According to a NY Times report The British Medical Journal has discovered something which may have escaped the attention of the less well-informed reader: that long pointy knives are sharp and can be stuck into people thereby causing them damage or even provoking a death-related incident. (can you say “duh”)

Never fear. Doctors Emma Hern, Will Glazebrook and Mike Beckett of the West Middlesex University Hospital in London have a solution: Oblige long pointy knife manufacturers to make the knives less pointy by rounding off the tips.

They are concerned that “the rate of violent crime in Britain rose nearly 18 per cent from 2003 to 2004, and that in the first two weeks of 2005, 15 killings and 16 nonfatal attacks involved stabbings”.

Dr Hern says: “We came up with the idea and tossed it into the pot to get people talking about crime reduction. Whether it’s a sensible solution to this problem or not, I’m not sure.”

Perhaps we should also get rid of baseball bats, bricks, wood and even cars. Hey, I watch CSI, even a shape pencil can injure someone. Do we now start setting a limit on the lead tip? What ever happened to “BE CAREFUL!!!