DISARMING BRITAIN

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KNIFE CRIME

DISARMING BRITAIN

      Since 2004 Britain has witnessed art increase in violent crime involving Young people. And there has been a particular rise in the number of victims killed by knives.

      This phenomenon has caught the attention of both the media an the authorities. In 2006 the London Metropolitan Police launched “Operation Blunt” as part of a long term strategy to tackle knife crime. Much of the works is preventive: examples include advertising campaigns, better patrolling by the procedures and metal detectors.

      Local London boroughs are also working with schools. Kensington and Chelsea, for example, launched “Operation Sabre.” Children were invited to design a poster to be used on bus routes. The operation also included six “knife surrender him. “which were placed at locations throughout the borough. As a result, 139 knives were collected. Most were kitchen knives, but there was an assortment of more lethal weapons, including a machete.

      A BIG MISTAKE

      According to a survey conducted in 2004, most young people carry knives thinking that they can use them for protection. Yet research has shown that it is more likely that an assailant will seize your knife and use it against you.

      Much of the campaigning against knife crime is led by people who have lost friends or family member. Londoner Alexander Rose is a case in point. He was still a teenager in 2006 when a 16-year-old friend was stabled to death. He launched a campaign called “STOP” (“Solve This Ongoing Problem”) which is supported by Battlefront.co.uk, an online network run by Channel 4.

      As part of the campaign to educate people about the danger of carrying blades, hundreds of knives seized by police were melted down and forged into pendants engraved with the words “This used to be a knife.”

      2006 was also the year that Ann Oakes Odger decided to found the charity Knife Crime.Org (www.knifecrime.org). This was after her 27-year-old son Westley had been stabbed to death, following an argument at a cash machine in colchester. Ann started a campaign to change the law. And it has worked: the sentence for adults who murder someone with a knife has been raised from 15 to 25 years.

      THE ART OF EDUCATION

      And some of the campaigns have been set up by the victims of knife crime. Oliver Hemsley, for example, is a 21-year-old art student who is now in a wheelchair after an unprovoked attack. Oliver decided to live and launched a social initiative called Art Against Knives. This London-based charity works on the roots of the problem by offering young people a creative alternative to violent gang culture. For more, visit www.artaginstknives.com .

Britain's waterways

BRITAIN’S WATERWAYS


Source: www.speakup.com.br

The metallic surface of the water ripples as the man navigates the 20-metre-long narrowboat around a Bend in the river. A dog barks excitedly as it chase along the river bank after the boat. When the dog’s owners arrive they chat for a minute or two with the boat owner. And then they walk past along the towpath. This is truly life in the slow lane: the narrow boat has just been overtaken by two people walking a dog!

LIFE ON BOARD

There are more than 6.400 kilometres of inland waterways in Britain, including 3.200 kilometres of historic canals. The narrowboat (not to be confused with a “longboat,” which was the type of ship used by Vikings!) is well named, being 2.1 metres or less in width. Inside, however, there is a surprising amount of space: most boats have a large living and dining area, a fully equipped kitchen, bathroom, and comfortable beds. There’s usually heating and hot water. Best of all, there’s room to stand without banging your head!

There’s something special about cruising along a canal or mooring a boat beside a waterside pub and watching the world go by – slowly!

“Water has its own pace, it has its own heartbeat, and you slow down to that pace and that heartbeat,” says Lindy Foster Winreb, who has enjoyed a 50-year love affair with waterways. She lives in a canal-side house in Berkhamsted near London, where she started he own hire boat company back in 1972. What are her tips for enjoyable boating? “It’s not the arrival that counts, it’s the travelling,” she says, with a smile.

THE RURAL ROUTE

Britain’s canals are corridors through the countryside and back doors into towns and cities. A narrowboat can glide quietly, almost unseen, under bridges full of traffic. Even a sedate four kilometers per hour seems fast by comparison with the rush-hour queues. And along the canals there are usually people out walking, jogging, cycling and fishing.

SINCE ROMAN TIMES

The first British canal is believed to have been built by Romans: the Foss-dyke, which connected the city of Lincoln with the River Trent and is still in use today. But the system of canals for inland navigation only really arrived in Britain with the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century. Roads were then notoriously unreliable and railways didn’t exist. Most trade ran up and down Britain’s canals involved the formation of completely new bridges, tunnels, aqueducts, pumps and locks. More than 200 years later, many of these original structures are still in use, thanks to the dedication and enthusiasm of an army of volunteers. With trains, and then heavy goods lorries, dominating the transport industry, canals fell into disrepair. After the Second World War the nationalized canal system was saved in large part by the enthusiastic campaigning of the Inland Waterways Association.

PEOPLE CARRIER

Very little commercial cargo is carried of Britain’s canals today, but the waterway is busier than ever, with millions of people every year enjoying narrowboat cruises. Lindy Foster Weinreb explains that everything changed in 1968, when “it was recognised that the canals had a new reason for existence – which was that the cargo they could carry wasn’t just goods, it could be people.”

If you Go…

Travel safety with Anglo Welsh Narrow Boats, a member of DRIFTERS, a consortium of awar-winning holiday boat companies with bases throughout the UK; tel :08457 626252; www.drifters.co.uk

No special skill or experience is required to hire a narrowboat. They are simple to control and it’s hard to get lost! Speed is limited t 6kmph an each look takes about 15 minutes to complete. Boats come fully equipped. Hire costs vary depending upon the season. Costs for four people (a six-berth narrowboat) vary from £550 to £1.300 per week. The National Waterway Museum is one national museum at three different waterside locations, each with its own special appeal. Admission costs £3.95 (Gloucester Docks), £4,75 (Stoke Bruerne) or £5,50(Ellesmere Port); www.nwm.org.uk