Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall backs Idris Elba call for action on kitchen knives

Independent

11-02-2025

Celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has backed a call by actor Idris Elba to take action on kitchen knives.
Luther star Elba, 52, has called for a ban on kitchen knives with a pointed end, in a bid to tackle knife crime.
Fearnley-Whittingstall told ITV's Good Morning Britain that Elba has made a 'very interesting point' and he will 'support some progress in this'.
The 60-year-old said: 'It's certainly true that, in the kitchen, most of the time, chefs are using the blade of the knife and not the point.
'Sometimes the point is handy to, I don't know, take out a little eye of a potato or something like that, but it's a very small percentage of the time that we use the tip or point of the knife.
'I think, culturally, it would take some adjusting to. I think, it's a very, very long tradition of the way knives are made and shaped. But I'd be all in favour. And this is clearly an incredibly serious issue across the country.
'And if it saves just one life or one grievous injury, then it seems like an absolutely worthwhile development.'
Elba has long been campaigning on the issue of youth violence, starting the initiative Don't Stop Your Future (DSYF), which works with community grassroots organisations in a bid to put an end to knife crime.
Last year, he called for an immediate ban on machetes and so-called zombie knives, and in September met Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to launch a new anti-knife crime coalition.
He also spoke to Sir Keir and the King during the BBC documentary Idris Elba: Our Knife Crime Crisis.
The hour-long programme saw him meet young offenders, bereaved families, youth workers and the police, to understand why there has been an upward trend in knife crime.
A ban on zombie-style knives has been in effect since September.
Data, published by the Office for National Statistics, found around eight in 10 (83%) teenage homicides in England and Wales involve a knife or sharp instrument – a far higher proportion than across the population as a whole.
Of the 262 homicides by a sharp instrument in 2023/24, 109 (42%) involved a kitchen knife, 18 (7%) a machete and 13 (5%) a combat, rambo or military-style knife, while 45 (17%) involved a sharp instrument where the type was not known or never recovered.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told The Times that a ban on kitchen knives with pointed ends is being considered.
Fearnley-Whittingstall, known for Channel 4 food programme series River Cottage, has lent his name to various environmental campaigns including action on protecting the UK's waterways, and rewilding land.
He has also presented the BBC documentaries War On Plastic, with Anita Rani, and Hugh's War On Waste.