Are The Pet Shop Boys To Blame For The Surge In Knife Crime?

No.

Louis Armstrong, Mack The Knife must take some of the blame?

I blame it on the Boogie

Career opportunities? probably all Joe Strummer's fault then.

Over the hills?

I think in this case it is a simple single cause.

Tell us more akabula.

The culture of the individual.
List any causes you can think of please.

Lack of opportunity? Applies to many but they don't all reach for a knife.
Poor facilities? As above.
etc etc

Culture eats strategy for breakfast, allegedly.

Ah, the good old bronze age.

If he substitutes 'tribe related' for 'gang related' then he might be on to something.

If you thought that the Bronze Age was a time of touchy-feely, love, peace and freedom - forget it! Skeletons tell us of brutal violence, infanticide and mass graves.

Spear wounds were a common cause of death. Victims have been found in normal graves as well as mass graves, where it seems entire families had been murdered. In one mass grave at Sund in Nord-Trøndelag, Norway, skeletons from at least 22 individuals have been found. Half of them were children under 15. Several of the skeletons show injuries from violence that the people survived. One middle-aged man, for example, had his lower back smashed by a heavy club and survived, only to be killed about ten years later by two spear wounds to the groin.

Stabbed in the back
Remains from a battle that was fought at the beginning of the Bronze Age 3200 years ago have been found along the banks of the river Tollense in northern Germany. The bones of hundreds of individuals have been unearthed. At one of the archaeological sites, 1478 bones, including 20 skulls, were found in an area of 12 square meters. People fought with bows and arrows, clubs and spears. Crushed skulls and the flint tips buried deep in the bones bear witness to violent conflict. Many of the wounds on the skeletons indicate that people had been attacked from behind while trying to escape the slaughter.

Like all of society's problems it's probably multi faceted and been a very long time in the making, so probably needs a very long term, well thought out and well coordinated solution. That will never ever be achieved under a petty point scoring party political system - as the strategy/direction will not just change every time there is an election but also every-time there is a new minister for anything or a scary headline in the Mail/Express.

We used to blame single parent families (for all the ills of society/yoof) but in the modern consumer society where everybody thinks they must own the latest shiny gadgets lots of children are now growing up effectively without any parents:

Working class (working poor): Both parents now need to work (possibly 2 jobs+) to pay for just the essentials - rent, gas, electric, water, food etc. Long story short - doing their best but parenting takes a back seat.

Middle class: Both parents need to work to pay for all of the above (but mortgage rather than rent - probably 2 or 3 mortgages as need to make a profit from renting to the working poor - above), House needs to be in the right/expensive area for preferred school catchment area, need 2 German cars (renewable every 3 years), 2 summer holidays, ski trips every half term, 4 x i-pads, 4 x i-phones, etc, etc. Long story short doing their best but parenting takes a back seat. 

Upper class: Only one works (usually still the man) but earns 40 x the working average. Employs nanny to breastfeed children and whisk them off to private prep/boarding school at earliest opportunity. Doing their best but parenting takes a back seat. Grow up like Jacob RM - in a position to solve problems but no clue about anything especially the real world others live in.

So parents are really struggling to parent - then throw in the following:

You have to drive to the motorway to see a police car - probably a lot further if you want to see one on foot.
All the facilities for things that children used to do have been closed down or sold off.
Video games, Social Media, the internet - cheap and easy substitute for parenting.
Closed all the Special Needs schools (claim diversity and inclusion are your policies - it sounds better than austerity) - pack them into the class of the local school with 32 children including the 6 or 7 children that need 24/7 1:1 attention just to prevent them from stabbing or biting each other. Instead of 6 or 7 specialists that used to do the job at the school you have closed, employ some well meaning untrained mums on minimum wage (they can at least deal with the ones that are still in nappies at the age of 6). Wonder why the other 26 children aren't getting the same education that I got as a child. Wonder why the teacher that used to play a small part in the influencing/upbringing/well-being of your child (and hasn't had a pay-rise for 10 years) has had a nervous breakdown or left.
Feminism - selling women the dream that they can do it all, go back to work the day after you give birth, pay a stranger minimum wage to do that job, so you can get on with yours.

I could go on and on - but obviously it would be cheaper, quicker and easier to deport all the people that can't trace their ancestry back to William the Conqueror (who was French!).

Neil is probably wondering - what have I done to deserve this?

go west...

We could do with more police on the street that is for sure..

Young men tend to be violent...if they fight with fists that is not generally fatal

But if they fight with knives it is likely to be

Need to find something for them to do

REGY have a drug addict shyster/waster/criminal in my family and his violent episodes were all when he was on drugs and what could be considered 'psychotic episodes' were when a type of cannabis (softer stuff) was abused with some other prescription meds.
Problem with all of this is THEY DO NOT TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILTY FOR THEIR OWN FCUK UPS AND GET THEMSELVES VALIDATED BY THE SYSTEM SO THERE IS NEVER ANY REPROACH FOR ANYTHING THEY DO.
More police on the street doesn't mean much when laws aren't enforced,my relation told me of a time when he was searched and caught with alot of 'gear',the officer said since it's New Years Eve we'll toss for it heads or tails,my relation guessed right and kept his drugs nowt else said.

2 minutes to come up with that? You're slipping.

I see my plea to make cannabis legal has not touched you denzil


I took some when I was younger, never made me violent, in fact I felt happier with the world

Of course people have to take responsibility for their own actions, I accept that


I feel knives have come with immigration s, although of course, not all immigrants are knife wielding lunatics


I also feel our society is so much more competitive than it was, it is easy for some people to become marginalised

We stick much more to demographics as well, it is harder for people to feel part of one society


Of course if we use more police they will need to do their job of course, some communities then claim they are

being unfairly targeted. but not much we can do about that police have to be where crime is at.,

I see my plea to make cannabis legal has not touched you denzil


I took some when I was younger, never made me violent, in fact I felt happier with the world

Of course people have to take responsibility for their own actions, I accept that


I feel knives have come with immigration s, although of course, not all immigrants are knife wielding lunatics


I also feel our society is so much more competitive than it was, it is easy for some people to become marginalised

We stick much more to demographics as well, it is harder for people to feel part of one society


Of course if we use more police they will need to do their job of course, some communities then claim they are

being unfairly targeted. but not much we can do about that police have to be where crime is at.,