How Many More Lives?
A man died on Stapleton Road Tuesday night. Two-minute walk from where I'm writing this.
(Image: Courtesy of Reach plc/Paul Gillis)
Quarter to eleven. Police on patrol. Group carrying bladed weapons. Chase through Trinity Walk, George Jones Park. Seven arrested. One man found bleeding near Trinity Road junction. Made it to hospital. Didn’t make it home.
Dead. Forties. Lawrence Hill ward. Green Party territory.
Am I apologetic for writing this now? Absolutely not.
Is this party political? The Green Party controls this ward, controls the wards with Bristol’s highest crime, controls the budget. These are documented choices. Party politics would be “vote Labour instead.” This is “here’s what happened, here are the questions.”
The man who died doesn’t care about politics. His family deserves answers about what prevention existed—whether council choices contributed to conditions that killed him.
How much has Bristol City Council spent preventing knife crime in this ward? I can’t find a single documented pound. But they’ve got £1.292 billion for cycle lanes and bus priority schemes.
What does £1.292 billion buy? 5,000+ council homes. Comprehensive early intervention programs in every ward. Or segregated bus lanes most people didn’t want.
£1.292 billion for transport. Zero documented for preventing stabbings.
Follow the Money.
West of England Combined Authority: £540 million in 2022, £752 million in June. Total £1.292 billion for transport. Ring-fenced—must be spent on transport by March 2027.
Fair enough. Not able to redirect it.
Community safety spending? I’ve searched budget documents, the £571.5 million revenue budget, committee reports. I Can not find a single line item for youth violence prevention.
Closest I can find: £2.5 million for domestic abuse services. Vital, non-statutory—they chose to keep it.
But preventing teenagers from carrying weapons through Stapleton Road? Not in the budget.
70% goes to adult social care and children’s services—legally required. That leaves £150 million discretionary spending.
Somehow no room for stopping knife crime. But £1.292 billion for cycle infrastructure.
Complexity is the first refuge of institutional failure.
Is it practical? Is it logical? What’s the likely outcome?
The Geography.
Bristol’s highest crime areas are Green Party-controlled.
Central ward (Green, affluent): 747 crimes in one month. Castle Park, The Centre, Queens Square. Wealthiest core.
Lawrence Hill (Green, gentrifying): Where Stapleton Road sits. 255 crimes.
Ashley (Green, gentrifying): St Pauls. 111 crimes.
Labour wards:
Hartcliffe & Withywood (most deprived, Labour): Not in top 30 crime areas.
Filwood (third most deprived, Labour): Not in top 30.
Southmead (deprived, Labour): 85 crimes in highest area.
Green controls highest-crime areas. Response? Over a billion on transport. Zero documented community safety spending.
What They Chose.
Youth services across Bristol: Decimated. 7.6% of hate crime suspects are under 18. Pipeline being created while youth centres close.
Council housing: Green promised 1,000 new council homes annually. Sold 1,222 existing homes. Net negative social housing under progressive administration.
Police Funding.
“Council doesn’t control police funding!” Correct.
Avon & Somerset Police: 57% central government, 43% council tax precept set by Police Commissioner Moody. Just went up £14/year, generates £8.5 million.
Council cannot redirect transport money to police. The £1.292 billion is ring-fenced.
But £150 million discretionary spending isn’t ring-fenced. That’s where youth violence prevention could be. That’s where early intervention programs could be funded.
The comparison: you document every pound of £1.292 billion transport spending, cannot document a single pound preventing knife crime in highest-crime wards.
Not a funding problem. A priority problem.
What they CAN do: fund youth violence prevention, keep youth centres open, invest in early intervention.
They’re choosing not to.
Police were on patrol Tuesday. Encountered armed suspects. Gave chase. Made seven arrests.
What failed was everything preventing seven men from being on Stapleton Road with weapons. That’s where council investment matters. That’s the gap between police reaction and crime prevention.
The Numbers.
Knife crime over ten years: 13,791 offences. Tripled since 2015. 31 killed since 2016. Nearly half in last three years.
Violent crime: 141% of national average. 27,300 recorded.
Public order crime: 201% of national average. Fourth worst in England. 7,700+ incidents.
Stapleton Road, March 2025: 305 crimes within half-mile. 103 violence and sexual offences. 26 public order. 8 drugs. 18 burglaries.
That’s the environment where Tuesday’s murder happened. The area the Green Party controls.
The Record
Funded:
£1.292 billion transport
£2.5 million domestic abuse services
East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood (despite 54% opposition)
Cut or demolished:
Youth centres across Bristol
Youth services (no documented budget)
Community safety programs (no identifiable spending)
Results:
Knife crime tripled
Violent crime 141% national average
Public order crime 201% national average
One more body on Stapleton Road
Seven more lives destroyed
Zero prevention strategy
How Many More?
Tuesday proved something. When violence happens, when weapons come out, when lives end—cycle lanes don’t help. Bus priority schemes don’t prevent it.
What might have helped? Youth centres not closed. Youth violence prevention with documented funding. Early intervention in budget line items, not just speeches.
Police caught seven suspects. Reactive justice—important, necessary, too late. Victim’s still dead. Seven more lives destroyed. Another family grieves.
Weaponising tragedy? I live two minutes away. You know what weaponises tragedy? Consultations after each stabbing while documenting zero prevention spending. That’s using each death to demand “something must be done” while doing nothing about root causes.
I’m refusing to let this be filed away as another statistic, another opportunity for officials to express concern without accountability for choices that made it predictable.
Bristol’s Green administration: £1.292 billion transport spending, tripling of knife crime, 141% national average violent crime, 201% national average public disorder, highest crime in their wards, youth centres closed, no documented youth violence prevention budget.
They’re excellent at reporting. They’re crap at preventing.
People keep dying while they perfect the reporting.
How many more lives?
The answer depends on how long Bristol tolerates an administration finding £1.292 billion for cycle lanes but can’t document a single pound preventing knife crime where it happens.
The answer depends on whether anyone with power admits you can’t cycle your way out of a violent crime epidemic—you have to invest in communities producing it. Youth services. Housing. Early intervention. Prevention.
The unglamorous work of keeping people safe. Not building segregated bike lanes while teenagers kill each other in streets your party controls.
RIP to the man who died Tuesday. Condolences to his family. Justice for the seven arrested. Accountability for the council that presided over conditions making this predictable.
The data proves it. The patterns show it. The budget priorities demonstrate it.
The bodies keep piling up while the cycle lanes keep going in.
How many more?
How many fucking more?
Data: Avon & Somerset Police crime statistics (Dec 2024-Mar 2025), Bristol City Council Budget 2025/26, West of England Combined Authority, previous TheAlmightyGob.com investigations.
Unbelievable where's the money gone , shocking, that's not the word ,? Nutts ,? Or baffled,?