The Joy Of 21st Century Socialism.

Regardless of Wikipedia's many failings it is an invaluable resource when it comes to presenting uncontroversial information in a format that is user friendly and free. Wikipedia's list of countries by homicide rate is a case in point because governments (including our own) often like to release that information in a format that is incomplete and difficult to make use of for casual browsers. I'll come to the British murder rate next week, but have a look at the new world leader for homicide- Venezuela which has overtaken the likes of South Africa, Jamaica and its next door neighbour Colombia.

If you compare the figures for Colombia and Venezuela over the last decade you can see the difference competent and honest leadership makes, bear in mind that the Socialist demagogue Hugo Chavez took office in 1999 and the much demonised Alvaro Uribe in 2002. The murder rate for each county is per 100 000 people.

Year: Colombia Venezuela

1995 66.0 23
1996 67.8 25
1997 63.3 19
1998 56.6 22
1999 58.6 20
2000 62.7 37
2001 64.6 40
2002 65.8 49
2003 51.8 59
2004 44.6 45
2005 39.3 42

It shouldn't really be a surprise by now that when leaders come to power preaching revolution that you should start preparing the body bags.