London is being gripped by a knife crime epidemic – this needs fixing NOW
More needs to be done as figures released reveal London's murder rate is worst than New York
Stop the killing
THE authorities must get a grip on London’s knife crime crisis.
It is scandalous that the capital’s murder rate is higher than New York’s.
Complacency has played its part in the epidemic. But so too has ignorance.
Would the cancer of gang violence have been allowed to grow this way if the stabbing victims were middle-class children from the nicer bits of North London? We doubt it.
The Government, the Mayor and the police can no longer ignore the violence in those forgotten streets that neither politicians nor tourists tread.
The Met has had a lot to deal with in the last 12 months, not least ramping up its counter-terrorism work after horrific attacks in Westminster and London Bridge. Resources are stretched.
But more must be done. When young lives are being cut short at this rapid rate, everything should be on the table.
That means greater use of stop-and-search powers.
Tougher sentences for gang leaders and support for the community groups doing difficult work on our estates.
Clampdowns on the merchants who profit from knife sales and on the social media firms that host violent videos glamorising gang life.
The police must be more visible in the most badly-hit areas.
Other cities must crack down, too — before it’s too late.
This needs fixing. Now.
Jez’s vile pals
JEREMY Corbyn has deleted his Facebook account, but he can’t erase his past.
He can’t hide the company he’s kept over his years of Marxist campaigning, or ignore the viciousness of his followers.
It’s amazing that he hasn’t noticed that his mates are horribly toxic.
Virulent anti-Semites. Threatening trolls who abuse MPs and journalists. Backbench MPs facing domestic abuse allegations.
The best you can say about him is that he’s too thick to notice. That alone should disqualify him from leading Her Majesty’s Opposition.
But it’s the sheer nastiness of his comrades that means he can never be allowed into power.
Border battle
THOSE Cabinet ministers calling for the PM to trade away immigration controls for an EU deal should be very careful indeed.
The Sun wants Britain to be open to hard-working immigrants.
We’re no fan of arbitrary targets — especially when there’s no hope of actually hitting them.
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But control over our borders was a key factor for many of the 17.4million people that voted to leave the EU.
To surrender that power to Brussels in the faint hope they’ll become a bit more generous would be unacceptable.
The PM should stand firm.
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