IT’S hardly surprising that Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon has added his voice to calls for urgent action to be taken on knife crime following the much-publicised deaths recently of Jodie Chesney in London and Yousef Ghaleb Makki in Hale Barns, Greater Manchester.

That Yousef’s killing took place in an affluent outpost of the city region is an indication of just how far the epidemic has permeated society.

It shows us that anyone who thinks these sorts of crimes are restricted to the gangland areas of east London and other inner city areas across the UK is mistaken – that it could be anyone’s son or daughter who is next to be so brutally slain.

Of course, the airwaves have been awash with police, academics and politicians theorising over the causes of the crime wave and possible solutions.

We agree, there is not one simple solution. Certainly, government austerity and cuts to youth services and mental health services, exclusions from schools of pupils whose behaviour cannot be controlled, not to mention 22,000 fewer police across Greater Manchester, are all playing their part.

The reality is that it’s going to take time and some political and moral courage to sort it out.

In the short term, however, it’s time to stop listening to the hand wringing liberals who argue that police stop and search powers have been over-used in the past.

Anyone who isn’t carrying a knife or an offensive weapon – or even drugs for that matter – has nothing to worry about from the stop and search process.

Ok, it’s inconvenient and possibly annoying, but if it’s the price we must pay for a swift halt to the killings on our streets, surely it’s worth it.