"This is where it happened. This is where he cut down the first one," says a man in a Jewish headscarf, a kippah, on Highfield Avenue in the Golders Green district, pointing up the road.
The man, who does not want to give his name, talks about the knife attack at the end of April, when two Jewish men were injured in what is now being investigated as an Islamist terrorist act.
This is one of London's most Jewish areas, where every other person wears a kippah and kosher shops are next to one another.
“Change government”
Anti-Semitism is nothing new here.
"I'm 80 now and this has been going on since I was born. But it's much more open now," says Philip, who is on his way to vote in Thursday's local elections.
He doesn't want to give his last name. Most people here are quite skeptical of all the journalists who have turned up after the knife attack.
Many are critical of the social-democratic Labour Party, which is accused of fueling anti-Semitism through its critical stance against Israel.
"We need to change the government. Otherwise we will end up like Brussels and the rest of Europe," says the man on Highfield Avenue.
“Know what we have”
Ironically, Labour is also facing criticism from the other side, from left-wing voters who think the government is far too accommodating towards Israel and the US. All of this adds to the pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose job is seen as hanging in the balance if the local elections go as badly for the party as expected.
Philip in Golders Green, however, is hesitant about a change of leadership.
If Starmer disappears, we could get someone even worse. At least now we know what we have.
