Crime has got so bad in Britain that foreign governments are warning their citizens
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/08/05/crime-has-got-so-bad-in-britain-foreign-travel/
Posted by Low_Map4314
Crime has got so bad in Britain that foreign governments are warning their citizens
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/08/05/crime-has-got-so-bad-in-britain-foreign-travel/
Posted by Low_Map4314
35 Comments
They could have found many better examples to illustrate mobile phone crime in London than:
Walking up a flight of stairs at Euston station with his mobile in his back pocket, he noticed he had been pick-pocketed when he reached the top.
We warn British people travelling to [other countries](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/usa/safety-and-security) about potential security concerns too.
Edit: our current advice for [Mexico](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/mexico) is basically ‘don’t go’.
You’ll find similar warnings for any European tourist hotspot city
Is this the same crime rate that has been consistently dropping for years? That crime?
Having spent some time travelling across the world, this what I have observed:
– Petty crime is becoming rampant across the anglosphere – Shop lifting, pick pocketing, minor tax evasion (think cash in hand), mugging, theft.
– In most of south East Asia – petty crime is much, much lower.
Why do **I** think that is?
– Here, everyone wants more and many feels hard done by – creating the justification. Everything is very individualistic and getting “yours” – even at the cost of the others is OK. The courts are backlogged, the prisons are full and police overstretched. Put simply the riskreward is worth it and crime “pays”.
– Elsewhere, I see two systems in play. One is greater sense of community and mortality, the locals will retaliate (physically) when they see crime – with others jumping in for good measure. The other, is when the police do show up, the court systems are much quicker and will also dish out punishments.
I been a victim of crime myself in the UK couple of times. The worst – a woman vandalised 18 cars – “keying them for fun”. All caught on ring camera’s. Police did eventually show up, gathered evidence and she was arrested. 18 months later, CPS had fumbled much of the evidence, the judge also took “pity” for the fake cry show. She got £150 fine for thousands of pounds in criminal damage.
Is crime so bad? I often see this cited as a reason the UK is “finished” but regularly work all over London and Manchester and not really noticed anything nor have I felt unsafe.
Standard telegraph, everything is shit, yeah yeah we get it
There is a concerted effort in online spaces as well to portray the UK as a degenerating war zone with heinous crimes committed on every street by hordes of brown people.
Even American podcasters, right wing vociferous commentators of course, are talking as if the UK has been destroyed.
Speak to any police officer in any district and they’ll tell you they know exactly who the biggest 15-20 criminals are. They’re ones who are in and out of short sentences (if they get a custodial sentence at all), constantly being nicked and held overnight, always getting fines and warning etc etc. They don’t care and they know they can act with near impunity with a rap sheet often stretching over decades.
And the stats bear it out, they account for the majority of police time and attention.
The problem isn’t catching these individuals, it’s that our sentencing and courts are ineffective and it’s these individuals for whom a Three-Strike/El-Salvador approach would work.
Once they’re out of the way, the police and courts would have far more resources to deal with the other 80%.
Farage got asked if he was scaremongering, which he answered with disagreement and a whole bunch of scaremongering about how nobody would walk across London at night. There’s a current narrative through line that’s being pushed here.
More clickbait nonsense from the Telegraph.
UK crime rates are the same, or less, than other western nations.
[https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/crime-rate-by-country](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/crime-rate-by-country)
More torygraph doom mongering I see. The real picture is a bit different but don’t let that get in the “talk the country down” fest.
Crime in England and Wales – Office for National Statistics https://share.google/fH70nusGtN0IjULf0
Do people actually fall for this shit? The Telegraph is such nonsense.
Theyve said this since before the election so the telegraphs sharing old news
Crime is actually at the lowest level in decades – are there theives who target people in london? Absolutely, but Britain in general is very very safe.
Lol so bad…. What is this anti-UK bullshit going around right now. It’s so obvious Russia is putting a lot of shit at us.
The police will never ever stop a crime but will investigate it after the fact. We need to be able to protect ourselves as much as they and the government can.
I’ve never known anyone shit-talk about the UK like the Telegraph ever since the last general election.
It’s like they just can’t handle the fact that the plebs didn’t vote for the right party so now they have to be punished for it.
Not surprised, I left the UK over a decade ago and the difference is stark.
I see a lot more casual crime these days anytime I take a trip home. Despite what the statistics say, as most crime probably goes unreported. The country really is in the gutter.
Got mugged by a seagull this weekend, that is where the true terror lies
I was warned in the US before coming to the USA by my health insurance company.
Interesting headline from the telegraph considering all major crime types except fraud have been decreasing year on year according to most recent stats. I have to assume that they’re really concerned about fraud and fraud alone which isn’t what the headline says
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingdecember2024
Imagine my surprise when I read the article and it’s actually about an increase in mobile phone theft in London. I thought you said increase in crime in the UK not an increase in one type of crime in one city…
Can we please stop letting people just dump baseless or at best misleading propaganda here, our right wing press cannot be treated as an impartial source of facts especially when most people will not read the article that clarifies the very misleading headlines
Also noticed that this propaganda spreader is a top 1% contributer, funny that
What was the Telegraph printing when austerity was crushing public services and reducing our police force to the bare bones?
Don’t statistics show that crime is actually falling?
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Good old Sadiq Khan, doing absolutely nothing to lessen crime of any kind. You’d think he’d try to crack down on or lessen at least violent crime, but no. He’s so completely ineffective, no idea why he hasn’t been voted out.
A lot of this is racist/xenophobic/bigoted hate crimes. Which have had a huge uptick last few years.
Considering the trend in crime rates over time, presumably the Telegraph would have us believe we were a war-torn hellscape 30 years ago.
There 40,000 phone thiefs in Australia every year an growing rapidly. There criminals are just catching up to the UK ones.
But am I the only one thinks it stupid to carry your phone in your back pocket?
What nonsense. Crime was far higher in the 70s, 80s and 90s and has remained at a reasonably consistent lower level since early 00s. UK is as bad as the US for this pathetic fearmongering shit at this point
Wasn’t there a post yesterday saying crime is at an all time low?
What’s the point of these articles, this article talks about London reputation for crime in London. London not even in top 10 worst crime cities in Europe. Depending on what source you use they are anywhere from 15th all the way to like 35th. I feel no less safe or concerned for my safety in London than any major city in Europe.
Increases in crimes such as shoplifting are increasing due to increased wealth inequality and inflation. Essentials are becoming more expensive while people are getting poorer, leading people to resort to crime
I live in a London borough. I refuse to go to and beyond Kidbrooke/Lewisham. It’s awful and completely rife with brazen criminality.
But yes, guidance is not a significant news story. There’s very few countries I can think of that have no mention of crime in Europe.
And some bellend will rock up and tell you it’s all to do with immigrants and crime never ever happened (cough Krays cough) before immigrants came here.