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London Mayor Sadiq Khan is cracking down on the carrying of knives in response to a spate of stabbings that pushed the city's murder rate past New York's for the "first time in modern history."
Khan deployed an additional 300 Metropolitan Police officers over the weekend to work exclusively against knife crime, urging them to be more "confident" in their authority to stop anyone suspected of carrying a weapon.
"What you will see over the course of the next few weeks and months — is what we have seen over the last few weeks and months — which is stop-and-search based on suspicion of carrying an offensive weapon going up, more arrests as a consequence of this intelligence-led stop-and-search going up and hopefully our city becoming safer," the mayor said Saturday, according to The Telegraph.
Khan also issued a warning to would-be knife carriers, saying they should think twice before bringing one out in public — whatever the reason.
"No excuses: there is never a reason to carry a knife," Khan said on Twitter. "Anyone who does will be caught, and they will feel the full force of the law."
Source: http://dailycaller.com/2018/04/08/london-murder-rate-knives/
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday April 09 2018, @11:28AM (18 children)
I cook in my new flat when I stay there during the week.
I don't need to carry knives between the two places. Or pans. Or plates. Or ovens.
Guess what - I have two sets of knives!
And you know what, that less-than-one-in-a-million corner case that you discovered? They'll not be carrying knives even when they're transporting their knives. They'll be carrying a bag containing either a box or a cloth roll-up that contains the knives. If you cannot see the different between an immediately accessible knife and an almost inaccessible knife then please don't ever consider a career in public policy making.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Monday April 09 2018, @11:58AM (4 children)
But you aren't a professional cook, are you?
Show me where "No excuses: there is never a reason to carry a knife," makes any distinction on the way one is allowed or forbidden carry the knife and I'll retract my objection.
'cause I'm not seeing any exception being explicitly carved for professional cooks (such as my sister, thus I know very well it's less that 1-in-a-million, there aren't only 25 professional cooks in Australia's 25 million population) all I'm seeing is a blanket "there is never a reason to carry a knife".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday April 09 2018, @02:00PM (3 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday April 09 2018, @02:06PM (2 children)
Because the honourable mayor of London, in his politician-specific style, didn't do it in the first place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday April 09 2018, @09:57PM (1 child)
When politians say they're cracking down on drugs, are you one of the idiots who says "but caffeine's a drug too - aaaahhhhhhh!". Being able to find a way to deliberately misinterpret what was said is not clever, it's twatty.
Kahn was talking about enforcing the law, and therefore the knives he's talking about are the knives that the law talks about, and the carrying he's talking about is the carrying that the law talks about.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday April 09 2018, @10:23PM
You got me completely wrong. At best in regards with the matter, you'll hear me protesting on the line of 'But beer, rum and vodka are foods'.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Bot on Monday April 09 2018, @02:05PM (2 children)
Now that I think of it a pan would be an useful instrument against a knife carrying assailant. If it isn't banned I'd carry that for self defense.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday April 09 2018, @03:08PM (1 child)
I warmly recommend you a colander for the purpose.
You can carry it as a headgear specific to religious traditions under multiple country laws [dailymail.co.uk], even downunder more recently [theage.com.au]
Even local government officials can use it (defensively) during swearing-in ceremonies [huffingtonpost.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday April 09 2018, @10:01PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2, Informative) by hemocyanin on Monday April 09 2018, @03:14PM (4 children)
Just make sure that if people break into either home while you are there, attack you and one of them threatens to stab you with a screwdriver, you don't run into your kitchen and grab a knife to defend yourself. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/04/suspected-burglar-dies-tussle-pensioner-78/ [telegraph.co.uk]
The UK is fucking insane.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 09 2018, @04:08PM
Actually, in this case the UK was saner than the average booboo:
The pensioner was charged, investigated, and then released without charge. The correct procedure.
I live in East London too - most burglars round here ring the doorbell, and if there is anyone inside who answers,
ask (probably in their own native language) "Does my mate live here?" and gets the reply "wrong address, my friend"
and leaves, never to return.
He does this because, if there is anyone at home, he probably owns the kind of knife usually used in the Kebab shops
round here, and is willing to use it "in self defence".
(Score: 3, Touché) by isostatic on Monday April 09 2018, @06:06PM (1 child)
You turn up at someone's house, there's a dead body on the floor, the person with the bloody knife said "I did it".
Do you
1) Say "OK", and wave him on his way
2) Treat him as a suspect until you verify the assailant was actually a thief
3) Shoot him
In the UK we go for option 2, in the US it's option 3 (if the guy with the knife has dark skin).
The evidence was swiftly found and the man faces no action: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-43676359 [bbc.co.uk]
Now I happen to agree that arresting him, and certainly detaining this innocent man, was not right, however he should have been treated as a suspect until it was proven that it wasn't a murder (otherwise you could simply kill the tesco delivery chap as he unloads your food in your kitchen, then claim it was self defence)
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Monday April 09 2018, @09:29PM
If the argument is in the US people who kill while defending themselves don't get arrested,
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/cleared-after-stabbing-ex-uw-student-wants-his-life-back/ [seattletimes.com]
An innocent man almost ended up in prison thanks to the US "justice" system
It seems quite common, hence this advice:
http://www.lawyerlocator.com/criminal-defense/things-to-do-if-arrested-after-acting-in-self-defense [lawyerlocator.com]
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday April 09 2018, @09:44PM
In the US he'd probably have been locked away for a couple of years or decades (depending on his pantone value), before it got "resolved", where the resolution wouldn't even include compensation for the time spent incarcerated, and might even include a bill for board and lodging.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Monday April 09 2018, @08:13PM (4 children)
How did you get those knives from the store where you bought them to your home?
Also note that chefs do NOT leave their knives at work. They are a highly personalized instrument of their craft.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday April 09 2018, @09:39PM (3 children)
Or the knives in the elegant velvet-padded wooden presentation case with the locking clasps?
Or the knives in the bamboo-wood block that all came packed in polystyrene inside a sealed cardboard box?
I can honestly say that I've never met a chef that doesn't leave the knives he uses at work. And I know dozens of chefs - one of my side jobs involves dealing with chefs directly. Including Michelin starred ones. I also know musicians who leave their kit in their practice rooms or studios. I know artists who leave everything in their studios. I know jewellers who leave everything in their workshops. These people are no less attached to their craft and the personally-selected tools they use for their craft than chefs. Get over yourself.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by sjames on Monday April 09 2018, @11:31PM (2 children)
And I have seen chefs carry their knives with them when they go home, or to work. It is the mayor of London that needs to do the getting over.
You seem angry that I pointed out reasonable exceptions to the mayor's "no exceptions". I'n not sure why.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday April 09 2018, @11:57PM (1 child)
He's not changing the law, merely how it's to be enforced.
I'm not angry, I simply can't be arsed to put on a veneer of pretend politeness.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday April 10 2018, @12:56AM
In the same spirit, well excuse the fuck out of me for commenting on the plain English sentence: "No excuses: there is never a reason to carry a knife," and your indication that that would also apply to carrying kitchen knives for the purpose of cooking.