This was both an informative and very frustrating documentary; the latter, the frustration, comes because the answer to this ever growing problem is a very simple but probably an unattainable one; it needs a lot of monetary investment to make it work.

As with most things in life, an improvement to anything costs money, and it’s no different in the war against street weapons and street gangs. But of course the question is, where is that money going to come from? And who’s going to stand up and say that problems that are mostly – but not exclusively – peculiar to inner cities are more worthy of public money than hospitals, education, policing or provision of housing?

Cherie Booth QC is of course an articulate advocate for the proactive interventions which Channel 4’s Street Weapons Commission – of which she is Chair – recommended last year, but her question for last night’s programme was, why aren’t the measures that are proven to impact positively on youth and gang related crime being rolled out across the country? Read more & comment »