cuts like a knife

It does.

I've noted before the increasing use of knives in street violence. It's not as bad in Australia as the story indicates it is in the UK, but we seem to have the same trend happening.

Quite a long time ago offspring no 1 told me that it was quite usual for kids to be carrying knives in the centre of Canberra on a Saturday night, so it may have been going on for a while.

I don't have a feel for why it has come about - whether it's an increase in violence in general or whether this is a trend within similar amounts of street violence.

Certainly as I get older I feel increasingly vulnerable when I'm out at night, to the extent that often I won't go.

Video violence? A generation of poor parents, inadequately brought up by their own parents and unable to pass on notions of what passes for responsible society? Are we about to return to a more authoritarian, unquestioning type of society? I noticed the comments about army service made by some of those interviewed. I've always seen this as a simplistic answer, but hyou always have to question. Does it have some validity?