by Frank Haviland, The Frank Report
It comes around faster every year doesn’t it? No, not Christmas. That other annual outbreak of bonhomie: the Notting Hill Carnival. “Carnival” (as us Londoners like to call it) turns sixty this year, and is Europe’s largest street festival. Weather permitting, the bank holiday weekend should see around two million people take to the streets of London; all cheerfully celebrating a parade of Caribbean culture.
I should say from the outset, inveterate misanthrope though I am, I have absolutely no objection to other people enjoying themselves – provided miserable bastards like myself are not obliged to join in. That is my stance on most progressive enthusiasms. Whichever gender you ‘identify’ with, whatever sex you wish to have, whichever drugs get you through the day: you do you, so long as you’re not harming anyone else.
Where I object is the coercion: the demand that the rest of us share the fantasy, pretend we think these are equally legitimate life choices, and vandalise the English language to enforce it.
That’s a test the Notting Hill Carnival fails entirely. Were it not that the event costs millions to police, with such a large mobilisation of the Met Police that the public are asked to think before dialling 999; were it not that nine out of ten residents along the route flee the area; were it not that officers, as a former Scotland Yard DCI put it, are wary of attending and of using stop-and-search for fear of being called “racist”, then it might be a different story. As it is, the usual orgy of drugs, sexual assault and stabbing (along with a soupçon of murder) is a matter of hours away.
The crime figures in isolation do not tell the whole story, since a variety of factors influence the arrest rates. Police presence and willingness to engage, budget, facial recognition cameras, knife arches, attendance and even the weather mediate the data. Even so, carnival devotees can hardly miss the direction of travel. In 2022 there were 209 arrests, 2023 saw 308, 2024 hit 355, and last year cleared the 500 mark at 528. That included 167 drug arrests, 50 offensive weapons, 21 sexual offences and 55 assaults on police. Curiously, 2021 saw no arrests at all, for which we have Chris Whitty to thank.