Queen of the Suburbs?

Apparently, or so Wikipedia says, the West London Borough of Ealing is known as ‘Queen of the Suburbs.’ Not sure where this delightful pet name comes from but it’s up on the Ealing Times website as well.
Judging by recent events however, Ealing looks in danger of losing that *prestigious* belt quite soon.
Well, I’ve lived my whole life in Ealing, spending my childhood on a picturesque Victorian street in Acton Central, then teenage years on the hilly Windmill Estate that can’t make up its mind if it’s in Hanwell or Southall, and I would say on the whole it’s been a pleasant experience. Just pleasant.
I had a quick Google to see what might have contributed to this ‘suburban’ image that Ealing has carved out for itself. Wikipedia, in its usual trusty nature, only gives two photos – one of that typically gothic Town Hall, and another of the old, and frankly butt-ugly Ealing Council building (Percival House, eugh!). Read the article, and you will find that we are basically a bunch of ageing historians, obsessed with our Saxon foundations and Gunnersbury Manor, who have been invaded by Poland.
Our only claims to coolness are The Who, Peter Crouch and – wait for it – Jamiroquai . Oh, and the almost defunct Ealing Studios recently made the St Trinians movie (cough, flop).
So yes, you’d be forgiven for thinking Ealing is dryer than Emmerdale (they got Patsy Kensit remember). Or so we thought.
That was until last September, when Ealing came into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. On 3rd September 2007, Yasin Abdirahman, a 22-year old student from Southall, was stabbed to death on the Windmill Park Estate by a ‘gang of youths’. I remember waking up to see about 15 policemen out on the park with the whole estate cordoned off. There was door to door questioning, name-taking and all the rest of it for days. Then about a week later, from the kitchen window I saw a huge group of Somali women all dressed in black walking out of the estate – presumably for Yasin’s funeral.
Someone was arrested and charged in October, and things died down. It was reported in the local papers mostly, and possibly mentioned briefly on BBC news. Then 5 months later, 19 year-old Fuad Buraleh, also of Somali origin was murdered 10 minutes away, in Dean Gardens, West Ealing.
This time it was big; all over the national papers and TV. And suddenly Ealing is another scary hot-spot, another danger-zone for crime, stabbings, youth violence, and general ASBO behaviour.
But are things really that bad? Or are they worse? Ealing’s constituent districts and neighbouring borough Brentford are after all home to some of the murkiest housing estates in West London. Acton is commonly referred to 'Crackton' - more than just an affection nickname I believe. I’d been a personal witness to anti-social behaviour way before these murders, but now everything is in the spotlight. Or is everything being blown out of proportion? Is Ealing really full of brewing youngsters, violent tearaways and strained race relations, or is it just a few wannabes trying to recreate Peckham? Not sure which is scarier..