The truth that dare not speak its name

On Saturday, in London, there was a march to demonstrate against the increase in knife crime and our Labour Government, ever on the ball, announced a new package of measures to deal with the gang culture behind the knife violence....some arbitrary sum of money to be spent on - wait for it - mentoring young people and providing youth activities. I'm surprised they didn't announce another anti-poverty fund - for poverty is the usual excuse, the gloss thrown over the government's hapless inability to stop the rising tide of knife crime.



Tony Blair put his finger on it in his last few weeks of office when he was no longer frightened of adverse publicity. He said: 'British society is not falling apart...what is happening is that a significant minority is becoming enmeshed in gangsta culture and we have to take steps to root that out.'

Initiatives to stop poverty, provide more youth clubs, provide mentors..all these things are so much cosmetic crap and do nothing to stop the problem.

What IS needed is for the police to be able to do their job free of worries about offending cultural sensitivities. We have a serious problem in some areas of the country but we have the means to solve it if we allow the police to do their job. And that means allowing them to concentrate on the areas of greatest risk. I don't want to offend anyone here but in areas where knife crime is highest the police should be allowed the right to stop and search..and that means anybody. Yes I realise there will be howls from the civil liberties people but I think this is too serious for personal or cultural sensitivities.

I have no doubt that there is racism in the police force, just as there is everywhere else. I also have no doubt, because it is proven by statistics that you have to rip out of the throats of authorities under the Freedom of Information Act that almost half the violent crime in the UK ..with gun or knife...is being committed by members of the black or asian population, who make up not quite 6% of the UK between them. This is not a statistic those in government want you to know and I can quite understand that if you have no means of solving the problem then simply to highlight it plays into the hands of those with right wing political aspirations.

But it is clear that we have a problem here with some black and asian youth and mentoring, counselling, anti poverty schemes which don't add up to a hill of beans...all these things are useless. There is clearly peer pressure in some inner city areas to join a gang and prove your worth with a weapon.

There needs to be action on several fronts. Sure there needs to be a social element of trying to rescue youngsters from a bad environment by various initiatives. But there needs to be solid and harsh practical action to get to grips with this problem too. I believe the police should have the right of stop and search, anywhere in the country, and anyone found with an offensive weapon of any sort should face an extremely severe penalty

The problem with knife crime is rife across inner cities, though London clearly has the biggest problem. The nation has had 38,000 reported knife crimes last year and five people a week are being stabbed to death in Britain.

We are not going to get to grips with this problem if we keep pussy-footing around, worrying about hurting cultural sensitivities. Even Trevor Phillips, head of the country's Race Relations Board, agreed with that. It is doing no one in Britain any good to continue to avoid the proverbial 'elephant in the room' and to continue pretending that knife crime is a general sign of Britain breaking down. It isn't. It's a symptom of a minority who don't believe that the social order of civilised behaviour is relevant to them and its a minority whose reputation is becoming disproportionate to its influence, thanks in part to hysterical press reporting.

But we do have a serious lethal problem and it is centred within certain communities. The police know this and MUST be given the freedom to act effectively to reduce these hideous statistics which are a blot on our reputation as a law abiding, relatively safe, place to live.