Evening Standard comment: The fight against knife crime starts at home

Thirteen teenagers died last year as a result of knife crime; two have died this year. This pointless, pitiful waste of life is attributable to gang violence, to teenagers carrying knives by way of self-protection, to the escalation in youth offending to the point where disputes that would once have been carried on with a fist fight are settled with knives, and to a culture of casual violence, especially in black communities, that has profound societal causes.

But there is one means of addressing it that is entirely obvious, but which Detective Chief Superintendent Mick Duthie, head of the Met’s homicide squad, has raised. It is for parents to challenge their teenage sons if they are aware that they are taking knives with them when they go out. As Mr Duthie says, if you want a knife you need only go to the kitchen. Homes are where parents should be challenging their children. And it is parents who should be taking every measure possible to stop their children putting themselves and others in mortal danger by carrying knives — if necessary by going to the police.

Schools, churches and community groups and, of course, the police, are already doing good work in raising consciousness of the dangers of knife possession, but any solution must include the families of those involved. There comes a point when parents cannot shirk their own responsibility for their sons. They too must play a part.

Business rates reform

The powerful Tory backbench group, the 1922 Committee, meets the Chancellor Philip Hammond this afternoon, and business rates must be at the top of its agenda. The revaluation in the rates has resulted in increases of about 30 per cent in some London boroughs. All but one of the worst-affected areas are in London.

The sheer scale of the sums now involved mean that many small firms are going to go out of business because they will be paying tens of thousands of pounds extra a year, sums that are quite unaffordable. Transitional relief is helpful — and the Treasury is hinting that it will indeed be found in the Budget — as would be a cap on increases, but it only defers inevitable closures and redundancies. The increase falls fatally on just the type of business a Tory Government should be trying to help and which reductions in corporation tax are meant to encourage. This is fiscal disjointedness. What we need is a fundamental consideration of the most equitable way to tax business to pay for local services — all the options should be considered. The present system is unfair on London and will cost jobs. It has to be reformed.

Tristram’s first day

Tristram Hunt starts his new job as director of the V&A today with a rallying call to revitalise the museum’s early spirit. He is right that we cannot take for granted the important role of cultural institutions in public life — their value is something that must regularly be explained and explored if they are to inspire new generations. The museum was originally intended to make great works of art available to all — a democratic spirit that is very contemporary — and to inspire British design, again, a very modern objective. So the museum acquired the best examples of metalwork, furniture, textiles and all other forms of decorative art from all periods as well as fine art — paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture — to tell the history of art and design. As Britain heads towards the EU exit, his message has wider resonance, too. A reinvigoration of civic commitment to the UK’s cultural heritage as part of the European story will stand the country in good stead post-Brexit.