violent crime in the uk is at a crucial state. I am the mother of 'stab victim Chris Cave from Redcar Cleveland UK. I have faught for Justice for victims for four years. My son was seventeen and stabbed to death because he refused a gang of local thugs entry to his friends flat to smoke drugs in the form of 'a bucket'. There was one charge brought out of seven people presant at my sons murder. One man was given twelve years for taking it upon himself to stab my child to death because 'he didnt like my sons answer'.The justice system in the UK must be taught to streanghten sentencing laws and bring in deterants if anything is to change. The victim is of no importance, but the offender deserves a 'chance' to be 'rehabilitated' what justice is trhis. A LIFE FOR A LIFE NO DEALS NO REWARDS FOR GOOD BEHAVIOUR. It is the victims family that do the Life Sentence in the UK thanks to the good old BRITISH SYSTEM. Can you believe it ?

THERESA CAVE, REDCAR, ENGLAND

Yes, let's bring more guns into the situation, just look how well Seung-Cho managed to protect himself against his thirty-two assailants.

Bob Arkwright, Little Rock, Arkansas

Good thing the Political Leadership and Gun Control is working so well.

When are you folks going to learn that criminals don't fear Police, They don't fear lengthy sentences and they certainly don't pay attention to the laws that all of the hard working politicians keep piling up....The ONLY thing that Criminals fear is an Armed Victim.

I look forward to the day when the citizens of the UK get fed up and take back control of their lives.

J, Annapolis, Md/USA

Excellent. No doubt they're still feeding them too many crisps and chocolate bars though. Stab deaths vs. juvenile diabetes? I know what I'd be more worried about.

Phil, Newcastle,

Thought taking away everyone's guns was going to make the UK safe?

mark, wdge, USA

im sure if more people started wearing body armour our useless
goverment would rather tax them for wearing it instead of acually
doing something about the problem, we need police back on the
street instead of penpushing in the police station.

simon nidd, grimsby, uk

@Robert, Sydney, Australia,

Having just driven to work (From Toronto to Toronto), I can't substantiate your claim that "Toronto is a war zone". Toronto is a city of over 4 million people, and yes there is violence, but to call it a war zone is hyperbole. Nobody in Toronto is dressing their precious ones in body armour. In fact, if anyone tried they would be laughed out of the country. Perhaps the view isn't quite as clear from 'down under'?

Rusty, Toronto, Ontario

High rates of immigration is the most likely of all indicators of high crime. There is not enough space here for me to discuss all of this. However for those interested the info on the net is easily accessible. Toronto is a virtual warzone with unchecked immigration from the carribean. 10 years a go Toronto was one of the safest cities in all of the west. The same could be said for London, Sydney, Paris, and plenty of other cities in the west. There have always been poor people in England, Canada, etc. However the crime we are seeing in our cities I believe is unparrelled in modern times. Of course non-western immigration is not the only factor, but i believe it is the biggest single factor taken by itself. Of course no main-stream politician will say this. The west will cntinue to resemble the middle ages more and more with eaching passing generation, that is a fact if immigration does not only stop but repatriation begin as soon as possible. Vote BNP! Britain's last hope.

robert, sydney, Australia

So much rubbish to answer, so little time! This victim culture has to stop - there is NOTHING that would induce me to put my child in a flak-jacket. More likely I'd give my child a hard time for allowing themselves to be a victim in this way. However, I do not blame liberal culture - that is called "civilisation", a word that seems to be missed out of the dictionaries of those who advocate ever stronger security (Selena), guns (words fail me, JJ), and the others who are no doubt saying that cameras and ID cards will make a difference.

Those who advocate the - rightly illegal - death sentence, answer me this: would you really have teenagers sent to the gallows, or whatever your favoured "humane" method might be? If your answer is 'yes', you are worse than the alleged killers in the recent cases. If your answer is 'no', you have no case. We have to grow up as a society, which means making sure all groups have the basic safety that the "Elites" (Desmond Taylor) take for granted.

peakcrew, Sheffield, UK

Dressing up a small child in something that costs hundreds of pounds and sending the child out into a rough neighborhood doesn't sound like it advances the child's safety at all.

fogg, San Francisco, CA

I dont know what you are all worried about. Mr Tony said a few days ago that he will try to find the time from helping his best friend to save the world and look into it. Meanwhile lets concentrate on our eagerly anticipated super casinos and make sure that those miserable old spoilsports dont stop this wonderful plan to bring more opportunities to the fun loving majority of our people and concentrate the activities of the nasty but at the same time deprived people roaming our streets into one industry so that Mr Brown can tax them.

jerym eedy, caerphilly, U.K.

As an Anglophile from age 10, I'm deeply sad for your country.

And it is not that hard to fix it, just very few are willing to face reality.

1. Cut to virtually zero immigration from non-western countries.

2. Make crime illegal :-). Put bastards in jail for longer time.
Look what Guliani did in NY.
NY was in worse shape than London is today.
Arguably it is safer place today.

3. Grow a pair, Brits. Your predecessors are weeping in their graves looking at a jello that is Britain today.

mik, san francisco, usa

The solution is to repeal the laws banning guns, and not only for adults. Allow children to take classes on their proper use so they can defend themselves, and all the violence will vanish when a hoodlums realize that their innocent looking victims might be packing and capable of blasting their brains out of their criminal craniums.

Samual Colt, Detroit, Michigan

Mikey from Burmingham said, ..."it's the fact people are thinking about it that says this country is becoming, like America, an unsafe place to live. That is so easily down the the capitalistic animal survival approach"......

Where in the US are parents buying body armour for their kids? The only places where crime is high are those run by socialist liberals that have disarmed the populace, who have been taught that only government can take care of them. Socialism? You have exactly what you want.
Capitalism has nothing to do with it.

Ann, Freedom, USA

What do we expect? In a society that is too politically correct to allow schools to discipline pupils and insists they are adults by droning on about their rights and exposing them to adult material...of course they think they can do whatever they want. The police always advise "Don't get involved" does anone really want to live in a society like that? Get Involved...

Tom, London, London

this geezer's wearin body armour! c'moan neville, let's stomp on 'is 'ead!

seriously though, we have trouble like this in Australia. only its more common for the deaths and severe injuries to not involve weapons of any kind; you can kill someone with a punch if they fall and hit their head, and paramedics are reporting that youths simply won't hesitate to stomp on someone's head after they're down.

jesse machim, tottenham, UK

I would worry in case the vests were likely to attract the attention of the very people parents are hoping to protect their children from...and do these vests come with an interior pocket in which to store the child's emergency dose of Tamiflu?

Julie, Monmouth, UK

Vote BNP people. Don't let the mass media "scare" you. They are not, nor will they ever be, "Nazis". There is absolutely nothing morally wrong with reducing immigration if that is what the people want, which they do.

Brian, Sevilla, Spain

This isn't an exclusive: I read about this first in the London edition of Metro at 03.30 this morning.

Rob Taylor, London, UK

Thatchers Britain, 2nd generation......wait for the 3rd generation! In a country where education and everything else fails what do you expect ?

JR Tobe, St Denis, France

Where ever guns are banned, violent crime increases. As seen in the UK, Australia, Canada, an cities in the U.S. Defying all logic, some people keep pushing for new bans. Criminals will not obey laws only lawful citizens do. Government types just want us unarmed so they can do with us as as they will.

The mother needs to move her kid to a safer school, a vest will not prevent someone from walking up and cutting her throat. Vests would only help if the attacker was shooting a handgun from a distance. If they are close they could shoot her in the head.

JJ, SAn Diego, USA

This is a direct result of an open borders policy that has fundamentally changed British society - as it's changing industrialized societies around the globe. The flow of cheap Third World labor is wonderful for Big Business. They profit as their nations balkanize into competing ethnic zones. Stories such as this are typical of an area where competing ethnic groups live. This is not in the interest of Western people.

Michael, Madrid, Spain

Aren't you glad , what "new labour" has done to you??

Boris, Troye, France

I agree with Mike, after 10 years of Tony Blair the social problems his Government has created will prove a greater threat to this country than terrorism.
Making money at all costs has been this Government's prime policy as the social fabric of family values has been totally destroyed along the way.
Now the norm is teenage unmarried Mums strolling around towns all day caught in a future life of social security hand outs and no future for both Mum and child;
Ever increasing violence is the order of the day from teenagers who have grown up in an environment where parents have lost the habit of knowing how to educate children properly.
We have to go back to basics and run local courses on a nationwide basis, to teach people how to bring up children.
Otherwise things will only get worse, not helped by the increasing violence on television, the cinema and internet games. But these make money ,so for this Government that is more important than the possible social harm of increased violence in our society.

john.gilmore, Chantilly, France

Martial art training might be a better idea for teenagers than wearing body armour.

Alan, Osaka, Japan

They should just make murder illegal! Seriously though when are the people of the West going to realize that their worst enemies are their so-called leaders both right and left. The ruling elites deliberatly created this social disorder so they can extract more taxes and more liberty when the people cry out for "security".

JB, Logan, New Jersey

How can the government allow gangs to rule the streets, estates and public transport intimidating the young, the elderly and the vulnerable. Surely a visible police presence would deter//stop these thugs. CCTV has only proved effective after the crime has happened and does not stop crime. Please can we have our bobbies on the beat back, when of course they are not to busy looking after our ministers!

GT, London, England

Banks have their own secutiy guards, schools don't. Shopping arcades have their own security guards, schools don't. Even a gutter disco has its own security guard, but schools don't.
Let's keep our children at home until the government takes measures to make our schools safe. Otherwise we cannot do more than creating a new industry to turn our children into fully armoured knights.

Selena Byways, Bristol, UK

As a labour supporter it pains me to say the following, it is now time for labour to go, it's not that people are putting body armour on their children, it's the fact people are thinking about it that says this country is becoming, like America, an unsafe place to live. That is so easily down the the capitalistic animal survival approach, what happened to socialism Blair?

Mikey, Burmingham,

Apart from a 'kick me here' sign, I cannot think of a better way of making your child the target than wrapping them in body armour.

Peter, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Leaving aside the craziness of the whole idea and the point raised about the rest of the body, what is to stop gangs stealing these vests from the children they attack?

I appreciate the concern the parents must feel but I think that they should consider my point.

Ben, York, UK

How about banging up anyone who commits these crimes? Better yet have the 'Elites' and their cohorts (social workers) be bodyguards. After all it is all their 60's drivel that got to this state.

Desmond Taylor, Houston, TX

What on earth is happening to this country!!! It comes to something when you have to dress your children in body armour to go to school. All these liberal minded idiots who control the country with their human rights this and that have an awful lot to answer for but then again, they are up in their ivory towers a world away from crime and violence so why should they care?

Mike Jones, Farnborough, Hampshire

As usual when such a topical issue crops up in the media, this nation seems to have a knee-jerk reaction and blow things out of proportion. In reality stabbings and killings amongst inner-city youths has always been rife. These incidents are isolated at worst and are mostly all related to the drugs trade in one form or another. Parents buying body armour for their kids is beyond ridiculous and shows that they attribute too much weight to what they read and here in mainstream media. Furthermore, the solutions to these social vices cannot be found in Government legislation and "tough on crime measures". It is a long process that involves tackling the causes, not effects, of such problems. These being poverty and unemployment in inner-city areas. Poverty, which then goes on to fuel the drugs trade and results in many of the scars we see on society today.

Manase, London, UK

I would have thought if you buy your son or daughter a stab vest then they will become a target. This is because mindless yobs who have knifes and want to harm or scare others will see if they have the ability to do so even if the target how ever inocent is wearing a protective jacket/vest.

I think its therefore stupid and not usefull.

Richard, London,

I can very well understand parents fear for their childrens safety, being a parent myself. However there are 2 sides to the coin. Understandably, concern over the children killed in london over 2/3 weeks. The constant news updates of bullying and violence in and around British Towns. Is it possible that there is always some incident of violence and death, at any point in history, wheather it be in the 1970`s or the noughty`s. Could it be that it is reported more quickly and accurately. As such newspapers and media alike , jumping on the publics fear and loathing of such events and manipulating people to part with there money. It shows ourselves to be very gullible and open to any suggestion. Next Fashion with Ian`s sporting a pink Kevlar hoodie in matching armbands. I rest my case.

Peter Hagan, liverpool, United Kingdom

The kids have got no role models. The family units and structures have broken down. The kids are not punished for erring but rather cuddled and given more chocolates. Teachers are not allowed to scold students. Parents have lost all sense of parenthood. We have a society of “grand-kids” (grand parents who are still kids) and “nappy parents” (parents who still need nappies) instead of grant parents. We all know what the fundamental issues are but we keep blaming the government. Let us confront this problem and stop burying our heads in the sand otherwise this crime and violence will consume this generation like a plague. Government and parents need to come together and discuss these issues and proffer solutions that cut across race, religion and economic divides.

Femi Akinsola, Essex, England

I'm not afraid of crime. So long as we have the Crown Prosecution Service looking after us we'll be fine. I've just had a Victim Support Letter from them telling me they're going to prosecute the desperate criminal who - wait for it - put a dent in the wing of my car. So never fear - the police and the £50,000 a year CPS lawyers have really got their fingers on the country's crime pulse.

eric, harrogate, uk

Violence, gun crime and gang culture in London and the major cities in the UK is spiralling out of control like nothing. Instead of blaming A or B, to make a positive change I think it will require getting rid of these individuals and even their families for good.

There are too many benefits for the unemployed and single mothers in this country. They can claim council houses and a lot of benefits from the gov. just doing absolutely nothing ! These families and their upcoming generations get used to just doing nothing and getting food on their plate. To earn easy money they do drugs at an early age, for fun and to kill time they form their gangs and command 'respect' for their members, fight out with other gangs etc. These people know VERY WELL to manipulate the system to claim benefits, while the hardworking British taxpayer pays for it all !

Why does the gov. not see things more logically I wonder.

CR, Peniche, Portugal