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SKILLZING- Real Life Skills for Everyone Skillzing uses tech to help company employees, parents and vulnerable people learn those real life skills we don't learn at school or work.

Another young life is lost at the hands of an idiot with a knife and the media jumps all over it.

Today I have received several emails asking if I still run events on this subject and I have just finished recording an interview for a London-based podcast.

The first question I am asked is "What is a quick solution to this knife problem" Quick, there is an interesting word, why would there be a quick solution I replied.

We need to find a quick solution so no more young people are killed said the interviewer.

I start giggling, not because of the loss of any life but because the media have a habit of picking the stories it wants to follow and regurgitating the same old questions again and again.

Quick is an interesting word because society never got into this position quickly, so why do we think we can get out of it quickly?

Listening to Five Live radio this morning with Nicky Campbell, I heard the phrase "cultural" at least 20 times. If it's a cultural problem then fixing it is not a quick process.

In the same broadcast, various opinions were aired including, let's have more stop and search, open more youth centers, have more effective legal consequences, and more parents need to take responsibility for their kids' actions. Again, none of these are quick solutions.

After Ben Kinsella was murdered in 2008, I teamed up with a wonderful charity called MAMAA - Mothers Against Murder and Aggression. The charity founders, Lyn Costello and Dee Edwards were passionate about supporting families of young people who lost their lives to knife and gun crime.

They were prolific at knocking on ministers' doors and getting in front of the media to campaign for change.

Lyn predicted accurately what we have all witnessed unfold over the last few years, and back then the questions were the same and her answer was always education.

It was with MAMAA, that I was given a platform to sit in Portcullis House with several ministers of the day, Vernon Coaker, Tony McNulty, and the education secretary of the day Beverley Hughes.

We presented an educational solution that would teach young people how to assess and avoid a knife incident. We made no amazing claims to rid society of these incidents, but we were confident if we taught enough young people some basic non-physical assessment skills we could save lives.

The media asked the questions and MAMAA and I provided a measurable and life-saving solution.

I met with George Ustace from the Conservatives as ears from different parties were being pricked by the noise MAMAA was making.

We started to work closely with Richard the father of Damiola Taylor, and numerous other parents who the media jumped all over when tragedy struck their families.

With a successful pilot completed, which saw 2,000 young people experience these basic, very easy-to-learn, and non-aggressive life skills, Lyn arranged a huge march through Hyde Park with Richard Blackwood as the stage presenter.

Momentum was swinging in the direction of the people and for a tiny fragment of time, it looked like Lyn, Dee, and I were going to get an educational breakthrough.

Of course, similar to the latest tragedy after a few days the media circus moves on as they have drained the story of its headlines and the subject goes quiet.

The ministers of the day decided to back an awareness campaign run by two ex-met police officers. Their plan was to go into schools and show posters asking young people to stop carrying knives.

Within three months their funding was stopped and their awareness campaign was considered a failure.

My point is the people at the top and the media by in large have no intent to stop this problem, why would they sell newspapers?

We know that a small percentage of young people are idiots and carry knives, so why not educate the large majority of young people on how to spot them and avoid them?

We have a solution, but the whole industry is relying on the situation to stay the same.

It is a shame that the human condition of overthinking is applied to social issues like this.

Due to the success of the summer football skills camp, we are running a couple of events during the October half-term.

If your child is 8 years +, they are welcome to join us.

To book your child(s) place, text their name, age, and which day you would like them to attend.

Although we are still a few days away from marching into next month, I thought I would extend the FREE taster sessions to Milton Keynes based companies today.

With only a handful of show and tell presentations left to complete in February, a couple of taster sessions have already been secured.

https://www.skillzing.co.uk/freesession

Workplace Safety | Skillzing Skillzing provide bespoke personal safety and awareness training for employees to increase their safety, confidence, core life skills and productivity

Last Saturday another young person lost their life to knife crime in a country park.

With hundreds of knife related incidents recorded every week in England, it is no surprise that news bulletins are notifying us of another fatality every few days.

The ONS recorded over 50,000 incidents in 2022 with 282 deaths. That ladies and gentlemen are the highest recorded numbers since records began 76 years ago.

As I prepare to run a knife awareness course for a local company, the question in my head TODAY is;

Is Milton Keynes a violent place to live in as knife crime is increasing across the country?

The image below provides an interesting read and does show violent crime is a concern for local people and companies.

Over 20,400 violent crimes were committed last year and equates to 37% of all crime recorded.

This statistic covers a wide range of crimes including an uncomfortable number of sexual assaults.

Keeping with the theme of this post, 383 people were arrested carrying bladed weapons and far too many people lost their lives to knife crime.

On a positive note, Milton Keynes is considerably down the list of the most violent places to live in England, and the UK is listed as the 193rd worst location in the world for knife crime.

With violence unfortunately becoming more popular, preventative measures training must and surely will become an important part of a companies support for their employees.