29-01-2025
Watch: Idris Elba backs blunt kitchen knives to stop knife crime
Credit: X/@BBCr4today
Idris Elba has called for kitchen knives to have their ends rounded off to protect victims of the UK's violent gang crisis.
Speaking ahead of the release of his documentary on knife crime that will air on Wednesday evening, the 52-year-old actor said there needed to be 'innovative' solutions amid a surge in knife crime that has pushed it back to near-record levels.
The Luther star said that while the Government's ban on the sale of zombie knives was a positive step in tackling the issue, he also believed ninja swords should be outlawed and suggested kitchen blades have their sharp point removed.
'I do think there are areas of innovation that we can do. Not all kitchen knives need to have a point on them, that sounds like a crazy thing to say. But you can still cut your food without the point on your knife, which is an innovative way to look at it,' he said. 'In a country in crisis, yes, let's look at that.'
Britain's knife crime crisis has seen a total of 507 children treated in English hospitals for knife injuries in the 12 months to April 2024, according to the latest figures analysed by the Youth Endowment Fund.
The number of knife crimes reported by police forces across England and Wales passed 50,000 in the year to June 2024, for only the second time since records began. In London, they hit a record high of 15,859, up 16 per cent on 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics.
A ban on the sale of pointed kitchen knives has been backed by the Church of England, judges, top trauma doctors and psychiatrists, the police and victims as they argue that it would make life-threatening injuries far less likely.
It follows a five-year study in Edinburgh which found that 94 per cent of the sharp instruments used in homicides were kitchen knives.
Axel Rudakubana, the Southport triple killer, used a kitchen knife he bought via Amazon for his murderous attack last July.
Campaigners say sharp knife points were only used historically to pick up food because forks had not been invented and it was a time when they could be carried openly.
Sharp points remain only as an anachronistic hangover from 18th century Britain during which forks became commonplace.
Elba's new documentary sees the British actor spend 12 months exploring the reality of the UK's knife crime crisis.
During the programme, he met with victims' families, police officers and teenage offenders for a deep dive into the problem.
In an effort to tackle the issue, a ban on zombie knives and machetes came into place in England and Wales in September, making it an imprisonable offence to possess, sell, manufacture or transport them.
Elba said it was 'massive step in the right direction', but believed schools could intervene in young people's lives earlier to stop them 'going towards a dark place'.
The actor highlighted disciplinary action like school exclusions as an opportunity for teachers to pay more attention to children in their pre and early teens.
Elba said: 'The big thing that I learned in the room [when he visited Feltham Young Offender Institution for the show] is that they're not big and scary in the way that it's portrayed; gangs, balaclavas, black jackets.
'These were people, young people, still grasping on to their development, it was sad. It just felt like they were just banged up behind there, and no-one cares.
'Of course, they're being looked after there, but it did feel like, 'oh, wow, we just turned our back on them', because we're expecting them to come out of there loved and ready to get back into society. It was really educational for me, and sad.'
Elba backed moves by the Government to crackdown on knife sales. Last weekend ministers announced new measures including a ban on doorstep sales and two-step age verification for online purchases – to prevent under 18s buying knives online.
The actor said tech companies and social media needed to take more responsibility over the issue: 'When it comes to big tech, there needs to be accountability within their own policies, and their policies need to be educated and driven by what society deems is right or wrong.
'It's great that you're a big company, you make a lot of money, got lots of social media followers, that's fantastic. But by the way, we don't like knives, we're not going to tolerate you advertising knives to young people, please.
'We don't like porn, we don't like this, we don't like bully dogs, it can be done in a society, and in my opinion, where democracy leads, it takes a village.'
Ministers are planning new laws to fine tech executives up to £10,000 if they fail to remove content promoting, advertising or allowing the sale of banned knives.
Elba said there were 'indicators of hope' already in the fight against knife crime and praised the under-the-radar intervention schemes that were 'really working'.
The BBC film, Idris Elba: Our Knife Crime Crisis, sees Elba meet Sir Keir Starmer, before becoming prime minister, who said that his party would commit to halving knife crime if elected.
