Boris talks up crime - but London's no Gotham City

The police certainly think it is. A few weeks ago I chatted with the Met's divisional commander for Islington, who reeled off an impressive list of statistics which showed that burglaries, assaults and murders were down in my part of London.

Every other Met commander can tell the same story. Sadly for them, no one wants to listen, as Monday night's Standard debate between the candidates for Mayor made plain.

Boris Johnson declared he was running on an anti-crime ticket. Ever the opportunist, Ken Livingstone heard what his opponent had to say and announced: "I'm stealing your policies" on curbing youth's unruly behaviour on buses. The two are now in an arms race to see who can adopt the toughest stance before polling day. To listen to them you would think London town was Gotham City.

It clearly isn't, and sociologists throw out all kinds of explanations for why fear of crime is growing when crime rates are falling. Some blame the media for providing disproportionate coverage of murder and mayhem. Others blame politicians for stoking public fears with "eye-catching" initiatives and stunts.

I agree that the sight of Harriet Harman in a stab-proof vest will do nothing to calm fluttering nerves, but the big reason why crime is dominating this contest is that Londoners are becoming far less tolerant of threats to their quality of life. They do not accept fights at chucking-out time or the occasional burglary as inevitable. They don't shrug their shoulders and mutter that they must be grateful that overall crime is falling. They want to know why it can't fall further.

As someone who believes we have too many people in prison, I find the crammed jails and restrictions on civil liberties that the authoritarian climate produces depressing.

However, my fellow liberals and I are equally intolerant when it comes to our pet causes. It's no good telling us to be grateful that London is no longer enveloped by smog, for instance, or that homophobia is not as vicious as it used to be. We want a green environment and minorities to be treated with respect, right now.

This convergence of liberal and conservative thinking is a sign that London, for all its poverty, is becoming an ever-more middle-class city. And like solid bourgeois folk everywhere, Londoners want good manners, cleanliness and order. In his lumbering way, Johnson half grasps this public mood - which is why he looks like winning.