'It's an endless battle, neither side is ever victorious!'

Here we are again!

At what point did we get to a stage in this modern world where life has so little value? Children murdering children - taking lives so easily without the realisation (or empathy) for the trail of destruction, heartache and anger this will leave behind. An inability to feel the emotional pain because they have become so desensitised to seeing and hearing about knife crime - murders or otherwise. These young people simply aren’t emotionally-equipped to deal with such significant decisions and choices.

This isn't call of duty - you can't just reset and start all over!

At what point can we no longer point the finger at everyone else and start taking responsibility ourselves? A whole generation of kids pissed off and angry at the world - we are throwing everything we can at this across the UK and yet it continues to increase.

And it’s not just children. This epidemic knows no gender, no skin colour, no age, no race or religion. It knows no postcode, no geographical divide or country. And what exactly are they all fighting for? 

Taking lives and injuring people with no thought as to whether it will be a life, a lifelong injury or just a battle scar to show off to others. Kids and adults fighting over postcodes and 'turf', drug wars, domestics, honour-based, initiations and point-scoring.  

Whilst we should have been celebrating the heatwave, we wake to hear news of a pregnant woman being stabbed to death and her unborn being delivered at scene and now in critical care. A man in his 20's stabbed to death in Newham, a teenager stabbed to death earlier in the week. A shooting in Ilford. 

Police pelted with missiles while trying to assist! Now this annoys me. How quick are people to blame police and then we hear this? Whatever people may think, they are cut to the bone. They are up against it across the whole of the UK. I've said it before - as soon as these offences take place a whole neighbourhood saw and heard nothing. Crying at the scene, laying flowers, printing memorial shirts and spreading the word across social media platforms. Yet nobody saw anything!

We should spare a thought for those MI teams having to get answers and justice for the families. Barely able to give them 100% time, focus and commitment because within a few hours of one incident they get the call about the next, and the next and the next...and so on. 

I wholly appreciate the abject fear some may have about talking, a desire not to be labelled a 'snitch' and not be targeted themselves, a mistrust in the police service and a whole host of other reasons. But we need to take our streets back, take control and try to start saving lives. We need to change this whole culture before it’s too late. We should all feel safe enough to walk out without the fear of being confronted by someone carrying a knife.

I also think about the paramedics, nurses and doctors too. Having to work so hard to save lives – sometimes on the concrete floor of a housing estate or in the middle of a shopping centre, where their working conditions are anything but normal. Having to tell a loved one that their world is never going to be the same again.

We've got an abundance of 'experts', travelling the length and breadth of the country offering their services to offer insight and awareness, we have laws and powers in place to manage and control this, YOT and Probation staff, teachers, victims and their families, community organisations all trying to work together to get through to people but there is no change.

I have no doubt (because I've been doing long enough to see this part too) that in ten years our services will be dealing with those who cannot cope with the choices they made as kids. These decisions - whilst reckless or pre-meditated at the time, will undoubtedly haunt the perpetrator at some stage. It may not be immediate or even soon but it will happen. We then have to deal with these people who struggle with their mental health, suffering from PTSD, frightened, suffering flashbacks, dealing with it how only they know how to - filling our prisons and services for unresolved trauma. Like soldiers returning from combat. 

It's hard not to feel at a loss as to how to deal with this. Is this what war is?