Who you ask and how you ask matter, as does why you are asking — the history of opinion polls shows they are as much about creating opinions as they are about recording them, writes socialist historian KEITH FLETT

“GOOD morning. Thanks to everybody for your posts concerning the escalation of crime. If any members have a spare half-hour to walk around the streets during the day, especially after school time, keep a look out and report anyone suspicious.”
So read a post on a community hub in a middle-class, east London suburb, where the threat of crime has been hyped up out of all proportion to what is actually happening on the streets.
Crime levels have certainly grown nationally over recent times, no doubt helped by central government cuts in police budgets.

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