The purpose of this book is to offer the ordinary, law-abiding citizen a series of tested and tried techniques, which will help him or her avoid becoming a victim on the streets of today’s urban jungles.

Around 90 per cent of successful self-defence is to do with avoiding violence. The remaining 10 per cent depends on using physical action to combat the attacker. We shall be dealing with some defensive fighting techniques in Section Two. Getting into a fight is easy. Avoiding a fight is the difficult part. Having said that, your own mental attitude is of paramount importance both in avoiding violence and in fighting a determined aggressor.

Essentially, self-defence is keeping out of trouble, but to do that successfully you have to be aware of all the situations and circumstances in which trouble is likely to arise.

The threat We live in a world where violence and lawlessness are on the increase. Our cities are overcrowded. Many people, particularly the young, are out of work or in dead-end jobs, and most can see little light at the end of the tunnel. They are alienated from the traditional stabilising forces of family disciplines, and they are fed a TV and film diet of violence and unattainable sex, where the role models are often muscle-bound supermen, and the major motivations are greed, lust, rage and revenge. Throughout history there has always been violence on the streets, the threat of robbery and sexual assault, as well as drunken brawling.

Violent confrontations and unprovoked attacks are not restricted to the streets. There has been a general increase in attacks on people whose jobs bring them into daily contact with the public in all sorts of environments. The police are an obvious example, although they are more prepared than most of us for violent confrontation, and have been trained how to deal with it. Other people whose jobs put them at risk include social workers, doctors and nurses, shop staff, bus drivers and conductors, taxi drivers and even firemen.

The response Despite the above, the chances of being attacked are still relatively small, and can be reduced even further by a few simple measures. For example, anyone interested in learning self-defence should be prepared to spend time improving their general fitness, ideally by attending self-defence classes, or by joining a club or gym with qualified fitness instructors. If you can join a martial arts club, so much the better, but you do not have to be a black-belt master to learn the instructions in this book. As far as your mental attitude is concerned, increased fitness and physical skills will boost your self-confidence, help you to think clearly and quickly, stay aware of potential dangers, and focus your energies if the time comes for physical action. Good self-defence is about preparedness and knowledge. You have to know the mentality and probable physical limitations of your