Most countries have unifying legends about the glory days when their nations were forged. Britons prefer to bond over a rich mythology about the unstoppable demise of their civilisation. As the latest British Crime Survey confirms, the British are a pessimistic people.

Survey respondents believe that a tide of crime is rising across the UK. Knife crime is assumed to be soaring. The average Briton also has a theory about why this is happening: drugs, alcohol, weak parenting and broken families are breeding a growing horde of criminals, while the justice system is too lenient to deter them.