Write-Place

The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, (remember, she’s the one who claims that crime is not increasing and who wore the bullet proof vest to take a stroll around the streets – see my blog 3rd July “Walk on By” ) is making some plans again. She is planning to “shock young people who carry knives into a greater awareness of the impact of stabbing on victims” BBC News today. These plans include visits to hospitals where people are being treated for knife wounds. Now, call me too sensitive, but the last person that I would want to see when I am laid in my hospital bed trying to recover physically and mentally from a criminal, violent act committed on an innocent person, is a person who has committed a crime of this nature. I am 100% certain that the only shock factor would be on MY part. As most people who know me (and many who don't) are aware, I and my family have been victims of knife crime (I was lucky to not have the knife actually used on me, just a fist) I don’t want to dwell on ...

First we have Cherie Blair, wife of the former Prime Minister, saying that she fears for the safety of her children when they go out onto the streets. Government statistics, she tells us, dramatically underestimate the scale of knife crime amongst children in Britain and that she has found alarming evidence of rising violence involving knives. She has called for a new approach to get rid of what she calls “lethal fashion accessories” and says that official statistics fail to reflect the reality of how many young people carry knives believing that they offer protection. Mrs Blair told the Home Affairs Select Committee, “If young people think when they carry a knife that it’s going to be detected, that may well make a big difference in deterring them. As a parent I am concerned about what is happening when my children are on the street and I know that I am not unique in that by any means.” You are not unique in that thought at all Mrs Blair. What you may be unique in is that as a pare...