Can you hear a mother crying...?

DO you hear a mother crying?  There's only one bullet / knife between us...



Billy Franks asking, like mothers, fathers, families across the world hurt by gun and knife crime, what kind of world do we want to live in...

Ban the Voodoo knife block in 2012!

CAN someone explain to me why anyone would buy the voodoo knifeman kitchen block? It is unfathomable why this sickening knife 'toy' (for adults, allegedly) is still on sale for use in the home.

If I was to write a review about these it would say: "Sickening rubbish: if you are anti-knife crime, do not buy!"

Knifeman stand / Sickening stabbing block

I spotted Red or Dead co-founder Wayne Hemingway and his other half Gerardine had one in a photo of their kitchen carried in Hello! magazine last year (like the one inset on this knife crime post).

It is baffling why prominent people, such as these trendy / fashion-conscious partners - with huge fashion design credentials - would own such offensive crap. (You may recall Wayne Hemingway recently moved the Vintage Festival event from Chichester / Goodwood to London, unsuccessfully apparently; here's another example of poor judgement then.)

When this knife crime blog first started, I remember highlighting how people in the fashion industry have some kind of sick love affair with violence, stabbing, death, knives, guns etc. Do you recall the post? You can read it again here (about an Italian fashion house... must be something in the sick mafia blood over there): Boycott Dolce & Gabbana over idiot knife adverts.  Think D&G removed the ad (thank goodness!) but the BBC report is still live and explains all and the ASA ban on this horrendous advert is still accessible. Wonder how many more fashionista idiots abound... let me know!

In any event, let's have the anti-knife crime campaigners get these voodoo 'blade blocks' banned, let's have retailers remove them from shop shelves and online stores stop stocking them. At the very least we need to embarrass (odd!) people, such as the Hemingway's, buying them. If you bought one by accident, just bin it (try metal recycling perhaps, pop it in at one of the world's police stations, or drop it off in a local knife amnesty bucket somewhere).

Consider me human before you stab me

What goes through people's minds when thinking on stabbing someone? Intense desire to 'stop' the victim, to be the powerful hunter rather than the fleeing hunted, some fleeting warped sense of control?

Well, if you're thinking about using a knife to wound or kill, sticking the knife in, try thinking about the person, the human being, before deciding a knife attack will solve something.

I was struck by the lyrics of a record, from quite a few years ago, with lyrics that value human life...

Consider me firstly
A human sound.
Consider me
More to wonder at than pass by,
(or to stab)
More to treasure than justify.
Consider me moving,
Easily moved.
Consider me
More to celebrate than decry,
More to love than to deny.
(or to kill)

Consider me equally different,
Consider me beautifully plain.
Suffering to flower
(pretty much all of us struggle in this life)
But dreaming of rain.
Consider me easily outnumbered
(when chased by a gang)
But certainly sane.
Picture me sleeping
And dreaming of rain.

Consider me wanting,
Keen to give.
Consider me
More to recognise than dismiss,
More to be than this.
(no-one deserves to be stabbed)

- written by Billy Franks / Lee Hirons, played by Faith Brothers

You can click here to hear an excerpt of 'Consider Me'; think it captures the essence of living. No-one deserves to be stabbed.

Destruction of men in their prime - by knives, guns and other weapons

"GooOOOD Morning VietNAM! It's time to rock + soul u from the delta to the DMC. It's 0600. [slight pause] What does the '0' stand for... Oh My God it's early."

Iraq and war are in the news (banks too in the City today - you'll need to read other parts of this blog to understand how this is connected to (knife) crime and violence - a couple of posts about 'banks' are shown here).

Violence and peace are intrinsically linked with this knife crime blog so had been thinking about Vietnam as well as wars generally - and that excellent film 'Good Morning Vietnam' with Robin Williams as DJ Adrian Cronauer.

The average age of the American soldier in the Vietnam conflict was 19... nineteen... Terrible, tragic waste of good, decent lives who were loved by many in life - not unlike many knife and gun crime victims :'-(

Death and destruction of men in their prime who's average age was 19. Is this what's happening in Afghanistan - while fat, bullied and bullying political leaders don't know how to get peace, they send in soldiers, sailors + air forces...

Daence, music, no knives and no crime - ever?

"If you have a knife in your pocket you'll end up using it"... runs the promo line on Facebook group 'You Have A Choice'.

'Don't Shank Just Skank' - Adam Deacon talks knives and knife crime (www.itdoesnthavetohappen.co.uk)

Adulthood and Kidulthood star points out there are other options in life rather than picking up / carrying a knife. Knives and professionalism don't mix. "Don't Shank Just Skank" - out now. Worth buying to help maybe.