Knife Crime - It's A Problem We Can't Solve With Platitudes

The 'Telegraph' has a neat summation of the current toll of young lives lost to crime in London. The list includes death by gunshot, beating and most of all stabbing, which is the most prevalent cause of death.

It's a grisly toll, and makes you wish the UK had a Children's Commisioner, or something, who could...oh, wait! It seems we do. What's his take on this epidemic of violence then...?:

New laws to crack down on knife crime could cause increased hostility among young people, the Children's Commissioner for England has said.

Sir Al Aynsley-Green called for more research into the effects of increased police powers.

Quite right, Sir Al. One can never have too much 'research'. Who would do it though? Perhaps a quango like the Children's Commission...?

Sir Al said young people should be seen as part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

Except, they are the problem. None of these teenagers were stabbed by 40 year olds, they were stabbed by other teenagers. Your clientele are reducing their own numbers, shouldn't that be more of a concern than whether they feel 'alienated'?

A father who lost his son to knife crime has the right idea:

Gerald Pontet, the guardian of 14-year-old Nuttawut Meechao, who was stabbed to death near Finchampstead in Berkshire in 2005 by another teenager, told the BBC News website he was "appalled" at Sir Al's comments.

"Sir Al's concern is for the effect on youngsters and their relationship with authority," Mr Pontet said. "As parents our concern is what our, or other youngsters are up to - are they safe to be out and about and are they going to come home safely?

"To say that our children 'should be part of the solution not part of the problem', Sir Al is using meaningless doublespeak, and if this is his position, he has no real contribution to make."

Perhaps the first thing to be done on the road towards an end to this is to abolish the Children's Commission and put the money to better use.