Ken Livingstone on knives

[jager 152]

Lord save us from socialists, particularly the deep shade of red typified by the ex-Mayor of London. Heard this morning on radio speaking of knife crimehe complained about all the shops selling Nazi militaria, who sold "Knives with serrated blades" ! ? !

He declared that personally he would "Close them all down". So now we know where we stand there. What a well-informed reasonable argument from the newt man.

Doncha just despair ?

[Graeme]

At least London showed some sense and voted for Boris.

[Fritz]

What's the next step?

[Gildwiller1918]

Wow, Europe has changed so much since I was there last, I probably would not recognize it anymore.

[Kenny Andrew]

Yes as Graeme said he eventually got kicked out of office, and ironically the Labour party suspended him indefinitely for making Antisemitic comments. You could not make it up. In Scotland we are no longer allowed to sell edged weapons of any kind, even antiques, apparently to stop knife crime, again the irony as the people who commit knife crime just go to the local supermarket and buy a kitchen knife which is not regulated and costs them a couple of pounds. Needless to save knife crime has gone up in Scotland since the new laws came into force, so another example of law abiding collectors paying the price for laws that are ill conceived. I agree that modern knifes and the like should be banned but antiques should be exempt, who is going to spend £1000 on a Scottish broadsword for example to commit knife crime?       

[Gildwiller1918]

Exactly, same here. Who is going to use a water cooled machine gun to commit a crime, most people would not even know how to use one. Criminals will always find a way to circumvent the system. I remember when I was in England, and I carried a multi-tool for work as we did maintenance. I was told that after work I had to lock the tool in my boot or I could get in trouble. The tool had a 3 inch blade that could be locked into place, so it was considered a dangerous weapon. Some common sense should be considered on some of these laws. As you said, you can go to sainsburys and buy a long kitchen knife no problem.