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Idris Elba wants point removed from kitchen knives to curb UK’s knife crime crisis
Idris Elba has spoken out about a way to try and tackle the UK’s knife crime crisis.The star has made a documentary for the BBC – Idris Elba: Our Knife Crime Crisis – for which he met victims’ families, police officers and teenage offenders, and investigated ways to break the knife crime cycle.Speaking to the BBC, Elba said that early intervention was key for reducing knife crime, and even suggested that changing the shape of domestic knives could be helpful.He said: “Not all kitchen knives need to have a point on them, that sounds like a crazy thing to say,” he adds, “but you can still cut your food without the point on your knife, which is an innovative way to look at it.”According to the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF), a charity that tries to prevent violence involving children by using government funding, over 500 children were treated in hospitals in England for knife injuries in the 12 months leading up to April 2024.The UK implemented a ban on the sale of ‘zombie’ knives in September 2024 in an effort to reduce those numbers. It’s a move that Elba has said was “a massive step in the right direction”, but isn’t enough to end the crisis.“There are indicators of hope,” Elba said.