It's a fascinating debate. A positive future, assuming one is required and desired, can only be achieved by acknowledging the need for change, planning for it and gradually adapting to it. The knife crime debate is a perfect analogy. All the talk is about tackling the symptom - more policing, curfews, coming down harder. I accept that immediate action is required, but the long term vision is vital. Why does it happen? Are people inherently bad and destructive or are they behaving according to their environment? To answer that, I think you have to get away from the easy option of working within existing boundaries and permitting scrutiny of the things that we accept because that's what we've always done and we haven't got time to think about it. Anyway, got to crack on, hundreds of lights to fit, bills to pay, deadlines to meet.
Boris is the worst excuse for a politician out of all the lying twats!! It is laughable that he is foreign secretary and just as laughable that Abbott is the shadow. BUT it's not Abbott that we have to concern ourselves with nor is it Corbyn. Neither are in government yet at every turn people try to smear old JC. Why?? We should be scrutinizing the ones in power. Boris may be educated.....so ****ing what!!! There lays the problems with society. Well educated people who have never lived in the real world, making decisions on our behalf.
Definitely. It's hard one to define why this knife crime culture exists. Gangs? Drugs and recruiting of young as they will only go juve? Sense of entitlement amongst youth so angry? Lack of career prospects? Self fulfilling prophecy of the underclass? Bored and lack of youth club's? Lack of male role models? Gangster rap music and general lack of respect? Distrust with police so everyone carries knives? One thing is you get a lot more of this in cities than the countryside and amongst the working class for whatever reasons. Honestly I don't know but I used to be anti drugs but having grown older and been opened to the world (I don't take them myself) I know far more people who do and having grown up against drugs I am for legalising far more drugs. Screw that gateway drug stuff but we can tackle it properly as for me the war on drugs hasn't worked with technology making it far easier to deal and this will eradicate gangs that are in it for drugs and making profits. Improving schools is a hard one but youth centres are a positive for the good. Just off the top of my head
We had existing boundaries before and knife crime was never this bad. Sadly I have heard it all before. What we should do and the problems that cause knife crime. A few years back there was a knife crime problem and like recently there were a number of deaths. I remember some ex-gang member turned community worker saying what should be done. yesterday I saw a similar ex-gang member turned community worker saying the same thing. It was like groundhog day. It's not to do with police or numbers but education. There needs to be stronger sentences for carrying guns and knives and better education.
A Home Office report (which Amber Rudd claims she hasn't seen!) admits that Police cuts ‘probably contributed’ to the recent rise in violent crime......... http://www.theweek.co.uk/92783/poli...ise-in-violent-crime-government-report-admits You can't have stronger sentences if there aren't enough police to arrest the criminals. Of course there are other factors at work, but to pretend that police numbers are irrelevant is arrant nonsense.
flip side is uneducated people making decisions they don't understand. I don't get the educated v real World argument. Are you saying just because you are educated you don't understand the real World? silly comment.
One area where I think the argument holds up just fine is regarding knife crime again. Mark Prince, father of Kiyan has actively and persistently tried to make his voice heard and involve himself in the awareness amoungst communities of these life choices, but he hits dead end after dead end. What a perfect role model he could be, with the most relevant of stories. But he's ignored by Khan and others who think they know better. Leaders come in all forms.
That's an interesting comment about Khan because over the weekend (while away) I caught Abbott on Sky and the presenter kept asking her where Khan was and why wasn't he out saying something. For the Mayor of London to disappear at this crucial time says so much, especially when he can speak about Trump and Brexit when he wants.
I think all of the above are relevant factors and are worthy of analysis. Ultimately though, it seems fair to conclude that a social and economic set up that significantly favours the rich minority, whilst continually disappointing the poor is destined to fail. I don't think we should be surprised by negative social behaviour. This is not an inclusive system. I don't think drug taking should be seen as a crime. It's simply not. The methods of getting hold of it might involve crime, but taking drugs isn't. Just like drinking alcohol isn't. Approach drugs differently immediately. It's easy to talk about needing better education, but what does that really mean? Do we just need more schools and more teachers, paid the same **** money to teach the same old subjects, or do we need to consider a more drastic adaptation of our education system to our changing world? My 13 year old daughter is on the verge of choosing GCSE subjects. If she chooses triple science, she'll have to drop 2 of either art, drama or music. Why??? She wants to carry on with all of it. It's nonsense. Aged 13, she has to not only start making life choices, but also to start closing doors to things she loves. Let that sink in for a moment. Kids are measured on their ability to learn endless facts, with future learning prospects dependent on that ability. The ones who take to this system generally receive more focus than the ones who don't. There is no time in the syllabus to abandon the things that must be learned in favour of spending an entire day debating the world, the country, current affairs, community issues etc. How many kids need to know the periodic table? The difference between nimbus and stratus clouds? Are these amoungst the most important lessons for teenagers? A long term vision doesn't include ramping up police numbers and harsh penalties for social rebellion, it includes a levelling process, a move toward equality, development of opportunities for everyone, the dealing with local problems through local community, as opposed to a blame culture toward government.
He's been widely criticised for his absence and fairly so, but a better response from the public who care would be to reject him as a solution and purely demand a budget, awareness and support from him. He is not the solution.
The rate of knife crime, and therefore knife related murders, has dropped over the last 5 years in Glasgow due to the efforts of the Violence Reduction Units based around the city. Heard a really good interview with one of their leaders on BBC, think it was Sunday morning. They work with the gangs, in schools, and in the communities giving the youths a sense of pride and belonging in their community, with great results. Violence Reduction Unit Scotland | http://www.actiononviolence.org.uk/ Don't know how this would work in other cities, but anything has to be better than the state of affairs at the moment.
yes agreed with the school thing. I didn't phrase it well as i meant its easy to say improve schools. I hate this dumbing down of subjects so school kids improve year on year. As you say as well, it shouldn't all be about getting the best academically as i think school is very important about growing as a person
Anyway boys, i know you guys are all eagerly anticipating this: So knife crime has been steadily rising since 2012 but their are far more knife attacks rising from a peak 2010 period. I think it's clear to see that there is a knife crime problem in the UK. stats provided by ONS
Been there done that with my son when he was that age he ended up doing subjects he didn't really want to do. agree with that. The government don't make people walk around and carry knives although I believe tougher jail terms will deter some.
not sure i agree with that. From what i've read briefly (and not frequently and could be bollocks), a lot of these kids carry knives as protection and as a last resort. Obviously theres those pre-mediated shooting which has happened recently but with knives its a clash and it comes out rather than people carrying it to attack targets. You already get 4 years for carrying a knife, what 8 years? 10 years? i'm not sure thats an effective deterrent. It's the same as the war on drugs, people get years in jail for dealing etc but drugs are as rampant now as it has ever been. I don't think increasing jail terms is the answer as 4 years is plenty now.
Tell that to the victims families. Protection? What they then stab someone to death. Sorry that is rubbish. knives are carried for a reason and that is to stab someone or to threaten with.
