I do love Guido:
Knife crime is the media scare of the moment and on Sunday Jacqui Smith spun Sky News that “something would be done”. The knife carrying and stabbing classes would be taken to hospital A&Es to confront the results of their crimes.
See the snag? Sounds tough and progressive to triangulating wonks. Sounds more like adding insult to injury when you are lying on a trolley bleeding, hoping you won’t catch MRSA – “Here’s Wayne, he is very sorry he stabbed you”. Doctors and the opposition went ballistic. By lunchtime today the plan was dropped.
The official line here is that They’re As Bad As Each Other, but I actually think that the Cameron regime, as and when it materialises, might show real glimmerings of adequacy, at any rate compared to this lot. I realise that much of my optimism is based on believing David Cameron to be a liar, and not as bad as he says he will be about such things as the environment (which I am basically opposed to), and taxes (ditto), and EUrope (ditto again). But I think it is reasonable to hope for the best, as well as to fear that he might be telling the truth. Except re EUrope, about which I assume Cameron to be lying only in hinting that he might do a teensy bit of good.
Meanwhile, it says a great deal about the terminal state of this present government that they are now making such particular fools of themselves in the one solitary area that they used until a year or two ago to excel at, namely manipulating the contents of the newspapers and the television. They have taxed and regulated the British economy into stagnation and presided over the relentless decline of all public services except weather forecasts and cricket commentaries, and this process of degradation began, or rather continued, as soon as they were voted in in 1997. But they used at least to be able to boss the newspapers. Not any more.
John Redwood MP has a blog, which is very party political as is only to be expected of a party politician, but I find him quite good. Not so long ago he had a posting entitled Legislation – just a longer press release?
You sense that everyone in and around the government has now come to similar conclusions themselves, about themselves. It is being said that what is keeping Mr Brown in his job is that they are all far too busy abandoning ship to care who the captain is. Although, maybe they are being too pessimistic about how badly they will do. Presumably their extreme pessimism comes from reading the newspapers every day.
A colleague of mine coined the term “The War on Cutlery” to describe the current situation; I have seen no better summary…
I do like “the War on Cutlery” and shall now shamelessly steal it and use it myself.
Two other thoughts on knife crime:
1 All the headlines are about what will be done with those caught carrying or using knives. Other sources suggest they are not being caught, so it doesn’t matter what we would do if we caught them. Looks like someone planning what colour Ferrari he’ll buy, before buying the lottery ticket, to me.
2 Mrs MarkE is a chef who carries the tools of her trade to work. Why do I suspect the local police are more likely to stop her (middle class woman, less chance of an unpleasant confrontation- they think*) than if they stop a gang of kids who might actually attack someone. Doesn’t matter who they arrest, the numbers matter, not the person.
*I live with this woman and I’d rather confront a dozen kids who’s knives were already in their hands, but the police don’t know her.
Just something anecdotal about the war on cutlery (yes, this phrase is IMV deserving of proliferation!). Was just talking to a friend of mine who works as a Building Services Engineer in the City. Yesterday he had an encounter with Plod; he was in the car park next to his building with a toolbox. The car park is private property, although the owners graciously allow the public to cross it; there are signs stating that it is private property. I’ll add here that my friend hardly cuts the image of a knife-weilding gang member; he’s in his late 40s, rather fat, and was needless to say wearing his stylish maintenance man uniform.
Nonetheless, crossing the car park with a toolbox, two Plod decided to stop him and search the toolbox. They then told him he was in trouble for having a knife in it- a swiss army knife. He pointed out that it is entirely legal for him to have this knife as part of his work, going about his employer’s business, and that they were on private property. Plod then responded that due to this “technicality”(!) they would only give him a caution(!) He then responded that he refused to receive a caution, and if they believed he had committed a crime, then please arrest him and charge him with it.
Defeated, they left, displaying extremely bad grace and an attitude that he was a miscreant who had got away with it due to a loophole. My friend reported all this to the building manager, who has ordered Security to prevent any police entering the car park unless they are in hot pursuit of a miscreant.
I think this is rather chilling, personally. Many people would be far less assertive and sure of their rights as my friend, who is a bit of a raving libertarian like what I am. How many “knife criminals” are the police going to be bodging onto the statistics by this kind of outrageous behaviour?
I think your perspective on the terminal state of this present government can apply to other, foreign administrations, at least to that in my own country, Portugal, so I hope you don’t mind my quoting(Link) you.
Thanks all for a great blog which I love to read.
Ian B,
The building management’s response is a bright spot.
But the guy’s story about carrying knives is incomprehensible to me. Are you saying that it is against the law to carry Swiss Army knives? I carried a Swiss Army knife during high school and have ever since. Sometimes I carry a sturdier knife depending on what I will be doing. And no, this is not for defense, it is because a knife is the most useful thing you can have in your pocket. My dad carried his keyring attached permanently to his Swiss Army knife. It hung from the steering column while he was driving. Back in the ’80s I wore a three piece suit to work and found a pocket watch in a vest pocket to be much more convenient than a wrist watch. On the other end of the watch chain, in the other vest pocket, was a Swiss Army knife.
My biggest complaint when air ‘security’ got ‘tougher’ was I now have to pack my pocket knife(s) in my checked bags and I used to try to travel without checked bags.
Can you perhaps explain the laws about carrying knives in the UK? The very idea is alien to me. ‘War on Cutlery’ indeed!