Since the Malays treat the ethnic Chines badly that is hardly surprising
Indeed, and so the circle goes around. But it shows that these supposed utopias don’t stand up to closer inspection when you do a bit more than a short trip there to do some tourism. It’s a bit like the film Demolition Man, you take a look under the covers of these ‘very safe’ societies and often find more than a few dirty secrets, or perhaps tradeoffs that had to be made that on reflection seem to be a medicine that’s worse than the cure. Even the most ardent “If you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear” proponent will baulk when you reply “OK then, so you’ll be fine with a Government CCTV camera in every room of your house including your bedroom and bathrooms”.
The pattern of crime is changing constantly.
For many years now, “professional” domestic burglaries (I mean ones done by career burglars) have been going down. Gone are the great days when you could break into a house and a minute later walk off with a 500 quid video casette recorder which you flogged down the pub for 100 quid. Jewellery remains popular but most “jobs” follow the homeowner or his wife flaunting stuff… But, today, most houses would yield nothing much which would have easy disposal value.
In armed societies you get a lot less low level property crime like that, but you get other issues.
Opportunistic and unproductive but irritating burglaries (commonly, travellers who occupy a village field and proceed to raid all the garden sheds in a nearby village, stealing worthless lawn mowers which cost £800 to replace, etc) is on the rise, in the knowledge the police will not act.
Due to police workload, and sensitivities to political correctness, crime which is below the “interest threshold” is on the rise. For example, I have had two cases of a fake driving license used to get money out; in both cases the guy was on the bank video but the police were not interested. £1.5k and £6k.
Current fashion is for kids to carry knives, and use them.
Overall I doubt there is much change.
It is interesting that we thought there has always been a direct link between crime rates and the economy. Intuitively, this would seem to make sense. I understand that in recent times it would seem that relationship no longer exists. I think it demonstrates how complicated the relationship infact is. It seems to me as with any complex system, there are mnay factors at work, and teasing out which are having the greatest impact at any one moment at time is very difficult, which, of course, is music to a politicians ear, because it is almost impossible to prove or disprove the impact of reduced spending, the economy, or a host of other factors, and that is assuming the underlying raw data is pure, which it probably isnt.
I tend to think that the devil makes work for idle hands, but also that economies where law and order are enforced fairly, do better than economies where they are in doubt.
I would never invest in some developing countries I’ve been to, because I know that my property might be confiscated at the whim of a corrupt official. You don’t buy a nice bike or car if you live in a country where vandalism or theft is common.
kwlf wrote:
You don’t buy a nice bike or car if you live in a country where vandalism or theft is common.
Or simple bad driving. Virtually no theft of vandalism but so much “touch parking” goes on in the Isle of Man (and it’s rare anyone leaves a note when they hit your car – someone hit mine and was seen by a neighbour and brought to task and said “I’ll report it when I get home” – guess what, they didn’t), I’ll never have anything other than a cheap second hand car. My current car has been hit at least four times in the last five years in the car park (once by an obvious hit from a car door, the other times by people hitting it while moving). Probably hit a few more times without damage.
Someone used to park a Ferrari in our car park. They didn’t keep that up for long…
alioth wrote:
Or simple bad driving. Virtually no theft of vandalism but so much “touch parking” goes on in the Isle of Man (and it’s rare anyone leaves a note when they hit your car – someone hit mine and was seen by a neighbour and brought to task and said “I’ll report it when I get home” – guess what, they didn’t)
Add France and the french to this list.
I always park my “Weekend” car across two spaces at the least used empty end of a carpark even if I have to walk further. I saw someone bump into my GFs car in a carpark and when I confronted them they did a classic gallic shrug and couldnt understand what my problem was with their behaviour & attitude…The thing is, what can you do when there isnt really any real damage from that incident – the problem is that it is cumulative and every little thing adds up.
Regards, SD..
Timothy wrote:
but we don’t pay tax.
we wish… the UK is not a low -tax nor high-tax place overall, around the OECD average…. France has just taken the lead, overtaking Denmark…
Timothy wrote:
…but we don’t pay tax.
Shall I provide my avgas invoices to show how much DUTY and VAT is paid which the big CAT do not have to pay? It is a stupid myth that GA do not pay taxes and should not be continued.
