Daily Mail embraces knife headlines

MEDIA language can be insensitive and unhelpful when trying to encourage more peaceful way of conversation and writing. While not ignoring the fact that knife attacks will continue, whatever we say, it must be helpful to think about what we say when talking about violence. war, killing, death penalty etc... Here the Daily Mail headline - compiled by 'Pete Dew' writing these notes via the blog's comments box:

He said: "I quote the Daily Mail newspaper. Here are just SOME of the 'knife' headlines the Daily Mail has used in the last few years, despite according to last statistic in the media a knife crime every 24 minutes:

• 'Blair buddy puts knife in Brown' (Double Page spread) 
• 'Doctors have knives out for kitchen tools.'
• (The article explains that the tools referred to are kitchen knives) 
• 'Who will wield the knife?' (Double Page spread)
• 'Knives are out' (The headline in Peter Hitchen's column printed mid-knife amnesty, arguing that the amnesty would be a complete failure) - youngsters tell me that "knives are out" means "get the knives out".
• 'Knives are out for Orliath'
• 'After a week to forget, the knives are out' 
• 'Why the BBC's knives are out for Osborne, Mandy is getting away with murder'
• 'Romeo and Juliet: Knives are out for a roving Romeo'
• 'Knives are out for marriage' 
• 'The knives are out for Gordon after poll disaster in Glasgow' 
• 'Usmanov's knives out for Gunners in Moscow talks'
• 'Tom Parker Bowles gets the knives out' 
• 'Labour loses as knives out for Tory leader'
• 'Day of long knives as jobs cut'
• 'Knives are out for Charlie'
• 'Knives are out for Goldsmith...'
• 'Knives and forks out for Ming'
• 'Record numbers found carrying knives'
• 'Knives are out for Lord Levy as Blair rift grows'
• 'Now the Whitehall knives come out for the honest general'
• 'Night of frocks and knives' [TV Showbiz]
• 'KNIVES OUT FOR CAMILLA'
• 'Knife deaths at record 6 a week'
• 'Day of the long knives at City Hall as Boris axes 120 jobs'
• 'Now they will stab him in the front' 
• 'THE SHADOW OF THE KNIFE' (Front Page headline)
• 'KNIVES OUT FOR GORDON RAMSEY' (Double page spread)
• 'KNIVES ARE OUT FOR ALESHA' (Double Page spread)
• 'KNIVES ARE OUT FOR GORDON BROWN' (Front Page headline - it was the very first time that the Daily Mail used the knives are out metaphor in headlines, July 2001)
• 'Why no one (apart from Charles Clarke) is rushing to put the knife into...'