Evening Standard comment: Sajid Javid is right to call for knife-crime action; Children lead on climate; Give e-scooters a chance

Credit to Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, for giving a speech today in which he which says several sensible things about reducing knife crime.

He argues that the rise in street violence is a “national emergency” which needs to be tackled in new ways, including a public-health approach which the Evening Standard has been calling for since last year, with knife crime treated as a “virulent disease”.

He speaks powerfully about his fears, saying he sometimes saw the faces of his own children “staring back at me” in pictures of victims.

He also makes the case for a party which tries to do something about the “burning injustices” in society which Theresa May spoke about when she became Prime Minister but has done absolutely nothing about.

He’s drawing on his own background as the son of immigrants who lived above the shop they ran to call for prosperity to help everyone.

“Many feel that they can’t lose opportunities they never had in the first place,” he says. “No future should be pre-determined by where you are born, or how you are brought up.”

Now it is true that you would struggle to find anyone in the House of Commons who would argue the opposite of that — and creating opportunity is a basic Tory ambition.

The test, of course, is whether they have any policies which could turn these decent hopes into action. Mr Javid thinks he does.

The Home Secretary is calling for a Tory future which sees modern Britain as something more than a threat. That’s welcome.

Children lead on climate

Consider the contrast. Over the last month, school pupils have been leading a brave, peaceful and properly organised campaign against climate change.

Articulate leaders such as Noga Levy-Rapoport have put forward their case, with last month’s school strike and demonstrations in cities across Britain last Friday.

Meanwhile, the publicity-hungry group Extinction Rebellion is threatening to cause chaos this week under the slogan “Shut Down London”.

Its supporters are camping illegally in Hyde Park — a public green space that’s already under pressure — and are said to be planning to block public transport, which you might think was the opposite of encouraging people to cut carbon use.

The truth is that they don’t really have an aim other than to cause chaos.

If they want to make a difference, and win the support of Londoners for action on climate, rather than drive them to fury, they should learn from the intelligent call for change coming from our children.

Give e-scooters a chance

Electric scooters are banned in London — so that’s why the police are launching a crackdown this week.

Officers will be stopping users of the devices to warn them that they are too fast, too dangerous and could land people with a fine and points on their driving licences.

We predict it won’t make any difference. Why? Because e-scooters are popular and useful. After all, Londoners are only joining in with other cities such as Paris and Madrid, where they are legal.

So instead of trying to get rid of them, the Mayor should call for them to be legal to use in the capital — and in return insist on proper regulations to limit their maximum speed, require people to use them safely and make sure hire schemes don’t lead to piles of unwanted devices dumped all over the city.

We will have to think carefully about making sure people don’t race at 20mph along pavements. But there’s no reason scooters shouldn’t be allowed in London’s network of often underused cycle lanes.

This is a chance for London to make good technology work and support new businesses, rather than fight change.

When travelling, it’s always better to get ahead than be left behind.