British society is on a knife edge, quite literally. Our streets are more often than not becoming the scenes of great violence and unimaginable tradgedy. Sadly it is the blood of the young that stream in our streets and this weeks events only reinforce this opinion. Rob Knox, 18, was stabbed to death in a fight outside a bar in Sidcup and he now adds his name to an evergrowing list of young men and women who have met a gruesome and unneccessary end on the streets of London.
This knife culture must end. The desire for ‘Cool Britainnia’ has led us down the path of social chaos and the goverment adopted ’nicey nicey’ approach has failed and continues to cost the lives of countless individuals. I believe a Conservative government should make our position on this matter clear: carry a knife… go to jail. For me there is no middle road on this issue and it is the deisre to look for the middle way that has led us to this situation.
There is absolutely no reason why a British citizen has the need to carry a knife. We do not live in a guerilla state and we are a society that is protected by and enforces the rule of law. We as a government in waiting need to explictly state our desire to stamp out the knife carrying culture immediately before it becomes an integral and irreversal part of the British social fabric.
Those who carry knives are common criminals, end of, and they should be dealt with as such. I believe that this policy could be tested in the Conservative controlled London Authority, which arguably is the capital and greatest victim of the knife culture. The success of the policy, and I am confident it will be a success, would serve as a benchmark for the rest of the country to follow.
No ordinary British citizen would believe that this is a bad idea. However I do understand that the practicalities of removing the knife culture from the city and the country is troublesome but not totally insurmountable. There can be no half hearted approach to this, like a cancer it needs to be excised with a potentially painful course of treatment for a greater good. Make it abundently clear that Londons streets are a knife free zone, should anyone be caught carrying a knife they should be dealt with by the appropriate authorities and the punishment should be in proportion to the crime. For persistant offenders (and by persistant I mean two or three not ten!) there is only one solution: jail time and rehabilitation regardless of age.
The nicey nicey approach has failed, knife crime is at an all time high, no matter how much Labour spin their figures, and I sincerely hope that the Conservative led administration of London can serve as a benchmark for the rest of the country. Tough justice is the only option for this type of crime. Come on Boris… lets see some Conservative conviction!
26/05/2008 at 16:29 |
“Blood of the young that stream in our streets?” Sounds reminiscent of something said by one of your heroes, Daniel.
It also has features of a David Cameron speech… all fur coat and no knickers.
What EXACTLY are you going to do? If your only answer is to introduce prison sentences for people carrying knives, I think you may be a little late with that one…
Incidentally, I wonder how quickly you’d have been running to blog on this if it were a black working class kid from Bethnal Green who had been stabbed, rather than a white middle-class one from Sidcup. I guess the rivers of blood are the same colour?
26/05/2008 at 17:59 |
Thanks for the hand-wringing John.
To respond in kind, I recommend this article to the Forum.
26/05/2008 at 23:45 |
John im not going to engage with you about ‘one of my heroes’… we’ve seen where that leads. Instead I am going to make a few short points:
1) In regards to your ‘David Cameron’ remark I am intrigued to what you think is ‘fur coat’ about it…
2) Also you ask what ‘would I do’about the situation…. right I would a) I would empower the police to stop and search those whom they deem ’suspect’, common sense should prevail as to whom they search but the powers should be there as public saftey is vital and if the members of the public chosen have nothing to hide then a minute or two out of their day will be of no great issue b) I would make it explicitly clear to Londoners, as a test case, that carrying a knife for no legitimate reason will result in a trial and likely jail time. There is no ‘easing in’ to this policy this would be enacted with immediate effect and I would make the public more than aware of the consequences of non compliance. I am waiting for the charges of ‘POLICE STATE!!!’ Well if ensuring our streets are free of the scourge of knives then so be it. Labour seem happy enough for us to have a nanny state which I find equally abhorrent.
Also in regards to your comment about would I blog about this issue if it was a ‘black working class kid’ who was stabbed… well yes I would as the issue remains the same. I am not singling out this one individual, I am using him as a recent example. My desire to see a change in this situation is as much for those who are of a different ethnic persuasion as it is for whites. Arguably it is the other ethnic groups that would benefit most from a mor aggressive stance on knife crime as they are the greatest VICTIMS of it!
I love it though how you chalk everything down to race… it is people like you making a distinction between ‘them’ and ‘us’ that fuels the ‘racism’ you claim to detest. When you see any LEGITIMATE racial slur or sentiment in any of my posts then we can have a conversation. Until then save your pathetic inaccurate assumptions and deal with the post not the personal.
The fundamental point of this post is simple… more needs to be done. if enough was being done then the situation wouldn’t be this bad. People aren’t afraid of the law anymore, people have no respect for the police, there has been a fundamental breakdown of society under this government and I am hopeful that Cameron will be the man to fix it. Time will tell.
26/05/2008 at 23:48 |
I have just approved the link prague… sorry it didnt come on sooner but as Jimmy mentioned earlier any comment with a link in it automatically needs to be approved by the editor. Anyway it just reinforces what I said 2 minutes earlier… the common sense approach!