While Keir Starmer faces criticism for 'appeasing' big tech firms over online safety, a different kind of safety story has been unfolding behind prison walls for decades. Britain's correctional officers are facing 70% fewer assaults than they did in the aftermath of World War II.

The Ministry of Justice data shows assaults on prison staff dropped from 578 incidents in 1942 to just 173 in 1998. That's not a marginal improvement. That's a transformation of an entire working environment. (Source: Ministry of Justice, Safety in Custody -- Safety-in-custody-summary-q3-2024_final_table_accessible -- Table_4)

Think about what Britain looked like in 1942. The country was at war. Rationing was in full swing. Social services barely existed. Prison officers walked into work knowing they faced genuine physical danger from inmates who had little to lose.

By 1998, those same officers were working in a fundamentally different system. Better training, improved protocols, enhanced security measures, and crucially, different approaches to prisoner management had made their jobs dramatically safer.

This isn't about prisons becoming soft. It's about prisons becoming professional. The data captures a period when British corrections moved from a system that relied on brute force to one that understood violence prevention.

The timeline matters here. This 70% reduction happened across some of the most turbulent decades in modern British history. Through the social upheaval of the 1960s, the economic chaos of the 1970s, the industrial strife of the 1980s, and the rapid social change of the 1990s, prison violence against staff kept falling.

What makes this particularly striking is how it contrasts with today's debates about safety and violence. While politicians argue about online harm and tech company responsibilities, the physical safety of people working in one of Britain's most dangerous environments has quietly, steadily improved.

Prison officers in 1942 faced assault rates nearly three times higher than their counterparts in 1998. That's not just a statistic. That's thousands of people going home uninjured who might not have in previous generations.

The data ends in 1998, which leaves obvious questions about what's happened since. But it captures something important about British institutions: when they focus on protecting workers, they can deliver results that span decades.

While we debate digital safety in 2024, it's worth remembering that physical safety in one of our most challenging workplaces has a track record of dramatic improvement. The question isn't whether British institutions can protect people. It's whether they choose to.