YP Letters: Brutality of TV soap operas fuels knife crime

SURELY someone is going to seriously tackle the problem of knife crime in schools (The Yorkshire Post, January 30)?

People will have their reasons for this. Mine are simple, I hope. Television has much to answer for. Soaps used to be clean, informative and often funny. Look at them today. In every one, we see brutal attacks and killing. Is this entertainment?

Most of these take place in the early evening when, I assume, children and young people are watching. Is there no control over this? Many of the other programmes are certainly something to worry about.

Secondly, what about discipline in schools? All this seems to have gone. Pupils call teachers by their first names. Teachers are often dressed as if they have just walked out of a charity shop. When I was young, we respected our teachers.

Thirdly, National Service did bring us into line and again to learn respect. Probably we would have been taught to handle knives correctly.

Finally, it is also the responsibility of parents to take notice where their little offsprings are at night.

Perhaps if they had a look around some of our town and city centres, they would be more than surprised at what they do see and find.