The Reader: We need a mayor with a new take on knife crime

Protestors participate in A March To Stop Knife Crime by The Tashan Daniel Campaign on December 7, 2019
Getty Images
20 February 2020
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You rightly state that a public health approach to tackling knife crime is needed [“We need more joined-up plans to stop stabbings”, February 17]; yet successive London mayors have been woefully late to this conclusion. The Liberal Democrats have been calling for it for some time.

I grew up in south London, where I still live. By the time I was 18 I knew two boys who had been murdered.

I love my city; but in the past 22 months two young men have been murdered within five minutes’ walk of my home. I don’t want my son or any other young person to feel unsafe, and I don’t want any more families to mourn their lost children.

Siobhan Benita
Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

Sadiq Khan has had four years to sort this issue out. It’s time for a fresh approach. Siobhan Benita, who launched her mayoral campaign last week, is like a breath of fresh air; not just because of her commitment to reducing pollution and encouraging a kinder London, but because of her evidence-based policy for tackling the causes of knife crime and building a safer city.
Liz Jarvis

Editor's reply

Dear Liz

Voters will have to decide how much responsibility Mayor Sadiq Khan should bear for the rise in knife crime under his watch and whether the positive action he’s taking now could have come sooner.

But whatever view is taken on those points, I agree that it’s good to see the Lib Dem mayoral candidate Siobhan Benita coming forward with constructive ideas for tackling the violence blighting our city.

Her proposal for the creation of a pan-London youth service sounds promising, for example. It would help to provide more after-school activities for pupils to keep them off the street at a time when they are most vulnerable to becoming victims of crime or targeted by gangs. Ms Benita’s promised increase in the number of neighbourhood police officers could also prove helpful.

Other mayoral candidates are coming forward with solutions too, so whoever is in charge in City Hall after polling day should have plenty of fresh ideas to choose from.
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor

Labour three are humane on Trans+

Debbie Hayton expresses her disapproval of the support given by Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Angela Rayner to the Labour Party’s Campaign for Trans+ Rights group [“As a trans Labour party supporter I’m exasperated”, February 14].

Quite how Ms Hayton, who claims to be a Labour supporter and “campaigner on transgender issues”, believes that attacking candidates for the party leadership for fully supporting trans+ equality is constructive is difficult to believe.

Given the high levels of harassment to which trans+ people suffer, it is unlikely that an individual would identify as being a member of another gender on a whim. I am not a Labour voter, but commend the three candidates for their humane stance.
Keeley-Jasmine Cavendish

A new name for Suss-ex royals

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
REUTERS

The Queen is quite right to insist that Harry and Meghan change their Sussex Royal branding, as exploiting their former status in this manner would be inappropriate under the circumstances.

But they could easily overcome the problem (and at the same time represent themselves accurately) by simply adding a dash, so that it became Suss-ex Royal. I offer the brand management suggestion entirely gratis.
Mark Graham

Listen to music’s talented women

At Tuesday night’s Brit awards, women were nominated just three times in the mixed-gender categories with a total of 25 slots available.

Talented female composers, songwriters and musicians are out there and yet, last year, they made up just a little more than 14 per cent of those signed to 106 music publishers, and under 20 per cent of those signed to 219 record labels.

This represents an industry-wide problem which has allowed a lack of diversity and inclusivity to persist for far too long, and as a result, the industry is lacking female role models.

Too many young people miss out because of who they are or where they live. Youth Music is calling for major labels to support regional grassroots projects — nurturing talent where it already exists, creating paid opportunities and making structural changes so that more women and young people from all backgrounds can have access to music-making. And if they want it, a viable career in any part of the industry.
Matt Griffiths, Chief Executive, Youth Music

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