Shock, horror, the streets are awash with violence, we’re all cowering in our homes behind bars – yet another report from a “think-tank” tells us.

Oddly enough, I just came home on a central London night bus, and walked a kilometre from the stop, and I wasn’t even murdered on the way.

The Observer today, reports however, that the Wave Foundation (new to me) has concluded we’re now “25 times more likely to be a victim of violent crime now compared to the Fifties. Based on official police statistics, the study calculated that in 1950 there were 47 violent offences per thousand people compared to 1,158 for 2003/2004”.

It looks like the full report is not out until Monday, but I think I – and I bet you – have already spotted the enormous hole in it.

How much domestic violence made it to the violent crime statistics in the Fifites? Just about none.

How much child abuse made it to the violent crime statistics in the Fifties?
So close to none as to make no difference.

How many kids been beat up by older kids for the lunch money made it to the crime statistics in the Fifties? None. (Now of course the kids have iPods and mobile phones stolen, so a police report goes in.)

And if a kid beat up another kid in the playground then? Well it was “character building”. Now it is “call the police”.

It’s not that I’m saying the police involvement in all of these things is bad – indeed it reflects the fact that we are a far less violence-tolerant society than we used to be.

And that shows in the statistics, which right-wing think tanks and the Daily Mail use to scare witless those people who haven’t got the sense to see through the headlines. (The Observer really should know better.)

History Carnival No 18 is now up on Acephalous. It’s unlike any history carnival you’ve ever seen before. (My drunken Greek symposium – tame in comparison – is here, should you be seeking a comparison.)

I might call it the History Carnival on speed, but that might disqualify Acephalous from leadership of the British Conservative Party, and I wouldn’t want to do anything so nasty … (or nice).

A new invention has caught up with Harry Potter – paper on which you can (quite cheaply) print moving images. This is really what you call media convergence – a book can do everything a screen can, or to put it around the other way, a screen can become a book.

Then a book professional, The Grumpy Old Bookman (he’s not that bad really!), finds a print on demand publisher who can handle coffeetable books and, he suggests, presents lots of new cultural possibilities.

Finally in the science roundup, the glorious saga of Homo floriensis (universally known to newspapers around the world as “the Hobbitt”). For the detailed professional view, I’d recommend the blogger Johan Hawks, parts one and two. The short answer is to the puzzle, it seems, is “more data needed”. But that’s never stopped the popular media reporting a story at length and with “definitive answers”.

No, I’m not including bird flu in my science/technology round-up – the whole thing is just one enormous beat-up. The risk of a flu pandemic now is probably lower than for the past century, because we’re far better prepared to meet it. But I bet there’re plenty of internet fraudsters selling all sort of junk out there, profiting from the scare stories.

I was just pointed to a potentially very useful resource, the Yale web style guide.

It is of particular relevance to me since my Sunday-Monday project (among others) is to revamp my now very tired-looking personal website, build a professional one as my “advertising card” for freelance life, and possibly also get up and running another little semi-commercial idea I have. (Yes, I am being unrealistic about timeframes.)

But I wondered if anyone out there has an advice on purchasing domain names (does it matter who) and possibly (for the last site anyway) web hosting? (All help gratefully received.)

Also, if anyone can particularly recommend a site for free web templates – I’ve got a couple in mind but haven’t yet tried them out, I’d also be most grateful for suggestions.

A guide to my abilities: I’m not a techie, but I can sort-of pretend to be one when I really have to.

Miss Frances Williams Wynn is today reporting on her experiences in the Naples earthquake of 1805. She maintains (at least in retrospect) an admirable scientific sangfroid; she’s quite Pliny-like in her observations:

You may form some idea of the violence of the shock, from the circumstance of some persons being affected by it as by sea-sickness. The children of Sir Grenville Temple, who, from being ignorant of the danger, cannot be supposed to have been influenced by fear, were affected in this manner in common with several grown people. I myself did not feel any sensation of this sort, perhaps from having been constantly in motion …

The full account is here.

I say the account is timely since the poor of Naples and environs were no doubt in much the same state (although without the threat of snow) as the poor of Kashmir are today.

Seen on a building site near Canary Wharf this afternoon:

“Emergency Access: Any materials left here will be skipped.”

I can just see the rope turning now, as the planks jump from one foot to the other.