Dear Londoners — The sun blocked out. The air choking every breath. Masses of people clad in black and silver satanic jewellery. It’s not exactly the front page advert that this year’s All Points East Festival, the annual music event that takes over Hackney’s Victoria Park, may have hoped for. But thanks to the heatwave drying out the earth, this weekend’s instalments, which included an overfilled punk rock day on Sunday, have been plagued with dust so bad it has filled the air, forcing attendees to use face masks.
Not to toot our Cassandra horn but Andrew did predict such a situation last week — and on Saturday, our weekend read looked at the damage the (seemingly) never-ending heatwaves is wreaking on the capital’s beloved parks. As for Andrew lungs, he reports “coughing up black phlegm” since his visit to Outbreak’s mosh pit aka now the unwitting UK iteration of Burning Man.
Nevertheless, we’ve all managed to turn up the Londoner’s cramped Pimlico office to bring you today’s briefing. Our top story is about unsolved murders in London — it turns out 73% of victims whose cases are yet to get conclusive answers, are black. Why?
More on that in your London in Brief.
A school where girls find their voice
South Hampstead High School GDST takes a different approach to teaching, empowering girls to express themselves with confidence and conviction - recently winning the Education Choices Award for developing student voice. Founded by trailblazing women 150 years ago, the school helps girls to achieve outstanding academic results and prepares them to hold their own in the workplace.
South Hampstead is hosting Junior School, Senior School and Sixth Form open days this autumn. The Sixth Form open evening is taking place on Wednesday 16th September – prospective students and families can see the school, learn more about the A Level subjects on offer, and meet the teachers who help pupils to develop a strong sense of self and forge fulfilling futures.
The Met’s list of cold cases is three-quarters black
Just a sliver of murders in the capital go unsolved. In roughly nine out of 10 cases, the family of murdered Londoners get the small consolation of a case getting solved and some level of justice being served. Unless, it turns out, you’re black.
Despite only 13.5% of the capital’s population being black, black Londoners make up 73% of unsolved murders in the city. They make up a staggering 84% of unsolved shootings, disparities which far outstrip the fact that black Londoners make up 40% of murder victims. These troubling findings were uncovered by the campaign group Action on Armed Violence, as part of their investigation into unsolved murders in the capital. They pose tough questions for the Met, which has responded by blaming the disparity on lower levels of trust with black communities — a downward spiral, if ever there was one.
This story is free to read. You just need to sign up to join The Londoner's mailling list. And why wouldn't you? You'll get our journalism in your inbox the second we publish, keeping up to date on this and all our stories. No card details required.
Already have an account? Sign In
