John Denham, the innovation, universities and skills secretary has been talking about the new, tougher legislation on knife crime and anti-social behaviour. 

Mr Denham said: "The knife crime we have seen recently and some of the drunken behaviour - we are not where we need to be on those issues.  Where there are underlying problems, like the acceptance of gang culture among young people, knife carrying or too-readily-available alcohol to young people, we have got to carry on until we have beaten the problem.  We have very powerful new legislation in place for the police to use to tackle these problems."

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "It took two years for the government to wake up to the massive explosion in knife crime and concede to Conservative calls for an increase in the penalty for carrying knives.  The government owes it to the public to take a grip of drink, drugs, and the broken homes that have spawned this plague on modern Britain."

The director of the Victims of Crime Trust, Norman Brennan, said: "The police should take community leaders with them so they can see the feral youngsters who are roaming our streets."

Mr Brennan is calling for mandatory five-year sentences for carrying a knife, mass stop-and-searches and the introduction of national or community service.

q.  Should carrying a knife result in a mandatory five-year sentence?