You cannot lift your arms, or remember how you got home, or what was done to you in the preceding few hours. Having your drink spiked is a horrific experience and a terrible crime — and it is on the rise.
More than 100 drink spiking crimes are taking place in the capital each month, with campaigners today urging for action to protect victims amid a 13 per cent rise in offences in London. Yet the grim reality is that the true figure is likely to be far higher.
That is why the Government is right to introduce a new law to make spiking a specific criminal offence. Spiking is already illegal, but Labour’s 2024 election manifesto called for a new offence to help police better respond to incidents.
It is no exaggeration to suggest that the capital is facing an epidemic of spiking, one that affects both men and women. Revellers rely on their friends for support and watch their open drinks more than their phones, but fighting predatory criminals should not be left to the public. Club and bar owners must do more too, or they ought not to be surprised when Londoners decide it is safer to take their business elsewhere.
Defence mission
Few prime ministers have come to power in such a geopolitically uncertain moment. From the rise of a revisionist China to an aggressive Russia and a bellicose Iran and North Korea, the world feels like an increasingly dangerous place. And that is before the possible return of Donald Trump to the White House.
And so while Sir Keir Starmer may have been elected in large part to get Britain’s economy growing and repair crumbling public services, the issue of defence cannot stay far below the surface. Consequently, the strategic defence review is a vital opportunity to set this country on the right path to defend our homeland and bolster Western security.
Ultimately, that will require a rise in defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP, something the Prime Minister acknowledged at the Nato summit in Washington last week. Britain, its values and institutions are worth defending. Paying for it is never easy, but it remains the essential task of government.
Roar-some!
Meet Fern, the new bronze cast of the Natural History Museum’s much loved diplodocus, Dippy. The dinosaur, named by schoolchildren, will sit at the centre of the museum’s stunning new gardens which open on Thursday. Another (rather large) reason to visit the attraction, which celebrated its best year in 2023, welcoming nearly six million visitors.
