Psychosis and despair afflict terror detainees Earlier this week, Michael Howard called Polly Toynbee to task for drawing on British Crime Survey figures about falling crime. "The most reliable crime statistics - those recorded by the police - show that crime in England and Wales has risen by 850,000 in the past five years," he claimed. He referred to an increase in recorded violent crime of 83% over the past five years nationally, and, in defence of his remarks about Brixton, a rise in violent crime statistics in Lambeth of 10% over the past year.

As a former home secretary, he must be aware that this is a gross misrepresentation of crime trends.