Labour turnover has been increasing, especially in the accommodation department and (more recently) in the restaurant, with a disturbing 20 per cent rise in accidents in housekeeping and the restaurant.

"We've also seen a disturbing rise in moral relativism, the sense that values are interchangeable, that no single value is superior to another," Mr. Kean said.

And on the subways, where there had been a disturbing rise in the number of muggings recently, an officer was assigned to every train and every station throughout the night.

The laboratory's efforts come amid what many experts see as a disturbing rise in wildlife crimes.

The roots of the Canadian study reach back two years to New Zealand, which, like other countries, has had a disturbing rise in asthma deaths.

They follow a disturbing rise in income concentration in 2003, and a sharp increase in 2004.

There's been a disturbing rise in the number of men committing suicide under the age of twenty five.

There is a disturbing rise in xenophobic comment, particularly in some parts of the popular media.

Without any doubt there has been, as Mr Schulz said, a disturbing and dramatic rise in the number of documented cases of illicit traffic in nuclear materials.

During the 1970's, our state had seen a disturbing rise in street crime.