not convinced that crime is any higher than before. "

    Quick! Over here everyone! I've found the one idiot in the UK that believes the reported, heavily massaged crime stats...!

    "I wonder if this is the sort of stupidity...that stops police from being able to attend domestic burglaries due to the backlog of autocrime...."

    Oh, wait! Here's an even bigger fool! Someone who thinks the police spend too much time on car crime to attend burglaries!

    In actual fact, you'd be very, very lucky to get more than a bored and disinterested recitation of a crime number in both cases.

    "...incidences of abject stupidity..."

    NuLabour's response to crime after their 10 years of doing nothing, folks: 'You were robbed? Serves you right for having nice stuff'

    "You moaned and railed against the police response to your burglary...'what if' they were dealing with a serious sexual offence, a robbery, a child in need of police protection."

    This has to be the worst case of 'For the chiillldreen!' I've seen yet, and that takes some doing.

    'Don't report that burglary! Somewhere, a likkle kiddiewink might be in need of a policeman, you heartless fiend...'

    NuLab have really lost it, haven't they...?

    Wait 'til May 1st. Escpecially if we are all queueing for petrol by then...

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  65. Well that's London for you, as Red Ken will tell you, its safe and Ian Blair will protest that crime is down.
    Don't expect the rozzers to waste anytime trying to solve your crime. They will not trawl for video and go through it, or bother dusting for prints.
    You will get your crime ref no and be expected to trudge off into the moonlight and contact your insurance co.
    Welcome to 21st century London Iain.
    Perhaps you will see reason and recognise that it is ALL YOUR FAULT. Travelling by car instead of taking a clapped out train. Driving a flash new Audi. Flashing your wealth around like that and a Robin Hood type is bound to take advantage, particularly if they've seen you place your riches in the boot.
    You see, us poor Londoners have been under the jackboot of Oberlagerfuhrer Livingstone, we're broke and he wants even more for the bloody Olympics, add to that the depredations of Uncle Gordo and i'm sure you will understand that it wasn't personal just survival.
    A bientot.

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  66. Johnny Norfolk - One helluva lot further. The socialists and social workers invented a society where no one is responsible for his or her behaviour. So the thieving garbage who robbed you were, in fact, the victims of society.

    Secondly, as in "immigration", or swamping the native culture and making it illegal for the natives to voice a complaint about the invasion of their land, the increase in crime is a deliberate assault and another means of keeping the law-abiding, wealth creating citizenry under control. People must understand this: it is deliberate. It is not incompetence. It did not happen as an unintended incidental result. Out-of-control crime and a fearful citizenry is the goal, not the side effect.

    12:52 - The embarrassment is all yours, but never mind. You cannot help the way you were brought up. IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT.

    12:56 - I'm not in "this country". Besides, many of the inadequates posting here post almost entirely in American clichés. I suspect they think it sounds robust and makes up for the lack of content.

    1:05 - He was fined not for not closing his bin but for refusing to pay a fine. Ah! The heady air of civil disobedience! When are the British going to join in en masse in turning the tables on the dictators ruling you with a fist of iron?

    Gallimaufry - These two sectors - the gigantic, unwieldy, unaccountable public sector workers and the gigantic, unwieldy, unnaccountable wefare-recipient class are, essentially, in command of the economy and everyone's else's purse. "How would you define people who work for companies that provide goods and services for the public sector?" Free market suppliers. How would you define them?

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  67. Penfold - thanks for mentioning the the world's largest steroid fest! Cancel the Olympics. They're finished anyway. In China, a couple of people may squeeze one millionth of a second off some record, but frankly, Beijing is the last tango in Paris for this giant scam. Even now, pre-Beijing, it has the air of the walking dead about it.

    Montreal, which "hosted" (meaning they were the patsy) the event in 1976 only finished paying for it around three years ago. Almost 30 years later. The grandchildren of the people who agreed to this giant con finally paid it off. Do you want your grandchildren to be paying off the Tony Blair Olympics debt 30 years after 2012? In 2042?

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  68. Anon said
    "He had been formally warned several times that he would be fined if he didn't close the lid properly."

    And they say satire is dead.

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  69. to be fair to Iain putting your stuff into the boot doesnt sound like a stupid thing to do. Bloomsbury Square is hardly Brixton. As someone else pointed out they were probably looking for someone doing just that and its probably easier to jack open a boot while kneeling between parked cars than breaking in through the car doors. Why dont car manufacturers provide a secure "safe"?

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  70. Still, it wasn't all bad at least you had your Mama Mia tickets stolen....

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  71. You have my sympathy Iain.

    I left the house this morning with an appointment to attend. But then I got the driver side of my car. I saw three long wavy scratches traversing the front wing, driver door and handle, back passenger door, back wing (?) and on to the hatchback and back right lights lense. I cancelled the appointment and immediately called the police, who turned up 2.5 hrs later (within their 3hr, non-emergency target timescale).

    No witnesses, so the police officer could only remind me of the log number, take some details and make a suggestion that the Plod Patrol, or whatever it's called come out and review my outdoor security. I might then have installation for free (no certainty here) of a sensor light and CCTV camera (for which I'd definitely have to pay). And that may seem extreme, but we've had a few car and house break-ins over the past year, as well as with a recently rapidly increasing presence of anti-social behaviour from teenagers (observations of which I catalogued for the police officer).

    So, to prevent further victimisation, I have to face the cost of deterrent/prevention on top of the cost of repair for the current action. Perhaps it will act as a deterrent, but I am doubtful of the full effectiveness. I only hope that if struck by vandalism again, or any other form of criminal damage, the perpetrator(s) might be caught.

    Unfortunately, youths with no respect for anyone or anyone else's property have started congregating way too close to my home. What I saw a few weeks ago suggested car damage may ensue and now it's arrived. The police officer suggested that any time there is a disturbance of sorts, I ring them; and suggested the same course of action for my neighours (with the onus on me to let them know that). The police will then have a log and can do a drive-by for the incident. The ongoing log will identify trends.

    This is not true pro-active policing as it suggests that a few or many will have to suffer many things before the pro-active part is stepped up. This, in an area that is mainly decent and law abiding but also where a local shopkeeper would not sell cigs to some 13/14 yr olds kids and was sprayed in the eyes with acid by them. Needless to say, any future disturbances will have me quietly ringing the police and not even venturing outside; something I'd not considered anyway.

    And with education being of such a blatantly awful standard these days, how on earth did a 13 yr old get to know the consequences of acid and how to get their hands on it in a spray?

    I'm a single woman, living alone and now find I don't want to venture out after dark, even in my own locality. I was informed by neighbours that the most recent break-in we know of was in the afternoon in broad daylight.

    When the hell is someone, some party going to get a grip on all this and turn the tide?

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  72. Ian - sorry to hear of your problems - had the same happen to me but only lost car and contents - no computer fortunately - as I recall when police caught the bastards and wrecked vehicle they asked for 19 other cases to be included - hence cops cleared up 20 cases!!! - one question - did you have a full backup of the PC? - if not why not? - oops!

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  73. 5:51 - This breakdown in civil society has been engineered with great thought and great success. The population is now frightened and timid.

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  74. The Police should be allowed to park cars with the doors locked and a sat nav still stuck to the windscreen.

    First person to smash a window to grab the sat nav gets one between the eyes from a Police sniper on the roof of a nearby building.

    Do that a few times and noone will dare break into a car again.

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  75. Mmmmmmm ... snipers ...

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  76. Verity said ... "many of the inadequates posting here post almost entirely in American clichés. I suspect they think it sounds robust and makes up for the lack of content."

    You use more Americanisms than anyone else on this site. Does that make you the supreme inadequate?

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  77. "Astro-Turf Lawnmower said...
    The Police should be allowed to park cars with the doors locked and a sat nav still stuck to the windscreen."

    The police round my way have recently been using decoy cars very successfully. The car just sits there with sat-nav, laptop, etc in full view just waiting to be broken into. But inside the car is an array of cameras transmitting images to the local plod who are sitting round the corner ready to nab the offender.

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  78. Anonymous 5:51 PM said...
    "This is not true pro-active policing ... When the hell is someone, some party going to get a grip on all this and turn the tide?"

    What do you want? A 24-hour police guard outside your house?

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  79. Astroturf lawnmower FOR PRIME MINISTER NOW!!!!!

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  80. Posted by Anonymous April 23, 2008 5:14 PM

    "He had been formally warned several times that he would be fined if he didn't close the lid properly."

    And they say satire is dead.

    Next up could be the installation of council cameras inside private homes, placed in the ceiling above the loo, and fining men who fail to put the seat down after peeing?

    It could be a lucrative revenue stream, so to speak.

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  81. Iain, wasn't your car also the victim of an assault outside the 18 Doughty Street studio late last year?

    Re the second post on this thread, I have a feeling eslbells is "dyslexic" - fashionably set apart with posh Greek spelling if nothing else. Much, in fact, as John Prescott is "bulimic". (BTW, Jan Moir has a hugely - sic - entertaining piece in The Telegraph of 24th, and the commenters, I fear, lack the human-kindness gene. Many of them are terribly witty.)

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  82. verity said...

    "1. Pass a law to make it legal for citizens to bear arms, with a background check and a licence. As in Texas, make it absolutely legal to shoot anyone who has both feet over your threshhold."

    That is certainly entirely correct, if not a bit mild. Personally I'd make it a low-level misdemeanour not to kill them unless there was a very good excuse.

    verity said...

    "Secondly, as in "immigration", or swamping the native culture and making it illegal for the natives to voice a complaint about the invasion of their land, the increase in crime is a deliberate assault and another means of keeping the law-abiding, wealth creating citizenry under control."


    Yep. When I lived in the People's Republic of Newham in the 80s it was commonplace to see those-who-have-so-enriched-us walking down streets trying every car handle to see what could be got. Everyone knew. Nobody ever dared say anything. Only difference now is that the casual lawlessness has become generalised throughout vast sections of the entire poulation. Think of yourself as having been enriched, Iain.


    Anonymous 5:51 PM said...

    "I don't want to venture out after dark, even in my own locality."

    There is the single largest explanation for the pretend-fall in the crime statistics. The criminals rule the streets, those who venture out are lucky not to die.

    "When the hell is someone, some party going to get a grip on all this and turn the tide?"

    Not while the liblabcons have anything to do with it.

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  83. Verity,

    your commnet about the prison diet in Singapore reminds me of a remark by Principal Skinner in the Simpsons:

    'I spent the next three years in a POW camp, forced to subsist on a thin stew made of fish, vegetables, prawns, coconut milk, and four kinds of rice. I came close to madness trying to find it here in the States, but they just can't get the spices right!'

    yours, Sideshow Bob

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  84. Anonymous - As it's a propos, I'll repeat it: In Texas (and probably most other gun-owning states, but Texas is where I lived), if someone you didn't invite into your home has both his feet over your thresh hold, it is perfect OK to shoot them dead. The criminals all know this, which is why there are no 'hot' burglaries in Texas. And actually, per capita, not many home burglaries at all. As the police told me when I had an incident, "When you shoot, shoot to kill." Well that sounded encouraging, but why?

    Because if you just wound them, they'll recover (in a county hospital, at taxpayers' expense and frankly, they're not worth it) and tell them you invited them in. As in, "The lady stopped me and ast (sic) if I could help her move a heavy desk." Or, "The lady said she was lonely and ast me in for a drink." Better just dispatch them and sign the form for the police.

    And remember: an armed society is a polite society.

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  85. Used to live on Great Russell St so just by there, and we were burgled. It is by all accounts a bit of a hotspot, no idea why because it's a pretty nice area. Hope they catch the person who did it - that area has cameras galore.

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  86. Used to live on Great Russell St so just by there, and we were burgled. It is by all accounts a bit of a hotspot, no idea why because it's a pretty nice area. Hope they catch the person who did it - that area has cameras galore.

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