I read with interest Nick Wood's misleading comments about life in Britain in his April 1 letter, "Migrants are to be welcomed." According to him, overall crime has plummeted by 44 percent in recent years. It's actually surprisingly easy for any country, including Japan, to achieve such a dramatic fall in crime.
The secret of Britain's success is that the government has legalized some formerly banned drugs. Shoplifting too is no longer recorded as a crime; offenders merely have to return the stolen merchandise and apologize. Credit-card fraud is no longer a police matter; the police won't even record it as a crime. Instead they will tell you to go to your bank to sort it out.
There are more examples of the Blair government legalizing formerly criminal behavior. Britain is becoming a crime utopia for criminals. Wood obviously hasn't been in Britain for a long time, as he doesn't know what he's talking about. Crime is rife in Britain. I for one am glad to be in low-crime Japan. At least the Japanese government treats crime seriously.
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