I live in Reading - and there most certainly is crime at the Reading Festival, and a spike in crime around the period of the festival. Robbery, sex offences, drug offences and assaults spike over the weekend of the festival. It doesn't get the kind of national news coverage that Notting Hill festival gets (and I dare say the seriousness of some of the crimes is much lower) but there is definitely a mini-crime wave festival weekend - and its all generally around the festival site and area.

Shoplifting goes crazy as well on the Saturday morning of the festival. When I worked a shop in Reading, we'd generally catch three or four shoplifters on a Festival Saturday, compared to maybe one a week.

There is crime at many different events and festivals however it is just reported a lot less

I agree with some of this statement a lot of Black kids all think they are going to be the next LeBron James or Jay Z they have that ghetto mentality. I also have noted over the last couple of years some Bengali entrepreneur has opened up (In old stores) Khan's Tutorial without fail If I walk past on a Saturday or Sunday the place is absolutely jam packed with kids studying.

I don't think shop lifting deserves the same media coverage as stabbings... in fact... I can't remember the last time the mainstream media covered a shop lifting story.

The problem people have discussing these issues... is if you're black... you take it personally, If you're white... you think of your black mate Keith from the squash club, and think.. hang on... he ain't a criminal... I'm not saying ALL young black men are uneducated animals... I'm saying black people commit a far greater % of crime than any other ethnic group (comparable to their % of the greater population). Black boys are the worst performing in education... (although whites are starting to make inroads).

If you're black, you're far more likely to live in a house with only one parent.

I will also add... and this is just a theory I have based on my family and friends, so I may be massively wrong.... the black side of my family... all believed in hitting their kids when naughty... The white side believed in different forms of discipline, that didn't involve hitting. My uncle used to snap branches off the tree in his back yard to beat his kids... if we went there... and the tree was bare... we'd know his kids had been naughty... My parents always impressed the merits of conflict resolution through talking... this wasn't the case on the black side of my family... I don't mean it to sound like the white side of my family were civilised and the black side were knuckle dragging thicko's... I just think we're conditioned by our environment... and if you're brought up in a aggressive household... it's more likely you'll be a aggressive adult.

For balance
There were things my black family had that my white family didn't... They seemed healthier, they certainly had a better diet, they exercised more... and overall, seemed less stressed... they also were more generous.

That all seems pretty reasonable to me. I mentioned shoplifting as its personal experience. On a side note a friend of mine was stabbed at Reading festival - although in fairness he probably was asking for it, given he'd lent a sword to a Hells Angel make and went to get it back from them.

The seriousness of crime at Notting Hill is a cause for real concern, there is no getting away from it and there are problems within the black community that are self defeating, and it shouldn't be racist to discuss the actual problems - because many of these problems are also present in crime in other ethnic communities as well including whites.

The problem really is when we discuss these issues as being only black issues. They just more pronounced in the black community I think, issues with absent parents, poverty etc is generally a factor in white violent crime as well - particually in the underclasses.

Not the old poverty as an excuse for crime thing again.

I'd say that the only excuse you could make is if your kids were starving to death and you were incapable of receiving or making any money by any legal means.
Doubt there are too many like that in 21st century Britain. But you carry on deluding yourself scum who don't give a damn about anyone but themselves and would stab you for a mobile phone, deserve sympathy.