SIR - Another day and another example of the incompetence and mismanagement of this Government.

The knife amnesty has been shown to be so much useless waffle and spin, while knife crime has actually risen by 73 per cent.

Surely anyone with half a brain would have realised that individuals who are going to use knives for criminal activities are not the ones who will hand them in.

The only way to tackle this problem is by bringing back discipline into young people's lives at home and in school.

Marriage should once again be made financially beneficial in the hope of reintroducing the traditional father figure and schools should be allowed to dump namby-pamby Sixties liberal attitudes.

More police should be on our streets, our toothless criminal justice system toughened up and a minimum five-year sentence for anyone found carrying a knife should be rigorously enforced.

This would be an answer, but I'm afraid the ineffective bunch we have in power will continue to tax hard-working families out of existence, fail miserably in our schools, and pamper the criminal.

Under Labour, I'm afraid things can only get worse.

Malcolm Wood, Westercroft View, Northowram