The opinions about crime run in tandem with opinions about the NHS and education.

Something like 25% of people last year said the NHS was good nationally. You know, the NHS you see on TV.

But 65% said their local NHS was good. This appears to be the more vital statistic. What people actually see on a day to day level, rather than through a television periscope.

Ditto for education (probably not the exact same percentages).

So, 65% say that crime is going up nationally.
Interestingly, these statistics not only run in line with what people think of the government, but these statistics generally stay at the same level.
And yet, in a time when the Daily Mail says "no one is safe anywhere", not only are we at the lowest risk of crime that the BCS has ever recorded, but 65% say crime is going down in their local area.

The BCS isn't an armed wing of the government. The statistics police record are based on how well they're doing. So, ironically, when they do better, crime is seen to be actually going up.

But the BCS question around 40,000 people. Their statistics are ackowledged to be the gold standard of crime statistics.

Much of this could be because when people are asked about the NHS, or education, or crime nationally, there is a suspicion that politicians are involved in the national situation. But when asked locally, they think of the helpful local, friendly teacher, nurse or bobby on the beat. Bad anecdotes spread far more quickly than good anecdotes.

But, it seems to show yet again, how damaging to the national psyche the media is. The Daily Mail have been doing the asylum seeker line since Jewish refugees were coming here. They would never be read again if they said that the refugees should have been sent back to Auschwitz. Yet the Littlejohns cheer when boats full of child refugees sink and they admit this openly in their columns.

The media are trying to sell. Stories talking of 'Botched hospital op', will appeal more to the mawkish attitudes of the public than a mundane headline about 'Hospital ops a bit better'. Look at the Des Browne connected navy row last year. Noone seemed to be pointing out that the media condemning Browne had actually been bidding for the sailors' stories themselves.

The Daily Mail speaks up for a mythical Middle England. The Sun speaks up for the 'white van man'. Yet what paper who really spoke up for lower middle class, or working class men, would support a poll tax that hit them? Well, it was a tax that redistributed money to people like Rupert Murdoch.

He also hates Europe. Make no mistake. If Europe had a Thatcherite love of private monopolies, the Sun would be emphatically Europhile. But they are the only organisation which threatens to break up his monopoly.

Nothing gets more media sells, like a morbid story about hospitals or crime. Instead of buying in to these lies, Brown should take them on. Thankgod he has already made a sensible youth criminal justice programme, which concentrates on early intervention. But now, he should have done what Blair should have done.

When TB was leaving office, he made a scathing attack on the media. If there was one policy that would best stop these daily hates, it would be returning media ownership laws to pre-Thatcher rules.

When Brown is bold, he is best. The embryology bill appealed to even the sensibilities of conservatives. Also, don't underestimate the boldness of the Equality act, which will transform the lives of the elderly, and which will crack down on the pay gap between women and men. Crime is just one of the many areas that have been worked upon, and dramatically improved under this government, along with the NHS, schools, childcare (where do I end?). But we have to allow people to see this, without being told a great deal of innuendo. So show some guts Gordon, and give Rupert a good kicking.