Half baked and ill conceived-or plain pandering to the media

For a government that has been accused of swimming with the tide,the latest posturing over knife appears rather strange.

Briefed from Friday night that Gordon Brown was going to make a statement on measures to stop knife crime,the announcement when it came can be described only as weak.

The Independent reports the measures

More children found wandering alone at night will be picked up by police, more teenagers will be stopped and searched and extra "knife arch" detection units will be set up in city and town centres hit by violence. Police will be expected to charge, rather than caution, anyone caught with a blade.

It is the proposal though to take people convicted of knife crime to hospital wards to see victims that has attracted the most attention.Accused of hock tactics,recycling old policies and half backed,some researchers think that this will simply create more problems than it is worth.

Expect a raucous Monday press conference.