How This LBC Presenter Masterfully Handled a Difficult Call

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]Yeah, just to bring a couple of fractions to the equation, I'm a I'm interested in facts, not fiction.

[00:00:05]Also, I'd like to ask you a couple of questions cuz you know you seem to have all the answers. In this call, you're going to hear from a caller named Kevin, who says he's only interested in facts, not fiction.

[00:00:15]What's striking is that he doesn't sound like a stereotypical extremist. He sounds normal, familiar.

[00:00:21]The kind of person you wouldn't think twice about. And that's what makes this so unsettling.

[00:00:26]Because this isn't about obvious hostility or open bigotry.

[00:00:29]It's about something far more subtle.

[00:00:32]How ordinary people can come to hold deeply distorted views while still believing they are simply stating facts.

[00:00:39]This isn't just one phone call. It reflects a wider pattern of how media, repetition, and selective narratives can shape what people think is true.

[00:00:48]And what follows is a closer look at how that process unfolds in real time. Let's go to Kevin in Oxford. Kevin, what would you like to say this morning?

[00:00:56]Morning, Ollie. A quick one here. Just to bring a couple of fractions to the equation, I'm a I'm interested in facts, not fiction. Yes, me too. Also, I'd like to ask you a couple of questions cuz you know you seem to have all the answers.

[00:01:04]Um Kevin, we've I've been speaking to um Nick Ferrari for two decades on knife crime. Okay. And um I've been saying for two decades it should be mandatory 5 years for carrying a knife. If you use a knife, it should be uh 15 years and and per se. Because what would happen there is that little Johnny will say to Paul, "Do you know what? Did you hear that little Mickey got 5 years for carrying a knife? I'm not going to carry a knife. I don't want 5 years." That That That That stop the Kevin, you said you were interested in facts, not feelings. So, when I tell you that Dr. I know you've got to I'm com- I'm coming back to you on this just for a for a point, Kevin. So, you just need to you just need to let me respond to your point, my friend. You said you're interested in facts, not feelings. And we're talking about whether or not harsher sentencing can reduce um can reduce the sort of the severity with which or the the frequency with which people offend. And when I tell you that Dr. Bas Driedijk um has done a study into this fact looking across societies to try and establish whether or not harsh sentencing has any correlation with reducing recidivism so reoffending rates and found that there was none. That's a That's a fact not a feeling, isn't it?

[00:02:06]>> Can I speak? Can I speak? If you're going to respond to what I just said, yeah. Well, I will respond according to the Guardian allegedly black people are four times more likely to be murdered in England and Wales than white people. Why do you think that is? I mean I'm asking you a single question. Why do you think that is?

[00:02:18]>> Why do you Why do you think it is?

[00:02:20]No, I'm asking you. I asked the question first. You answer and I'll answer my way.

[00:02:23]>> I've spoken extensively about this over the course of the last 45 minutes. And Kevin, what's your answer to >> I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Do you want to listen?

[00:02:36]Do you want to Do you want to listen to my answer, Kevin, or do you just want to talk?

[00:02:40]So, whilst yes, you know, it's it's a it's a alarming and upsetting statistic to see that, you know, despite only making up about 13% of London's total population black Londoners account for 45% of the knife murder victims, 61% of knife murder perpetrators, and 53% of knife crime perpetrators. But, I think that when you zoom out and you look at the history of serious youth violence in this country that goes back 200 years and you tell me about the penny mobs or the razor gangs or the schemeys in Glasgow, most of whom were white, you if you if you want to think that race is relevant, you've got to tell me what the problem was with the white community in Glasgow. And for me, it would appear to be that the commonality between the two is poverty.

[00:03:24]Well, I I I I like your facts. They're very good. I mean you you've hit you've hit some amazing figures there. You're very correct with that. I mean I appreciate you for that, Ollie. Thank you.

[00:03:32]In my opinion, you want to know my opinion? I do. You You said about youth clubs um not being open to you anymore in the areas I used to work um in and around London suburbs, they closed a lot of the youth centers because of the violence perpetrated on the youth leaders by the um youth. Kevin, Um a couple of those couple were hospitalized. I can get them I can get them um research data sent to >> Yeah, sure. We can I can talk about youth services in a moment, but I would say that considering that you asked me about about the rate of knife crime in in London and how it connects to black people, and I gave you my answer. Can I ask you what yours would have been? Yes, I I I I I Yeah, I believe I think I think there's more of a culture in the black community to use knives than than in the white community. So, you're just a racist then.

[00:04:16]No, you said that. I didn't say that. I I know. I know full well I said that.

[00:04:19]So, you just said that you said you said If you say that black people are more culturally inclined to stab each other, then yes, I will 100% call you a racist.

[00:04:28]According to my research, according to my research and and and my my experience in life of growing up in and around the London suburb and traveling globally, um yes, I in my youth, um I didn't know anybody that was stabbed. As I've got older, there's a lot of people I work all around Camden, Hampstead, all around those areas. Camden now, um wow, you don't want to be I mean, you probably you may have a look in Camden or you could be within your inner circles, who knows. Um but it's far away from the Westminster bubble for you, but um yeah, I think um I think you need to get out and do a little bit more research on it.

[00:04:57]All right. I would Okay, thank you, Kevin. Thank you for your time as well.

[00:05:01]Yeah, I would suggest that you probably need to get out a little bit more as well. Um do a little bit more research yourself. I It's telling that when I spoke to you about violence, serious youth violence in Glasgow, you you were quite keen to move the conversation on to youth services and else. You didn't really have an answer to that point. And and and when asked, your idea that uh black people are just culturally more inclined to commit knife crime, um I'm afraid, Kevin, there is no other word for it. That is racism.

[00:05:29]What stands out in this call is not that Kevin sounds extreme. It's that he doesn't. He sounds like a normal person who believes he's just telling it like it is.

[00:05:38]And that's the real concern.

[00:05:40]Modern radicalization rarely begins with openly hateful individuals. It often starts with ordinary people being repeatedly exposed to selective narratives that gradually shape how they interpret the world.

[00:05:53]Over time, complex issues get reduced into simple, emotionally charged explanations, especially in online spaces where certain types of content are constantly amplified.

[00:06:05]The result is a worldview that feels logical to the person holding it, even when it's built on incomplete or misleading assumptions.

[00:06:14]This is why these conversations matter.

[00:06:16]They reveal how quickly perception can shift when information is filtered through repeated narratives rather than balanced evidence.

[00:06:24]And the bigger question becomes unavoidable.

[00:06:27]How do you challenge these beliefs once they become deeply embedded in someone's understanding of reality?