The superficial and the profound

At the time when the Government announces yet another initiative, this time costing £3 million, to discourage young people from carrying knives, another approach is being quietly developed in London.

This approach, taken on board by the Mayor of London, tries to deal with the root cause of the problem. The man who is leading the way, Ray Lewis, has been appointed Deputy Mayor for Youth. There are other Black figures who are developing groups on similar lines, including Shaun Bailey, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Hammersmith.

Mr. Lewis, from experience in America, is determined to try to develop what he found in there. He believes in the old fashioned idea of the importance of the family, of masculine role models and respect. The ultimate aim is to encourage young black men to have self respect, self belief and high ambitions. He is trying to turn his young men from traditional over-reliance on benefits, and there is a strong element of discipline and self discipline, missing because of the nature of their upbringing.

Already his "graduates" have begun to carve out careers in areas which most people would have thought closed to them. It must be said that while it may be only one way to repair the damage caused by family breakdown, as identified by Ian Duncan Smith, it is a very promising approach. Ian and other senior Conservative figures are very much involved in what Ray Lewis is doing.

The approach represents a much more promising approach than the traditional "throw the book at them" approach and also the approach of the Government with more and more attacks on teenagers who are already committed to the gun and knife culture. It will take time to make impact on more than the relatively few who come under Ray's influence, but it surely a more thorough and positive way that any other yet produced.

We wish the Deputy Mayor well in his new responsibility, and we hope that he and his colleagues will be able to extend what is done to more and more areas of London.