Taking part in a recent radio show that interviewed knife-carrying kids in my neck-of -the woods, it was clear that they carry for many reasons. First – kids are afraid that without one they will be vulnerable to others with knives. Second – it gives status. With a knife you may not have much else but you’re a big man and who’s going to diss you now? And third – for some it is a fashion accessory.

Lots of kids don’t even know that if you cut an artery in the leg it can kill you. Most of them carry and don’t intend to use – but it happens and they ‘plunge’ and that’s it. So – as with drunk driving – a hard hitting campaign about the consequences of carrying a knife both for the victim and the aggressor can make an impact over time. It’s about education about the realities; face-to-face work with the families or survivors of knifings – so consequences are faced.

We also should have equal sentencing for carrying a knife as carrying a gun – but simple locking away on its own can just shield young people from the reality of their actions, and so doesn’t help reduce the reoffending rate when they’re released. (Far too often it’s forgotten that most people jailed will be released at some point – unless we start imposing ridiculously over-the-top life sentences for every crime – which means making sure people don’t go out and commit more crimes after their sentence is completed is crucial). So – in addition, a combination of punishment, retribution, reparation and rehabilitation is needed.

Next – take away the relative security that young people feel about not being caught carrying a knife. Random metal detector arches going into key places – out of the blue. Has to be random – in timing and placement. I’m against permanent arches in places like schools as that brutalises children and they would just leave them elsewhere anyway. But if that sense of not being caught could be removed – and it becomes too dodgy to carry – the less they will carry.

Then there is the real work is about listening to kids and learning what has to happen to make them feel safe enough not to carry a knife; feel valued enough not to need the status and what it will take to disabuse them of the idea that it is cool. And to do that – we need their help. So we need some poacher turned gamekeepers to help us work it out. It may be part diversion, part care and attention, part education, part aspiration and perhaps taking young people out of their own normal environments – away from peer groups and out of comfort zones and home territory. Remove them from the culture itself and put them to good use helping others, such as doing community service in locations away from home.

One thing for sure, it won’t be quick and it won’t be easy – and it won’t be as cheap as another headline or rushed, knee-jerk legislation!

Anyway, enough from me – let me have your views!

This piece first appeared on LiberalReview.com.

I had to go to Camidoc (the local GP out of hours service) the other night as I was having an asthma attack. An Asian doctor was on duty there who was extremely kind and saw me immediately. He could clearly see I couldn’t breathe. Anyway – he put me on a nebuliser (a machine that you breathe through that dispenses relieving drugs).

When I was recovering (I was the only patient), he sat chatting to me and I was telling him about my daughters. And he asked if I was married. No, I answered. And then he said that that life is difficult for women on their own and that children need discipline and need a father’s firm hand etc etc.

I was a bit gob-smacked. I think, being a Member of Parliament and pretty assertive as women go, I sometimes forget that out there is a world that still believes that men are the authority figure in the family and that no woman should want to be on her own. At the same time, I was wondering about the gap between Asian culture and my life – which is the totemic opposite of the traditional view of woman and family. Don’t get me wrong. This man was just being kind and thoughtful – but there was a genuine belief that women had a place and that children need a father in situ. He must have seen the look on my face, because he said – well every situation is different and perhaps he was wrong.

And of course, there are many, many non-Asian men who also believe the same thing as he did. But it did strike me as a bit of a cultural difference.

It’s like when I am out knocking on doors in elections; I am always struck by the number of Asian women who open the door and say that they will vote for whomever their husband votes for (and often that the whole extended family will vote also vote that way). I always feel like saying ‘can’t you think for yourself?’ You do sometimes get a white woman expressing similar views, but in my experience it is much, much more common amongst Asian communities.

Of course I don’t say, ‘can’t you think for yourself?’ because it would be plain rude and because different cultures are different. That is the whole point about tolerance: tolerating and being tolerated for things we do not do or believe ourselves. It has to work both ways! Yet there is always a sense of tension when the differences touch on values that are seen to be fundamental to one of the cultures.

So I often wonder – particularly now, following the bungled Forrest Gate intelligence/police operation and when the Muslim community is feeling targeted – just how much we have in common or how much we have apart.

There is a great story about trying to integrate white and Asian women in a town in the north of England. They don’t mix at first and sit on opposite sides of the community room. Some weeks later – the women are all the best of friends and having a wonderful time. And what had broken the ice? They all thought their daughters-in-law were not good enough for their sons.

Some things transcend cultural differences! At this time, we also need to work hard to focus on other values – such as decency, respect for life and opposition to indiscriminate violence – that do also transcend boundaries. We have got to find a way of joining hands across all our communities in these desperately difficult times. And you can help me – in my job as the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for policing – to get the message across to the police.

So I want people to write directly to me and tell me. Not just the leaders of communities, albeit that is welcome – but the wives, the daughters and the sons and the fathers. You can contact me via my website or write to me at House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA.

This column originally appeared in Asian Voice.