When I moved to London in 1981, this was still a remarkably peaceful city, refreshingly so by comparison with its crime-ridden American counterparts.

People walked the streets at night with little fear of being mugged, and the murder rate for all of Britain, a country with strict gun-control laws, was a mere fraction of that in almost any big American city.

But around the turn of the century, London and Britain began playing catch-up even as American crime rates were falling, and Britain actually shot ahead in such categories as robbery, burglary, and assault. Suddenly, crime had become a growth industry in Britain.

Critics contended that part of the problem was a shortage of police, and bureaucratic regulations that forced officers to spend much of their time filling out forms instead of performing the traditional role of bobby on the beat.

The government boosted the London police force to 30,000, close to New York’s 39,110, and that has had an effect. Overall, crime has been declining in the last few years, and the number of murders always has remained well below those in America.

But gun battles between rival drug gangs keep the murder rate uncomfortably high, and binge drinking is a relatively new phenomenon that is driving up crime rates to a disturbing level. In some British cities, drunken louts, often including young women, pour out of bars and pubs at closing time and regularly go on a rampage of mindless violence, car vandalism and obscene behavior.

This has led to demands for legislation to fine bars and pubs that keep serving people who are obviously drunk, and to put a stop to happy hours and other cheap-drink promotions. A government bill would end fixed closing times for bars and pubs on the dubious theory people won’t drink themselves senseless if they have more time to drink.

One unnerving recent development has been the growing use of knives in homicides. The police say knife crime in London dropped by 10.4% last year, but murder by switchblade seems to be another matter.

A private charity, the Victims of Crime Trust, says knife slayings outstrip fatal shootings by 3 to 1, and a child dies from stab wounds every two weeks.

In many cases, these are motiveless murders in which perpetrator and victim do not know each other.

The recent slaying of prominent London financier John Monckton brought the issue home to the capital’s residents. His wife answered a doorbell ring one night, and two would-be burglars barged in, stabbing Monckton to death when he confronted them. Shortly afterward, a London teacher was knifed to death in his home by burglars.

Highly publicized stabbing deaths of two schoolboys in London and Lincolnshire have also helped focus public attention on the problem, and families of some victims are demanding minimum five-year sentences for those who carry knives as weapons. Currently, sentences vary up to a maximum of four years.

The spurt in knife deaths among schoolchildren has prompted suggestions that schools be required to install metal detectors. When schools do confiscate knives from pupils, they rarely report the offenders to police.

There is nothing like an upcoming election to encourage politicians to exploit fears about crime. So there has been wide discussion lately as to whether Britain needs new laws bolstering the rights of people to defend themselves against burglars in their homes.

This has been a subject of some confusion, for a few burglars have sued their victims for injuries they sustained when the victims fought back, and some householders have been prosecuted for using excessive violence against burglars.

The most notorious case was that of Norfolk farmer Tony Martin, given a life sentence for shooting dead a 16-year-old burglar as the boy was fleeing his home.

Police and prosecutors insist no new legislation is needed. People who have reason to fear being attacked may even kill intruders without fear of prosecution, they say. But shooting a fleeing burglar in the back, or continuing to pummel a housebreaker after he has been knocked unconscious, is a punishable offense.

So now we can all rest easy. An Englishman’s home remains his castle – within reasonable limits.

Mr. Moseley, who was recently awarded the M.B.E., was a longtime foreign correspondent for the Chicago Tribune.