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More police, more stop and search, and end to austerity.

All suggested as a way to deal with the scourge of knife crime,

but none as surprising as gobsmacking as the idea we might need to call for the military.

The armed forces for Ministry of Defence always stands ready to help any government department,

if there are any issues that happen to come up.

We've had no request through the military aid civilian authorities,

but we'd always be ready to respond.

That was the Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson,

who's my guest on the Political Thinking Podcast this week.

We'll hear much more from him on his background, his beliefs,

and why there's a tendency to ridicule the things he says in a few minutes.

The moving stories of young people, stabbed to death,

stabbed in the back in a park or on a street,

would have been a story whatever was happening in politics.

Too many people identify with the loss, the fear of loss,

that so many parents and so many young people feel.

But what added to the danger for the government was the Prime Minister's flat-footed response.

If you look at the figures, what you see is that there's no direct correlation

between certain crimes and police numbers.

What matters is how we ensure that the police are responding to these criminal acts

when they take place, that people are brought to justice.

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