Going Walkabout

After the Home Secretary said she would be scared to walk around Hackney at night, local MP Diane Abbott took some fellow politicians for a stroll in the borough.

All well and good, except that they went for their walkabout in Stoke Newington! Not much to be scared of there, unless you nurse a fear of literary types beating you about with polysyllabic words, or live in terror of being knocked over by a local yummy mummy taking Hugo and Poppy for a power-push in the latest three-wheeler buggy. Honestly, the worst fight you are likely to see on Church Street is Mark Fischer, Dave Osler and Clive Bradley arguing over the last bottle of Shiraz in Clissold Wines.

Ok, so she also took them to the Smalley Road estate, site of a murder last year. But what about visiting the Pembury, or 'murder mile' in Lower Clapton, or numerous other places? Or how about walking around without a camera crew following you? It's not like most attackers like to be caught on film, is it?

Or how about encouraging a constructive discussion on tackling Hackney residents' fears, rather than some cheap publicity stunt?