[Politics] Home secretary: 'Knife crime can't go on'

[Bakero]

Good points. I still felt safer back then, but as you say we had no instant news.

You're not alone in that feeling. Studies have shown that people in developed countries worldwide feel crime is rising when in fact it's not.

Increased coverage (and increasingly sensationalised coverage?) is definitely one cause of the misconception alongside perhaps a nostalgic view of our childhoods. Added to that, in the UK you've got politicians comparing gun violence in Manchester to Baltimore.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

News cycles are dangerous things for skewing arguments.

It wasn't that long ago we seemed to have a cyclist dying every day on the road, terrifying whenever you went out on your bike. A cycle accident or death hasn't been reported for ages - they're still happening of course, just not in the current news cycle (excuse the pun).

Totally off point but do Hammersmith Broadway in a car, cyclists have 'kill me' on the back of their Lycra stuff.

 

[Guinness Boy]

So knife crime's up and it's Diane Abbott's fault for not being able to count?

 

[Sussex Nomad]

So knife crime's up and it's Diane Abbott's fault for not being able to count?

Another one feeling the need to use Diane Abbott when not necessary. Her answer to the question was crass and she got hammered for it, quite rightly. It isn't about the shadow HS however, she has as much punch as a drunk on current policy.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

You didn't have:
Multiple 24 hour news channels
Twitter
Facebook
Blogs
Global news feeds

You had:
2 TV channels
A handful of newspapers

Violent crime would have largely gone unreported. An individual stabbing unlikely to have made the national news.

There was plenty of coverage of mods, rockers, punks and skinheads. It may not have been knife crime, but there was still violent crime.

 

[carlzeiss]

*** The Krays ***

Did they stab kids ?

 

[BLOCK F]

I was pretty much fatherless in my teens, I didn't feel the need to stab people because of it.

That is hardly the point.

 

[BLOCK F]

Feckless fathers is a small part of the problem. The work that needs to be done is the deeper problem as to WHY?

Why do some men think it ok to father children and walk away. Why do some women feel comfortable popping out kids to anyone they sleep with, with no fear of consequence?

It is a far more difficult and uncomfortable subject to approach, and the answers are very difficult to find without going down the social engineering route! That didn’t go down well in the history books.

I agree,darkwolf but nevertheless, it is these real problems that need to be studied. I just don't believe that 'stop and search and banging 'em up for a long sentence' is the answer. It may be a part of what sometimes needs to be done, but the root cause of the knifings are surely part of a wider issue.

 

[daveinplzen]

I was stabbed in the back with a (albeit small) knife at the Courthope Center in Portslade Old Village when I was about 14. It wasnt new then either. Deaths have certainly increased though. Mostly, gang related I imagine.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Yes this, and of course, young men need role models.
How many fathers figure in the lives of the perpetrators?

I was pretty much fatherless in my teens, I didn't feel the need to stab people because of it.

That is hardly the point.

Go on then, got me, what is 'the point'?

 

[Blue3]

This needs to stop being a political football and we need to get a grip. I agree with you of course and think we should have Diane Abbot as Home Secretary as she has all the answers - here's an example of an interview on police numbers she gave to LBC prior to the election in 2017:

This is obviously true and must have been embarrassing but I understand that it's equally true that at the time Diane Abbot had just been diagnosed as diabetic and her medication had not been fully established as such I think in this instance she deserved a little leeway

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Two white kids get stabbed and suddenly the government is all: 'knife crime can't go on' ...

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Two white kids get stabbed and suddenly the government is all: 'knife crime can't go on' ...

Why is this being called as a race thing? I really don't get it. ALL knife crime gets the same publicity, and ALL the time the incumbent Govt says enough is enough. This isn't about the colour of skin ffs.

 

[beorhthelm]

Two white kids get stabbed and suddenly the government is all: 'knife crime can't go on' ...

why do we want to make this about race?

 

[BLOCK F]

Go on then, got me, what is 'the point'?

I am not going to get into a long discourse about this, but just because you were fatherless for much of your teens and didn't feel the need to stab anyone, that does not negate my point that young men need role models.
Perhaps I can put it this way, many troubled young men who haven't had the benefit of a loving father, may well have benefitted from having some benign male influence in their lives. That , of course, does not mean that those who did not have a present father or role model, will automatically turn out to be bad. I am sure you understand that or are you just spoiling for an argument?

 

[Sussex Nomad]

I am not going to get into a long discourse about this, but just because you were fatherless for much of your teens and didn't feel the need to stab anyone, that does not negate my point that young men need role models.
Perhaps I can put it this way, many troubled young men who haven't had the benefit of a loving father, may well have benefitted from having some benign male influence in their lives. That , of course, does not mean that those who did not have a present father or role model, will automatically turn out to be bad. I am sure you understand that or are you just spoiling for an argument?

Not spoiling at all, but you've pigeon holed your argument after telling me fatherless figures go stab people - initially. It just doesn't have to be loving fathers that keep you away from crime and violence, in fact some fathers are responsible for leading their kids down the wrong path, sport for example can keep you from having bad attitudes and devious thoughts, that was my role model. There is so much more to it than just fathers or mothers indeed.

 

[portlock seagull]

Two white kids get stabbed and suddenly the government is all: 'knife crime can't go on' ...

Not true. The authorities, parents, community leaders and just about everyone else have said this repeatedly over the years every time any black kid is stabbed. Sadly it will only get worse. That train left the station a long time ago. Kids, gangs, drugs, organised crime, fractured families not to mention hormones are a powerful cocktail which the state has no chance of arresting. I just thank my lucky stars I live in a relatively safe place and my path doesn't cross such people.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Why is this being called as a race thing? I really don't get it. ALL knife crime gets the same publicity, and ALL the time the incumbent Govt says enough is enough. This isn't about the colour of skin ffs.

Look at some of the tabloid front pages. I don't recall seeing such big pictures of black stabbing victims.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

why do we want to make this about race?

I don't think WE do...

 

[narly101]

Feckless fathers is a small part of the problem. The work that needs to be done is the deeper problem as to WHY?

Why do some men think it ok to father children and walk away. Why do some women feel comfortable popping out kids to anyone they sleep with, with no fear of consequence?

It is a far more difficult and uncomfortable subject to approach, and the answers are very difficult to find without going down the social engineering route! That didn’t go down well in the history books.

Impose a Child Licence. I don't think it's got anything to do with "having children" being "your" human right, no one ever asked to be born.