Are all our London brothers & sisters safe?

[Father Bill]

So back to the actual question that was asked; does anyone know of any of our XMarkers or their families who are in any danger or distress?

[O'Callaghan]

I mentionned one person, a former GF in Peckham, London SE 15. We aren't in touch, so I can't say if she's safe, but that doesn't mean I don't worry.

As for areas of London that you wouldn't care to visit, you know there are some perfectly decent people who live in these places, so spare a thought for them. Someone was once murdered with a knife directly across the street the flat of the lady I spoke of above, while she lay in bed asleep and wasn't even woken by it. Nobody pretends it's a good area, but that's no reason to write off everyone who lives there.

It's also rather silly to say that you wouldn't walk around in any of these areas in broad daylight. Well, perhaps not in a kilt!

It's true, though, that London is vast in size, and the affected areas are a tiny proportion. To give the Americans some perspective, it's similar in size to New York City (which is bigger is arguable, because the census area of NYC takes in more people, but there are fewer living in the NY boroughs than in the London boroughs).

[Phil]

Not helpful when the press refer to UK riots, this is an ENGLISH problem, there is NO rioting here in SCOTLAND, so no reason why visitors to Scotland should feel unsafe.

As Alex has said, confirmed in today's "Scotsman" here - http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/news...han.6816567.jp - anyone planning a visit to Scotland has no reason to feel unsafe.