The country's worse off in some ways (
constant health-and-safety culture and niggly intervention by the govt. [which is still better than the corporatism of the 70s, mind, but still annoying]). Crime's by-and-large gone up slightly in some areas, but has also decreased in others.
According to official HO stats, crime has increased since the 1970s. But official statistics includes only crimes that were reported. Evidence that includes estimates on unreported crime actually show a
decrease in crime overall since a high point in the mid-1980s.
this handy comparison by Nationmaster is also quite revealing on gun crime. There's probably one on knife crime but I can't find it offhand. NM also has us in third place for crime overall (
here) so it's not all rosy (but it's not nearly as apocalyptic as people seem to think it is).
Off the top of my head, I seem to remember we're quite high up for specific offenses (I think assault was one but that's just from memory).