As an international student, I’ve come to cherish the relative safety of Oxford. Life here is calm, and being a student town is just peaceful. Even the clubs are friendly. The worst I’ve encountered was an older man hurling a racist slur at me—disheartening, but ultimately harmless in comparison to the more violent acts of xenophobia elsewhere.
London, however, is a very different story. Despite its status as a financial capital, the number of incidents and challenges with crime is shocking.
Racism and Xenophobia on the Rise
The riots in August 2024, fuelled by misinformation, were a stark reminder of how quickly tensions can spiral into chaos. Thugs overturned cars, desecrated places of worship, and set police vehicles on fire. This is not the behaviour of a civilised society, and seeing such raw aggression unfold was deeply disturbing.
Sadly, this isn’t an isolated issue. Racist assaults, particularly targeting those who look Chinese, have been reported in the city. These attacks often occur without provocation and involve a severe amount of violence. Tourist stabbings, being punched and kicked, absolutely dreadful state of affairs.
Taking the Tube
One of the most harrowing fears in London is the possibility of being shoved onto the Tube tracks. While these incidents are rare, they are terrifying to even consider. The narrow platforms and lack of protective barriers make the risk feel all too real, especially when a single, unhinged person could omni-man me with the train. It’s a disturbing but unavoidable concern for anyone traveling on London’s Underground.
Petty Theft
Another unsettling trend is the rise in shoplifting, emboldened by the £200 threshold for prosecution. With such a high barrier before any legal action is taken, it’s no wonder that shoplifters operate with little fear of consequence. It’s become an open secret that petty theft is essentially decriminalised below this threshold, leaving store owners and employees helpless. Not really my problem without a shop but I extrapolate the implications to me.
I fear for my personal belongings, with the number of phone snatchers that will grab your phone from your hands in bright daylight. There will likely be no recourse from the police. This article highlights an example, where the victim was just told by the Met police that they can’t help and have closed the case. It’s not just the few hundred pounds that would cost me to replace the phone, but the vast amount of control over my life and finances that exists on the device. A man lost £21,000 after he had his phone snatched – where the thieves even took out a loan in his name. I’ve turned on theft protection on my iPhone, and I believe something similar exists for Android phones as well. Furthermore, I’ve been advised to set up an automation on iPhone to lock the screen when airplane mode is turned on, and to turn it back on automatically after ten seconds. This prevents thieves from using airplane mode to prevent setting the phone in lost mode.
If a crime is committed against you, report it to the police. It is your civic duty to stop those that seek to profit off misery of others. Don’t be discouraged that it is a trivial matter, nor that the police might not look into it. Your case could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, and result in a successful conviction.
Crimes for Clout
Social media has also played a disturbing role in normalising crime. One particularly notorious figure, Bacari-Bronze O’Garro, used platforms like TikTok to broadcast a series of criminal “pranks,” which included stealing phones, trespassing, and harassing bystanders. For all of this, he was detained for just 18 weeks. I don’t understand why The Guardian calls him a “TikTok prankster”. His behaviour is not a prank—it’s criminal, and the fact that he filmed these acts for attention should have aggravated his punishment, not diminished it.
This phenomenon brings to mind the bullies from Roald Dahl’s The Swan, whose senseless cruelty baffled me as a child. I feel I’ve seen enough real-life examples of similar behaviour to understand that such people do exist in real life.
I love Oxford but London is just too much
The shift from the peaceful streets of Oxford to the unpredictable nature of London is a jarring experience. From xenophobic attacks to public transit dangers, London’s challenges are far-reaching and deeply unsettling. The lack of accountability in certain areas only seems to exacerbate them. As I continue my search for a full-time offer in London, the crime and quality of life for the next few years weighs heavily on my mind.
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