Consider the following sentence on page two of today’s paper: ‘An airport style metal detector will be outside an Oxford club tonight as police fear a retribution attack over a Halloween stabbing.’ In truth, can you consider anything more chilling – that a night out in Oxford has come to this.

The ‘knife arch’, as it is popularly known, will be placed, sentinel-like, outside the entrance to The Regal nightclub in Cowley Road.

This action is in response to a sudden increase in knife crime – the most recent an horrific assault outside Baby Love bar in King Edward Stree, during which a young lad was repeatedly stabbed in the chest.

The Regal says the knife arch is “nothing new” but this weekend, when an extra 15,000 people will be out in the city for bonfire night parties, we’ll also see officers at other nightspots using metal detector wands on people.

Police are predictably stepping up their visibility and Det Insp Simon Morton has warned: “If you decide to carry a knife, expect to be arrested.”

The simple truth is knives kill. And those who carry them should expect to be punished. Severely.

So it does seem madness that Oxfordshire’s funding from the Government to tackle kn ife crime has been axed. Parental guidance coupled with funds to educate teens in school about knives is the key way to stopping this crime spiralling out of control.