Good, but not good enough...

Well the reception was enjoyable. We didn’t stop long; too much like work for my partner! But we had a few glasses of wine, nibbled on a few canapés and listened to speeches from Anni Marjoram and the Mayor, out of which came a very interesting piece of information…

Did you know domestic violence murders have dropped this year by 50%? We spoke to someone from the Greater London Domestic Violence Project after the Mayor’s speech to check if that statistic was indeed true. (Not that I doubt Ken – personally I think he rocks – but a politician is a politician and figures and statistics can be surprisingly bendy). And it is true! Not surprisingly, it’s a complex issue and the drop is due to a large number of different issues, including the way police now deal with domestic violence and the awesome campaign you may have seen on the underground… ‘Don’t worry, nobody’s watching you, nobody knows you beat your partner…’ A breath-takingly audacious, hard hitting, stomach churning, make you fucking take notice sort of campaign. And even projects like the GLDVP can’t totally account for the huge drop. But, before we think the issue is in the hands of the experts, that everything that can be done is being done. Before we think thank goodness I don’t have to come out of my comfort zone and face the fact that statistically over 25% of all women, from all backgrounds, have suffered abuse from a partner, let’s remember that each week 2 women die from domestic violence. That’s a sister, a mother, a friend, a neighbour, a work colleague…

The figures are encouraging but we all have a lot more work to do. And it’s not just straight women that are affected; it’s gay women, gay men and straight men too.

If we ignore it, it carries on and it gets worse… time to make a difference then, yes?

Yes.

http://www.womensaid.org.uk/
www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/domestic-violence
www.bbc.co.uk/relationships/domestic_violence
http://www.gldvp.org.uk/
http://www.broken-rainbow.org.uk/


Do you think someone might check which websites you've visited?

Your safety is the most important thing. If you do not want anyone to know that you have visited a website that contains information about Domestic Violence (DV) please follow the steps below. It sets out what you need to do to increase your safety when using the internet.

To remove a DV website(s) from your computers history:
On your keyboard press Ctrl-H together
The history of the websites that have been viewed will show in the browser window
Locate the relevant folder, Women's Aid for example. Right click on the folder and choose delete
Close the history window

Remove DV website(s) from your computers cache:
Pull down the Tools menu in the browser window
Select > Internet Options
In the dialogue box click on the button "Delete files"
In the alert box select "OK"
Click "OK" again to close the window.