General Chat

good point there Eldrick, about multiple laws for the same "offence"
have you noticed? that most laws are to prevent something being done........not many laws are passed to give you an absolute right...to do something.....
but no matter how many laws are passed...it still wont stop people harming another.......its the mentality bit that has to be worked on, surely?
or even something like smoking .. banning it from public places wont stop it.......if someone wants a smoke.......they will find a way have one.....
Bob

Reasonable excuse or lawful authority is a defence but it is up to the accused to prove his or her innocence in this - a departure from the normal other way round.

But the point is there are already numerous laws to prevent knife crime - all of them more than adequate. But it continues and the press call for more and more draconian punishments and the public believe that new laws are needed and so a politician proposes yet another law and so we go on and on.......

Eldrick, surely there is discretion?

a knife on a picnic is not the same as a hunting knife in a dance hall......?

Errr...it already is an arrestable offence to carry a knife and has been for many many years.

Don't think you're cynical at all DA Julicat.
My daughter went to A & E aged 10 with a knife wound that needed stitches.
She was cutting an unsliced loaf of bread (unbeknownst to me I might add) and caught her finger!!
She had to learn at some time or another how to use a bread knife.
She has managed not to cut herself slicing bread since - and she's 27 now!!!! LOL

I just wonder what will happen to people who have the audacity to take a knife on a picnic (like me!) if they make it an arrestable offence to carry a knife!!

maggie

Some very good points raised here.

May 30th this year was busier than normal for a Saturday night. To mark the new regulations banning alcohol from London's busses & underground, some highly irresponsible individuals called for a massive party.

On Sunday morning, London awoke to discover that thousands had flooded into the city, leading to a massive amount of gratuitous damage at the hands of drunken louts, the closure of six main stations, trains so defaced that they had to be taken out of service, seventeen arrests, multiple injuries & an uncalled-for impact on the emergency services.

While the 'party' was in progress & throughout the night, there was an unbroken stream of police & ambulance sirens. Although the alcohol ban began at midnight, by then the drinking had resulted in drunkenness with its accompanying effects.

How often do those whose drunkenness impinges on others spare a thought for the victims of road accidents they cause or for the hospital staff who have to deal with the disgusting aftermath of sodden, vomiting, incoherent individuals reeling in their corridors?

Regrettably, there are many other problems beyond knife culture.

Bob , the same could be said for knitting needles...... I stood on one one day!

Sewing needles.... Cannot count the times i have stabbed myself... and hurt me.. ;-0(
Sewing machines where the needles goes through a finger.... hospital job!
Mt sister has done that!
The list could go on.

AND I never have a paper. We stopped buying them when Linda McCartney died, and i found that she was dead every day for too many weeks for me to consider it news worthy.
Now I have probably annoyed someone, but I did not mean to.
Deanna X

Another point(NO pun intended there!)

a blade can be anything with an "Edge" or a "Point" a screwdriver is one, and a "pair" of compasses is another.

when I first left school one if my early jobs was at a sextant repairers, one of the tasks being to remove a small spindle, secured with spring clips.
the tool? a scriber.......many times I pierced my fingers,before I got the knack of lifting the clips...., all perfectly innocent tools but in the wrong hands.........dangerous

Bob

DAJ... that is exactly whay I said to my husband .... he is one of those people.
He took the tip of his finger off chopping cabbage for Sunday dinner once.
When he got to the hospital, he said to the doctor, guess what I did for a living .... and the doctor said CHEF!!
That is how many times they deal with knife 'injuries'.
It would be better if they just told the FACTS.
But they would interfere with a good story... as the saying goes.

Deanna X

Some interesting comments here :-)

Cmd I hope everything works out for the best for you.

I have to go out for a short while but will read any other posts when I return.

Ann - it is not up to me to say how someone distinguishes between good and bad, right and wrong, truth and fiction or whatever.

I use my life experience, knowledge and common sense. I would not elevate myself to a position of 'guru' whereby I tell people how to differentiate between anything - it is up to them.

People will believe any old rubbish - thats human nature. Thats why people buy magic slimming pills and snake oil! Thats why people phone psychic hotlines from the back of newspapers that 'expose' psychics! Thats why people fall for 419 scams, 'send me ten pounds and I'll tell you how to get rich' and all the other scams that abound! And the con men and reporters know it only too well.

Human nature is to believe and to be greedy. Thats the reality of life and nothing will ever change that.

You can hit people over the head with truth and facts and if they dont want to believe it, then they won't - and that is their perogative.

Ann,

But I know you will not be mislead by lots of stuff you read,you are a clever lady,:}

Dearest Ann,
Yes. its still 'ongoing' and being dealt with...and I have promised to keep my 'gob' shut to a degree.which is why I am a bit 'cagey' about giving to many details away at the moment.....
Although, dont worry when the time is right....these boards will be the first place I shall post on.!!!..

Elderick... the 'SCUM' newspaper. is the instigator of the story I have just mentioned...
did'nt someone once call it 'the bastion of interlectaul arguement' (sorry I am not a good speller)
cmdx

What I find so annoying, is when a story has been printed, and they find out it is not true. Instead of having this in big letters, they put their retraction of the story in small print in a place, hardly anyone ever looks.

Mo

I don't buy national newspapers because they are mainly twaddle. The local ones are better and usual based on fact but even they can get it wrong so I usually only glance at the free ones.
I think the tv news has gone downhill since they started doing the 24hrs a day broadcasts. It seems to me they dont have the same time to investigate before they announce it.

Tbh I don't always have time to read a newspaper, so I look at the BBC website at some of the main stories but as Eldrick as pointed out even they aren't perfect.

Kay, When you are retired you are a bit out of touch with the world so i find reading a newspaper makes me keep up with things.

Ann
Glos

Eldrick, you say there is some good reporting being done so how do we distinguish good from bad, fact from fiction. Are you saying that the good reporting is in particular newspapers, or is the 'fictitious' type of reporting spread across the board.
how do we know what or who to believe?

Ann
Glos

Read the headlines,Read the last word,,make your own assumpitions for the middle bit,:}}}

I dont buy any newspapers or magazines,

Newspapers coverage is all about word space per page,or story......!
But a memebr on here is/was a seasoned reporter so maybe will have another slant on it,?