Peter Hill

AMID the many explanations and excuses for the spate of stabbings and shootings in London one possible solution is not mentioned: arrest the people who are stirring up hatred and violence and put them on trial. Insults and challenges flying between rival gangs on social media seem to be behind many incidents. Another provocation is a new and especially nasty form of rap music known as drill, which conveys messages of revenge, bloodletting and hatred.

The vicious threats in these messages must amount to public order offences at least so why don’t the police collar the offenders, who must be easily identifiable? Start by making life uncomfortable for the macho idiots and self-styled “sojers” who are calling the shots.

It’s futile to bemoan the lack of youth clubs and lack of opportunities. There were plenty of youth clubs and jobs in the 1960s but that didn’t stop teddy boys and mods and rockers from causing mayhem. I doubt if stop and search will end these tragedies – too random.

As in the fight against terrorism, specific profiling of likely offenders is the best way to tackle this murderous cult. Get the “gangstas” and put them in prison. Or is that too politically incorrect for our faint-hearted liberal administrators? q I AM a big fan of MasterChef but one question puzzles me: when the contestants line up for John Torode and Gregg Wallace to judge their plates how can it be fair on the chefs at the back of the queue whose food must be stone cold by the time it’s their turn? The latest BBC scandal in which a remote tribe was persuaded to build a fake tree house for the cameras made me wonder: could MasterChef be faked too, or at any rate cunningly timed to give a false impression that all the chefs are cooking at the same time? q BIGGER companies have to pay 0.5 per cent of their wage bill to the Education and Skills Funding Agency which they can claim later to pay apprentices. But more than £1.28billion is “languishing” in the fund’s account as firms aren’t taking back the cash. It means they can’t be bothered with apprenticeships.

Britain has far too little vocational training. Too many young people go to university chasing often useless degrees while practical skills are underrated. If it were not for our immigrant army of plumbers, builders and electricians from Eastern Europe, most having served traditional apprenticeships in their own countries, we would be in a right old mess.

But the ready availability of good workers from abroad has made British businesses too lazy and mean to train home-grown talent.

For the very future of our country apprenticeship schemes must be made compulsory. q WHY was householder Richard Osborn-Brooks, aged 78, detained overnight by police after killing career burglar Henry Vincent during a struggle at his home? Why was he arrested? Why is it standard practice that when someone kills an intruder there is an assumption of guilt on the part of the person defending family and home?

The law says we are entitled to use proportionate violence in response to assumed threat but how can anyone know the intentions of an intruder in the dead of night? I would assume the worst and use whatever weapon came to hand. The police are right to question householders but utterly wrong to put them through the ordeal of arrest, detention and trial. Rights of self-defence need clarifying in favour of the victims – they deserve justice and sympathy. q MOST people suffer anxiety about tipping when travelling abroad, according to a recent survey. The whole business is a mess, embarrassing and annoying. In America waiters even sneer at 25 per cent these days – outrageous – and I resent automatic service charges which I doubt go to the staff. The world would be better if tipping were abolished and workers paid properly. But until that unlikely eventuality one thing is certain: you can never tip too much. q CAN political correctness have got so ridiculous that Derbyshire Constabulary Male Voice Choir has been disbanded because women aren’t eligible to join? Afraid so. The solution is simple: remove the word “Male” from the title but admit only tenor, baritone or bass voices.

Let’s stop making such a fuss over gender. Who cares if boys want to wear skirts? Toilets can easily be made usable by all – they already are in many places, especially on the Continent. It’s unfair that women have to queue for the loo while men are in and out in seconds. In future we will all have to queue. q A CAUTIONARY point about gender inequality. Clearly it’s wrong that women are paid less than men for similar work but what will happen if suddenly everyone must be paid equally? Wage bills will rocket, taxes will have to increase massively to pay public employees, mass redundancies will happen and many businesses will go bust. Either that or men’s pay must go down to match women’s. I’m glad I don’t have to sort that one out. q FALCONER John Mease was cleared of breaking hunting laws because he used a golden eagle to kill foxes. I appeal to Mr Mease to bring his talon-ted friend to scare off the pigeons that make a mess of our pavements and parked cars. A man with a hawk used to come round but the pigeons sneer at his bird. The cheeky blighters might take notice of an eagle.