We must act now to cut knife crime

SCOTLAND is no stranger to knife crime. Fifty years ago Glasgow gangs were notorious for their blade skills, so much so that an amnesty was called and one of the UK's foremost entertainers of the day, singer Frankie Vaughan, spear-headed youth projects to try to persuade the Tong, the Govan Team et al to lay down their weapons.

It's debatable whether stabbings today are anything like as common as they were then, but in the last week or so, a 41-year-old has been stabbed to death in an Aberdeen tenement, two men were hospitalised in East Kilbride after one had his throat slit and another sustained head injuries, and two men were stabbed in Leith.

So one might have thought party politics would take a back seat following Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's perfectly reasonable announcement that plans were afoot to license shops selling hunting knives, combat knives and machetes.

Depressingly, the Tories couldn't resist finding a hole to pick and immediately attacked the idea, saying most crimes were committed with kitchen knives and that education would be a better use of resources than another licensing scheme proposal.

And if political in-fighting isn't enough to muddy the waters, well there's always the confusion that comes from mixing up the current knife crime problems in London with what appears to be a very different knife scene here in Scotland.

In London, where the indiscriminate stabbing of passing innocents seems to be the core problem, the experts are divided over whether everyone carrying a knife should be sent down and made an example of, or whether most kids carrying knives are doing so for self-defence and therefore need support rather than imprisonment.

In Scotland, although there have been cases of random killings, most attacks seem to arise out of arguments, drink or conflicts. A fight that would once have been limited to fists or blunt objects now ends in a stabbing. The psychology behind carrying the knife in the first place therefore appears to be quite different.

Assuming that knife crime here may accelerate to London levels in future, we have an opportunity to act quickly in order to prevent it.

The objections to zero tolerance in the south-east are that nothing will be achieved by locking up kids who are carrying knives out of fear rather than with any intention of stabbing someone. Whether the argument is valid or not, it doesn't apply here ... yet.

Here it is still the case that if you carry a knife, you are prepared to stab someone.

And of course the knives most kids have access to come from the kitchen drawer. It was ever thus. When I was a teenager we were petrified of the butch, scary girls who sharpened the handle of their steel combs in order to intimidate others.

But does that mean we shouldn't license shopkeepers who can currently sell deadly weapons across the counter without a second thought?

Isn't it fair to say that most logical, reasonable people might have expected there was already some licence requirement in place for those wishing to sell SAS-type daggers, if only to exclude the irresponsible and criminal?

Anti-knife legislation, like anti-air rifle legislation seems to take forever to come to pass. While politicians squabble and time-waste, the public just want containment measures introduced as soon as possible.

Perhaps we can't stop a psychopathic ned from raiding his ma's knife drawer or outlaw the misuse of dangerous kitchen utensils but we have to concentrate on what we CAN do.

Restricting and licensing the sale of sports and combat knives seems as good a place to start as any. We have to grab every opportunity to turn the tide now before, as in London, carrying a knife becomes commonplace.


Fair Games
ONE thing we can say about the forthcoming Olympics ... they are going to be interesting and not just for sporting achievement.

When will the first human rights demos take place? How will the Chinese deal with such rebellion and disrespect? How will they cope with the comparatively disorderly western crowds, people who don't always do as they are told?

How will they deal with criticism? How will their elaborate Olympic infrastructure hold up? How will they cope with thousands of journalists swarming all over the country and asking awkward questions? Will it all go without a hitch?

I didn't think China should have been awarded the Games in the first place but I wouldn't be surprised if they had the highest viewing figures ever.



What cost health?

WITH the good news of a drug that can halt the progress of Alzheimers comes the bad news that it may not be available on the NHS because it is too expensive.

Newer and more expensive drugs are coming on the market every day. Any pharmaceutical company is going to charge as much as possible for a breakthrough drug.

Of course spending has to be controlled but what use is an NHS that deals only in cheap generics?