Back Elba to get tough on knives

■ IDRIS Elba’s campaign Don’t Stop Your Future is a laudable response to the rise in the number of young deaths from knife crime (Mirror, January 8 and 9).

The Government should fast track a bill to ban the sale of zombie knives and machetes because the delay to legislation is costing lives.

Lecturing youths to desist from carrying knives to protect themselves or harm others only falls on deaf ears.

One of the best ways to reduce the number of stabbings is to open more youth clubs and services, many of which have been lost due to years of Tory austerity.

No matter how hard you try, you can’t alter young people’s mindset simply by compelling them to change their behaviour.

M Smith, Chatham, Kent

■ I admire Idris Elba’s crusade to ban the sale of knives and machetes to keep them off our streets but I fear it will not be enough. People can order them online from all over the world. The only way to reduce them is to give the police more power to stop and search, no matter who it offends. The bottom line is law-abiding citizens have nothing to fear. Yes, it will be inconvenient at times but I feel the people of this nation will embrace it if it helps to save the lives of our young and puts the carriers behind bars.

Roger Grant Thurnscoe, South Yorks

■ Idris Elba deserves praise for his campaign against knife crime, which is out of control in this country. It seems the politicians are blind over the knife crisis in our towns and cities. But Idris is one celebrity with his feet firmly in the real world and hopefully his Don’t Stop Your Future campaign will have some impact.

Legislation to ban the sale of zombie knives and machetes is taking far too long. The crackdown needs to start now and anyone found guilty of carrying a weapon should be punished accordingly.

Samuel Farooq, South West London

■ Knife crime is out of control and too many young people are dying. The problem is all authority has been lost in schools.

When I was at school during the 1950s and 1960s, discipline was a priority with only a handful of children misbehaving. Now teachers and parents aren’t allowed to discipline children.

There is also much more truancy, when there was hardly any in my day. I feel so sorry for the teachers and school staff as they have their hands tied.

Keith Robinson, Gosport, Hants

■ If parents and the threat of spending a long period in prison can’t deter youngsters carrying knives, what chance do we have?

More than 13 years of this awful government has had a terrible effect on the mental health of so many children. We had 10 years of austerity followed by three years of chaos with enormous pressure on families to make ends meet, which creates further tension at home.

The Tories need to take responsibility for the state of our country.

Ronnie Starkey, Norwich

■ Well done to Idris Elba and the Mirror on your campaign to stop knife crime, which is rife in our towns and cities.

It’s time the Government stopped being blasé and came up with some proper solutions to this problem before even more young lives are lost.

But I’m not holding my breath.

John Hamiltion, Leeds

■ Why isn’t this useless Tory government doing everything it can to end the knife crime scourge that’s killing so many young people?

It should be obsessed with that, not its ridiculous Rwanda plan that’s costing untold millions.

Theresa Vincent, North London