Link Between Knife Crime and Stock Cubes

New house building has provided houses with smaller footprints due to high land and material costs.  Developers favour the number of bedrooms rather than floorplan area.  This means that open-plan living has taken over from more traditional reception rooms.  Meals are eaten in extended kitchen areas, often on island units or kitchen tables.  The dining room has basically gone.

Throughout the 70s and earlier families would often dine around a table with two or sometimes three generations eating together.  This may have been on an organised family meal night or a Sunday lunchtime. That same tradition continues in many Mediterranean countries with Sunday lunch being a weekly milestone for the whole family.

In the UK stock cubes were frequently advertised using the family meal as a focus. 

With family meals being replaced with ad-hoc eating in a kitchen and meals often being taken separately due to work and sports activities families no longer sit down together.  A wisdom tradition has been lost. 

As children grow and as young adults feel their way in life the tradition of being able to talk easily with other generations has gone.  In the same way parents find it more difficult to keep in touch with their children.  Grand parents only see their grand children on more organised and planned occasions. 

As children grow from an early stage they need to feel part of a tribe.  They gain security from a bond with others.  Primarily this is at family level supported by membership of teams or some form of group activity.    Children need the reassurance from elders and parents need to keep in touch with youngsters and their needs.

As this becomes less focused around family and regular meal sharing the focus has shifted to other forms of tribe.  Sports teams, gym membership and hobby groups provide company and support.  For some that is not possible and the default becomes gangs.

Gangs may be supportive and provide company, but they seldom carry a bandwidth of wisdom and advice that comes with a multi-generational spread.  Gangs are no substitute for broad based family support.

Many gangs are dominated by one or two older members and the direction and ethos is determined by few.  In many instances the leadership is benign and promotes community values and supports a healthy development.  In a minority of cases the leadership is less altruistic and may be involved in criminal activities or be prone to the bullying of younger members. There is a danger here if parents are not in touch with their children or are naive in their understanding of gang culture. 

Children who feel isolated or alienated at home will seek the comfort of others.  That association may not always be in the child’s best interest and result in them becoming involved in anti-social or criminal activities.  There is no substitute for feeling wanted and loved within the core or a family.  Modern lifestyles, often with both parents working and infrequent family meals leaves many children seeking inappropriate support in order to feel that they belong. That they have a tribe.

Ian McDonald

Aug 2026