KNIVES both cut and spread our bread and butter and serve many more useful purposes in the home.

It would be absurd to suggest that we could live without them.

But, at the same time, a humble vegetable peeler can be lethal in the wrong hands.

That is the reason we have laws to protect people as much as possible. No knives should be sold to under-16s and no-one can go in the streets legally armed with any kind of cutting tool, even a lino cutter.

As we have demonstrated this week, at least some shopkeepers are casual about the ages of the people they sell to. It may go some way to explaining why so many young muggers are "tooled up".

Just as worrying was the 20-inch knife sold to our reporter. The handle was more than 12in long and it could serve no sensible culinary purpose that we could work out.

But it would make a magnificent stabbing "sword" for anyone intent on crime.

With knife offences on the increase, Parliament should review its laws on what sort of blades can be sold over the counter and to whom.

July 11, 2002 10:00