Sorry, but I found Ali Bracken's comparison of murder rates in Dublin to Washington, DC a bit far-fetched. I used to live there. While the crime can be bad, the city's just not that populous. The US Census bureau estimates the population for 2008 to be just under 600,000 people. The metro region on the other had has been cited as having a population ranging from four to six million people and encompasses an area bounded by Richmond, Virginia, to the south and Baltimore, Maryland, to the north. Bracken also mentions the Baltimore murder rate. So what is she talking about?

A Washington Post article from 20 July breaks murders down by area. For the District of Columbia (the city of Washington, DC) it was 79 at that time.

More accuracy would be appreciated.

John Gayer,

St Helen's Wood,

Booterstown, Co Dublin.