NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL

I used to love working the doors for the Bournemouth Soul Weekends. The soul boys and soul girls were never any trouble. They just came down for the music and the crack, and over the years we got to know them all.

And you didn't need 7000 police officers on duty at a cost to the taxpayer of £5.5 million, like the Notting Hill Carnival this year (with 19 sexual assaults, 47 emergency workers attacked, 61 police officers injured, 320 arrests, one acid attack, eight stabbings and two murders). 

What's happened to Notting Hill? I used to enjoy taking my son when he was a little boy, but I wouldn't go now. Yes, you see photographs of police officers dancing in the street, which is nothing short of embarrassing, but back in the days of the Soul Weekenders the police really could enjoy the atmosphere because there really was never, ever any trouble. Just music  

They were great days!

What’s happening to this country?

Copyright © Karl Wiggins