http://news.bbc.co.uk/…

The Oasis guitarist said it was a “pity scumbags are taking over our streets”, and claimed video games were partly to blame for violence.

He said: “In my day, status was trying to be somebody, do you know what I mean, not trying to kill somebody?”

The star said knife crime was a problem across the UK, not just in London.

The 41-year-old added: “I was up in Liverpool for a week a couple of weeks ago and even on the news there it’s every single night.

“I don’t even know what Cameron or Gordon Brown are going to do about it. I was watching a documentary on Panorama and another one about kids carrying knives and violence.

“One of the lads, a little lad, made a telling comment.

“The guy said, ‘Do you not think there’s anything better for you in life?’

“And he said, ‘Yeah, there probably is but I’ve never known anything else’.”

Gallagher also revealed that he and partner Sarah McDonald were worried about their children growing up and said they talked about knife crime in bed at night.

“People say it’s through violent video games and I guess that’s got something to do with it.

“If kids are sitting up all night smoking super skunk [cannabis] and they come so desensitised to crime because they’re playing these video games, it’s really, really scary.”

Eighteen teenagers have been murdered in London so far this year.

In response, the capital’s Metropolitan police force have set up a task force of 75 officers, dedicated to fighting knife crime.

My theory? The warfare/welfare state is sucking the responsibility and drive out of these kids and they have nothing to strive for. That is what is leading to the increase in knife crime. That and the ban on guns probably doesn’t help as it makes it easier likely to get a knife to commit your violent crime then a gun. At least for the lower end crime. I’m not claiming guns aren’t still relatively easy to get. In any case… if videogames and pot made kids want to stab people… the USA would have several million of them running around.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/…

Padded lampposts are being trialled in a London street to protect inattentive pedestrians.A pilot scheme has been launched in Brick Lane after it was found to have the highest number of ‘walking and texting’ injuries in the country.

A study carried out by 118 118 found one in ten people has hurt themselves while focused on their mobile phone screen.

The charity Living Streets is so concerned that it has teamed up with the directory enquiries service to test a scheme to wrap up the nation’s lampposts.

A poll will be carried out on Brick Lane to gauge the response of locals.

If successful, the concept will be rolled out in Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool.

Are they going to outlaw sports, biking and running too? I’m surprised this int some national NHS initiative to protect people from themselves because you know… we all have to pay for the injuries they get as a result of being idiots so we should pad the entire country with foam to protect them. Ohhh… even better…. foam suits that everyone has to wear. Or just as they have outlawed texting and holding a mobile phone while drive here in NJ they could ban using a mobile device while walking. I guess that would be more like NYC wanting to ban using audio players while crossing streets. Or give everyone drugs to keep them focused on only one task at a time. No one can run into a lamp post while staring at their phone if they are incapible of doing both at the same time.

 http://timesonline.co.uk/…

Senior police officers have been warning for several months that a growing number of teenagers in big cities are becoming involved in gun crime.

The age of victims and suspects has fallen over the past three years as the availability of firearms in some cities has risen. Liverpool and Manchester are the cities where illegal guns are most readily available, with criminals claiming that some weapons are being smuggled from Ireland. Sawn-off shotguns are now being sold for as little as £50, and handguns for £150.

Despite a ban on handguns introduced in 1997 after 16 children and their teacher were shot dead in the Dunblane massacre the previous year, their use in crimes has almost doubled to reach 4,671 in 2005-06. Official figures show that although Britain has some of the toughest anti-gun laws in the world, firearm use in crime has risen steadily. This year eight young people have been killed in gun attacks: six in London and one each in Manchester and Liverpool.

Who are these kids and what are the purposes of their gangs? Are they participating in the black market of prohibited items? Or are they just punk kids with nothing better to do? This article doesn’t provide enough information to really comment. In the least: banning guns does not change the demand for an efficient means of personal defense and offense nor stops people who really want them from getting them. When you criminalize X only criminals will have X.