What is a decent interval for people to draw public conclusions from tragic, violent deaths and make pledges about their solutions? As many people may know from last night's news, the last couple of days have been particularly bad in London regarding senseless slaughters. On top of the news about the two French students, there were four people killed in stabbings in 17 hours, two of them in Walthamstow. Another 15 year old student is fighting for his life.
One of the local deaths was that of a young man called Adnan Patel. The local paper reports:
"Adnan Patel, 21, was stabbed in Leyton, after being attacked at around 5.30pm yesterday.
The stabbing happened in Stewart Road, following a fight between two groups of men.
Detectives believe Mr Patel then got into a black Ford Focus car and drove to nearby Downsell Road, where he crashed into a parked vehicle.
He was treated by paramedics but was pronounced dead at the scene after suffering stomach wounds.
Many residents believe the assault was a road-rage incident.
However a man who witnessed the attack from his flat window believes the men were known to each other.
Amos Mak, 36, of Ellingham Road, said: 'I heard loud noises and shouting. The argument got louder and louder and seemed very violent. That is when I looked out of my window.
'I saw six guys in their mid-twenties fighting three-on-three.One had a wooden club and another had a aluminium baseball bat.
'One of them took a blow to the head with the baseball bat. He was lying on the floor but they kept hitting him.
'That is when I saw a kitchen knife on the floor with a 3-inch blade and I called the police.
'Then I saw an injured guy being helped up by two others. They got into a dark coloured BMW and drove off towards the Cathall Estate. The others got into a white van.
'I don't think it was a road rage incident. I got the impression they were known to each other.'
He added: "The problem is that this sort of thing happens often enough now I'm no longer suprised.
'The only thing that did suprise me is that these were not teenagers messing about, these were grown men.'
It is believed Mr Patel, from Henniker Road, Stratford, was with his brother and another man at the time.
Four people have been arrested following the attack near Downsell Primary School - and about 100 yards from where teenager Paul Erhahon was knifed to death last year."
Obviously, people are quite shocked and angry about what happened. In a revealing comment, given the gravity of the consequences, one of Adnan's friends was quoted as saying "It was just a silly misunderstanding, but I still don't know what really happened.".
Notwithstanding what the eye witness Amos Mak said, and the incompleteness of the investigation, the incident has been taken by many to be a road rage event.
This morning, a local activist, was upbraided by John Macklin, the leader of the Libdems for having issued a statement on LibDem headed paper in which he attacked the council and laid some of the blame on them.
The release, written by activist Joseph Dyer, said:
"Because of the narrowness of both roads, and the persisent road rage, some time ago, Cathall ward Liberal Democrats put forward a petition asking the council to make Downsell Road and Stewart Road one-up, one-down one way roads.
"This was not done and today one person lost their life and another injured and for more than four hours, along with other residents in the road, we were not able to go home.
"If the council had listened to the people living in both roads there would not have been a death today for the very same reason."
I actually think he may have a point, but I also think he should have waited a few days before making a statement like this, particularly as we do not all know what actually happened. I wrote in to the paper supporting John Macklin's comments that this statement was inappropriate at this time.
I do think that at some point we are all going to have to look at the way that the council does not respond to the concerns of the residents in various parts of the borough about their safety, including their vulnerability to crime. These stabbings come on top of a couple of shootings, several armed robberies and rampant youth gang activities in several of our public spaces in the borough.
If it is the case that people who know the area had pointed out to the council a solution which could have helped in the Patel situation, I would like to know why the council had not taken their concerns and constructive suggestions seriously enough.
Nevertheless, I think the Conservative Counsellor Matt Davis is correct in his view that this should not be a party political issue. Mr Davis put it thus:
"In my view Mr Dyer's letter is an example of deeply distasteful political opportunism at its very worst.
"How he can attempt to gain a party political advantage from anyone's death by violence in this way is beyond the understanding of either myself, or I suspect most decent people."
"My heart goes out to the family and friends of those murdered who now, in their grief, also have to face the misuse of the death of their loved one in the pursuit of self-serving publicity by the Liberal Democrats.
"Shame on them!"
I think Matt Davis is not being quite as understanding of the deep emotion being felt by many people in the area about the onslaught we feel we are living through at the moment regarding lawlessness on our streets. I do not think Joseph Dyer was being calculating in a party political way - I accept John Macklin's explanation that the statement was unauthorised. I think Dyers is just angry and frustrated like many of us. Underlying everything, I would not be a bit surprised if there are not genuine fears and anxieties about our diminishing sense of comfort regarding our safety in public places being expressed here.
No, it seems to me that there is much to discuss, but what is required is a decent interval to digest events and get a sense of perspective.
So what are we to make of the Prime Minister issuing a press statement about these killings this morning? Under a headline Prime Minister pledges to tackle knife crime, Gordon Brown is reported as having "pledged to tackle the rising problem of knife crime."
"The terrible stabbings that have occurred this week are shocking and tragic. We will continue to make absolutely clear that carrying a knife is unacceptable in our society," he said.
I know it is his job to make these kinds of pledges, but is there that much difference between the Prime Minister putting his 10p's worth in and Mr Dyer? There is no detail given about how the Prime Minister will actually achieve what he says he will. From the report in the Times, it seems he has given the Home Secretary the weekend to get her officials to cobble something together. Is this just a headline to suggest that he is on the job- to make sure he doesn't slide any further in the polls in a country where most of us think he has lost his grip on crime?
[Updated 23 September 2008: On the 23rd September 2008, a third man, Moneeb Khalid, was charged with the murder of Adnan Patel. Clint D'Mello and Akeel Shah are already facing charges.]