I used to work out of West London back in the 1990's
I would rather not visit that city again, it's seemingly become a hell-hole of violent crime on a daily basis and nothing seems to be getting done about it - (other opinions may differ)
There is nowhere in London I would not go at anytime of day to be fair.
From my background I am no stranger to things being sorted with a punch up, or run ins with the law, I enjoy a day in court pitting my wits against them.
The big difference is respect, for elders and coppers doing a job, you get caught either take the punishment of fight your case in court.
Things like this though are totally beyond comprehension, there is no respect for elders anymore, they are a target for cowards when the bigger person would care for them, as I have often done locally, but this has sickened me.
What could the old boy do to anyone? get in the way for a few minutes? If it was robbery, what could he do to stop it? 80 years to come to a pointless and needless end.
Fighting your corner in the world you live in, with people around your own age, black eyes and broken teeth, handbag stuff really, but WTF possesses anyone to carry a knife in the first place, but doing this is simply wrong on every single level, I cannot get my head round it.
Of course the Met will flood the place with coppers, to reassure the public ffs, they can find coppers for the street after the event, why the fuck are they not out there looking to stop the event ?