Kitchen knife block in poor taste: picture of 'stabbed' voodoo person

SOME kind of sicko no doubt thought there is humour designing a kitchen knife block that resembles a plastic voodoo doll. What kind of person buys this for their house? I know - a teenage lad (not yet a man) who thinks it's hilarious / cool / novel / hard etc; or it could be a nutter who actually relates to/enjoys mimicking stabbings in the head and body. Sick.

Stabbed figure - 'Voodoo' kitchen knife block

Cashing in on knife crime... in a range of colours

Gun + knife carriers - and Lucy Cope who mourns a child

Pro-gun supporters, and those that want to carry guns, are quite strong in their demands of me (see my Britain Needs Guns post and a growing number of comments).

But someone has just written in with a pretty good piece that steps back from this drive for possessing weapons - and full of common sense - which again pushes back on those that advocate some kind of hark back to Wild West times. Read it for yourself:

They said: "It is worth pointing out that ownership of guns in the States leads to nothing more than an increased death rate. Most of those that end up dead are innocent victims and not demented rapists who break into homes intent on wreaking havoc. That is the fact of the matter.

"It is also worth pointing out, and please check these stats out, but do your own research, that 40 police officers have been shot dead in the US so far this year. This where gun laws are extremely lenient. It is very rare here that an officer is shot, and that is due to our gun control.

"Another fact is, that about 43% (figure fluctuates slightly) of officers killed by firearms in the US, are in fact killed with their own weapons. If highly skilled highly trained law enforcement officers cannot retain their weapons during an incident, are you all seriously arrogant enough to think you will be able to?

"I like living in a country that has strict gun control, but like Lucy Cope, I would welcome a full and complete ban. Until then we need to seriously look at the laws we have, which are not quite as "strict" as most believe.

"Laws vary in different areas. I would like to see laws implemented nationwide. I agree with the statement that those armed with knives will be the most likely to die from a knife wound. I have the statistics for that somewhere, they are available, and I will attempt to dig them out.

"You cannot argue with the fact that if nobody carried a knife, nor any kind of firearm, for use as a weapon, legally or otherwise, then nobody would lose their life to either.

"I would like to end by saying Lucy Cope is not a "harriden". She is a mother, who unlike any of her critics above, knows what it is like to stand at a grave, mourning her child, who was taken by the use of a firearm."

And this is just one group of the reasons this blog remains anti-gun, anti-knife, anti-crime - and ultimately, pro-peace. Now, has anyone got any great ideas to develop more peace in this country? 

Graham Showell and growing numbers of gun supporters...

With reference to Graham Showell's comments and supporters etc (recently made and being added on this post about his appearance on a BBC programme), people are always welcome to submit a full blog post (rather than just sometimes smaller comments). Feel free to post it in a comment box - I'll copy and paste it as a main post subsequently, as time allows (though I'm not giving here a blanket agreement for such posts to always be published... it will have to be reviewed for possible publication).

In Graham's case, post after post about the same topic cannot continue indefinitely. A line will have to be drawn at some point. But if the debate is furthered by posts and comments, I plan to continue to publish what's submitted.

Quite a few commenters on this blog worry they won't be published. Provided comments are not spam or abusive, make no sense, are just plain bonkers etc, there's no reason why you wouldn't be published. In a nutshell, they just need to be reasonable. This blog can be a debating-type place, not a censorous environment. That said, I've just rejected two comments which were blatant advertorial for weapons. As this is an anti-weapon place, such advertorial isn't welcome.

This is a part-time task for me (though I would like to spend longer on it), set up in memory of Jackie Marshall who was stabbed and passed away in my arms in a McDonalds restaurant at Chichester, West Sussex. This blog is pro-peace and anti-knife and gun crime. Most, if not all my opinions, are based around that premise.

Trust that helps. Contact me as you need. In due course, I'll aim to get back to you.

Happy slapping - violent crime for a laugh

Another crime as despicable as knife crime is 'happy slapping'. There should be no doubt that sneaking up on someone and landing blows on their head is, simply, plain wrong.

Happy slappers (idiots) that do this are neither funny nor cool, neither clever not some kind of hero rebels. They are, as I said, idiots. Worse, they are delinquents... delinquents that bring misery, pain and sometimes death when they ambush innocent people - often filming the assault for kicks.

Leon Elcock, aged 16, and Hamza Lyzai (15) are a pair of happy slappers just jailed for killing a grandfather. Locked up for less than a handful of years, their victim, Ekram Haque (67) was out with his three-year-old grand-daughter Marian (having attended prayers at a mosque) when Alcock and Lyzai were caught on CCTV 'happy slapping' the pensioner.

How is that 'happy' at all? As Ekram fell to the floor in front of his beloved little Marian, he suffered massive brain damage that tragically led to his death days later.

Other assaults by these two and a third teenage idiot were regularly filmed and sickeningly promoted under the label 'Lane Gang Productions'.

But this crime got me thinking again. As this blog's readers will know, I'm sometimes critical of business and its double standards, especially some firms' snake-like ability to avoid criminal culpability. While
purporting to be civilised, companies can be cruel, inhospitable, bullying - and even criminal.

Profit becomes companies prime driver at the expense of humanity (which is criminal, immoral etc, by the way).

BP is a current example - 11 people were killed when the controversial Gulf oil rig explosion occurred. When hapless idiots like Tony Hayward are in charge, you wonder about the mentality of leaders in that
organisation and the quality of others coming through.

Who is the greater criminal - BP (the organisation that kills 11 plus massive eco
disaster) or the happy slappers on this page (kill one)? Makes you think.