The Knives Cost Lives campaign has been hailed a great success by Reading criminals as figures show that the Thames Valley is the seventh worst hotspot in the country for knife related crime. Slasher McKenzie told us: "I used to go out armed with a mere knuckle duster until the advertising campaign woke me up to the flexibility of the Tilehurst Toothpick. Now I'm never out without it."

However, Inspector Jon Fox believes that things could be about to change. "The Thames Valley is no better or worse than most police areas up and down the country. Our dedicated knife crime team, Operation Blunt, visits schools, pubs and clubs across Berkshire armed with copies of James Blunt's 'Back to Bedlam'. A few plays of 'You're Beautiful' or 'Goodbye My Lover' is usually sufficient to turn the most hardened criminal into a gibbering wreck who is more likely to slit their own throat than threaten honest citizens again."