At Last!! Someone else has seen through Labour's smoke and mirrors

The Government's efforts to tackle violent crime have been criticised by an influential group of MPs.

Government is guilty of poor distribution of funding, claim MPs

The Public Accounts Committee has accused the Home Office of being slow in ensuring all police forces and crime reduction partnerships have the support they need to reduce gun and knife crime.

The Committee said the Home Office was guilty of poor distribution of funding and described the increase in the number of 15 to 17-year-olds carrying knives between 1998 and 2006 as "worrying".

The report also claimed there were twice as many crimes involving firearms over the same period.

The MPs said funding for Crime Reduction Partnerships - which include police, local councils and residents' groups - was "often one-off and short-term".

They found nearly half of the partnerships did not have enough resources to analyse how much violent crime there was in their areas.

Committee chairman, Edward Leigh said the Home Office and the police needed to tackle the root causes of why youngsters carried knives.

He added: "They need to know a lot more about why youths join gangs and how they can be diverted from membership.

"This whole subject of violent crime is bedevilled by a continuing lack of reliable data on the effectiveness of interventions."

Sky News spoke to one street gang in Manchester, who described why they felt the need to carry weapons: "When you've got a tool in your pocket you feel safer, and more powerful than anyone out there... knives are the easiest thing to pick up.

"You can walk in your kitchen get your mum's big kitchen knife and just walk out. Who's going to know you've got it? You can just throw it away after."

Although overall crime has fallen in recent years, a spate of high-profile knife and gun related attacks has fuelled public concerns over violent crime.

The Home Secretary said the Government was committed to tackling serious and violent crime and action was already underway to address the Public Accounts Committee's concerns.

And to make matter s worse we get some air head "Shock Star" tart posing with a knife as it makes her look more sexy and hard!!

Anti-knife campaigners are furious after a picture emerged of chart-topping singer Katy Perry posing with a three-inch blade.

The picture shows Perry posing with a three-inch blade

The 23-year-old Californian singer, whose smash hit record I Kissed A Girl reached number one in 20 countries, is seen posing with the weapon in a publicity shot for her first album.

The photograph, which is easily accessible online, has angered the families of those affected by knife crime, who are concerned the star will set a bad example to teenagers who idolise her.

Richard Taylor, the dad of stab victim Damilola Taylor, told The Sun: "This woman's behaviour is unacceptable.

"She must be out of her mind to pose for a picture like this. There is nothing glamorous about knives - they wreck families."

He added: "Any youngsters seeing her will think it is okay to carry a blade."

Reports suggest the knife was given to Perry to make her look "more sexy" and give her a "harder edge" in promotional shots for her debut album, One Of The Boys.

As long as money is seen as more important than lives we shall be burdened with this imported foreign sickness know as knife crime.