A problem spiralling out of control

One of the saddest sights you can see on television is the face of a bereaved mother whose child has died, and particularly when that death is a violent one.





Even sadder, because it's a never ending event loop, is the face of the Afro Caribbean mother who appears, tearful and distraught because her young teenage son has just been shot dead, and says 'The community must come together. This senseless violence has to stop.' But sadly it never does. They are empty words - understandable, of course - but they have been echoed by bereaved mothers in almost every problem suburb of every major city in Britain. From Toxteth in Liverpool, MossSide in Manchester, Handsworth in Birmingham, and now the current centre of attention, the areas of Peckham, Streatham and Clapham in South London.

Three young boys, average age 15, have been shot dead in the last 2 weeks, one in full public view at an ice rink in Streatham, the others shot dead in their beds after the gunmen broke into the houses. It's horrifying, and a face of modern Britain which appals everyone

There is no use in pussy footing around with political correctness here. The police haven't. They have set up a special unit called Trident which deals with the problems of black on black crime. It has reached epidemic proportions in certain parts of all our major cities.

I don't know what the answer is to the gang and drugs culture endemic in these societies but it seems to me that somehow an entire culture has to be changed. Its no good local councillors waffling on about the lack of sports clubs and table tennis tables for the kids to play on. Somehow a really brave attempt has to be made to infiltrate these gangs and dismantle them. I don't believe increasing sentences for gun possession is the answer or even part of the answer. The sentences are already steep and the kids still import guns.

One of the problems, of course, is lack of trust of white society. People will not go to the police partly out of fear, and partly because 'sorting out the boys is a community issue'. Well it's bigger than that and Britain is in the grip of an, admittedly community localised, gun crime problem which it is patently ill equipped to resolve. Maybe more black police officers, some working under cover, would help but how do we get those resources on board...and how do we get them to work against factions of their own community in a way so many perceive as a betrayal? It will be a hard and long road but it has to be taken before more and more of Britain's black children leave their mothers and fathers weeping at the graveside.