Time for common sense politics? Crime, knife gangs and community despair – the tragic consequences of eight years of catastrophic budget cuts.

None of our bad news headlines are a surprise I suppose. Sky News today is reporting on senior police blaming the closure of youth groups that are causing the growth in gangs.

There are fewer male role models around then ever before, and closing down youth  services has made the crisis much worse.

The drastic cuts since 2011 were obviously going to create a crisis in communities. Weren’t they?

Getting rid of youth workers, youth clubs, community policing, police officers, CAMHS workers, support workers, and a host of other people and agencies to help young people is obviously going to have a massive negative effect.

We are now seeing those tragic consequences.

I have spent much of my life mixing with people from all walks of society, including the homeless, criminals and poor, as well as politicians and journalists.

It’s clear that most people in prisons are either poor or suffering from mental health issues. Putting more people in prison is not going to help.

It is time for a new think of the way we do things. A commonsense way of doing things.

Boris Johnson and all the senior politicians would do well to have an urgent rethink – or else this crime and gang stats are to get much worse..