Has every teenager been mugged?

Islington South MP Emily Thornberry has been embarrassed by having some of her comments about street crime highlighted in a press release by the Tories’ candidate for London mayor, Boris Johnson. It hasn't enamoured to her to some on the left that she chose to defend her remarks in the Daily Mail.

‘I suspect there are hardly any children in Islington who have not been mugged at some stage,’ Thornberry originally told a local paper. ‘If you talk to kids it is the main thing they are afraid of – and that is really sad.’

Cue the usual protestations from liberal commentators and the police that the figures prove otherwise and crime is falling.

But I’m with Thornberry. I can hardly think of a single teenager of my acquaintance who hasn’t been robbed at some point. And I can think of only one occasion when any of them thought it worth reporting the fact to the police.