Well, as stupid as that is, and it's definitely stupid, it seems to be a story from Thursday, 26 May, 2005, 23:48 GMT 00:48 UK.

It's interesting to google the BBC headline "Doctors' kitchen knives ban call" and see so many, well basically right wing blogs, coming out and re-pimping this seven year old story as if it were new, a demonstration of the modern Mighty Wurlitzer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mighty_Wurlitzer_(media)) in action.

To add some value to this discussion, let me provide a little Raymond Chandler on the interaction of a hot wind and a sharp knife.

Red Wind, 1938, Raymond Chandler

"“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.”"

On the other hand, this bit of insanity seems to be recent and equally insane:

(via FARK)

http://www.startribune.com/local/184828741.html

St. Paul shop caught with smoking gum

Inspector warns Lynden's about three-year-old ordinance outlawing sales of tobacco-themed treats.

A back-in-the-day soda shop in St. Paul has been busted for selling cigarettes -- made of candy.

Lynden's, on Hamline Avenue near Cretin-Derham Hall High School, said a city inspections official came in last week and gave the shop a warning and added that a misdemeanor citation -- with a $500 fine -- would be next if the non-carcinogenic confections continue to be sold.

"We got busted [Dec. 19] by the City of St. Paul. Oops," the shop tweeted.

Candy cigarettes, bubble gum cigars and bubble gum made to look like chewing tobacco have been among a host of vintage sugary treats that Lynden's has kept in stock since it opened in April.

"We had no idea," Tobi Lynden said Wednesday, lamenting that she can no longer sell the white candy sticks with the red tips, her best-selling candy. "We don't want to get on the bad side of St. Paul."

Lynden said nearly all of the candy cigarette purchases were made by adults.

" 'Oh, I had these when I was little,' " she said she would often hear. "We weren't trying to promote smoking or tobacco use of any kind."

People in UK (there's a reason they're called "subjects" and not "citizens") have only a few guns left, mostly shotguns for hunting; the knife bans are so bad that a man was recently prosecuted for having a penknife in his car glovebox; after that they'll start on pointed sticks, I'd guess. Eventually the old Monty Python sketch "How To Defend Yourself Against a Maniac Armed With a Banana" will be reality instead of a joke.

Once more unto the breach...

Knives have been banned before. Ask the ghost of Julius Caesar about the ban in the City of Rome.

"their collection of medieval swords and battle axes. (Word has it, many people use these items in place of stuffed animals to curl up with and rock themselves to sleep at night.)"

Why in place of? I have some of the best armed and armored stuffed animals around.

What's next? banning toothbrushes because they can be turned into a skiv, so that you can shank your annoying neighbor?

And it doesn't matter if it is a seven year old story. Leftist ideas like this just don't die, they get put on the shelf to age properly. Then, when the time is right, it gets dusted off and presented as a serious proposal.

For the children!

"...from my cold, dead hands..."

Heh. Knives. Gottabazillion of 'em! All kinds, pocket knives, steak knives, butcher knives, and guess what? I've yet to use even one of them as a "weapon".

Now, my swords, well, those are different...

o.O

Leftist ideas like this just don't die, they get put on the shelf to age properly.

Not just leftist. Both sides spin around the "do it for the children!" drain.

For Christmas, I bought my husband a really nice ceramic knife and a sharpening block for our other knives. I trust him a lot.

Well, perhaps the Brit Doctors did know what's best...

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/418562/20121227/christmas-murder-mother.htm

Swedish Mother Used Christmas Gift to Murder Partner as he Slept

A woman used a Christmas present to murder her partner in a frenzied attack, stabbing him 30 times.

Jeanette Javell, 42, used a fillet knife, which was a gift to her from her boss, to kill Ingemar Wallin, 49, while he lay in bed.

After being arrested, Javell wrote a letter of thanks to her former boss, saying: "Thank you for the Christmas gift by the way - it worked!"

The mother of five attacked Wallin while he was lying in bed in the home the couple shared in Hogbo, Sweden. Police said he was either asleep or had just woken up.

Javell held down her partner and stabbed him repeatedly, a court heard. He was struck multiple times, with at least three of the blows fatal, reported Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

The killing took place during the family's celebration of Midsummer's Eve. Javell claimed later in a letter to the newspaper that it happened when she "blacked out in a state of total delirium".

Putting it Bluntly
09/25/10 - Throckmorton's other signs - A surgeon's blog [edited]
=== ===
As I went to sew up the fascia, the needle wouldn't go through the tissue; in fact it broke right in half. We spent the next five minutes trying to free the piece of the needle that was stuck in the tissue. They were the usual 3-0 vicryl needles, except the label said "blunt"!

It turns out that a while back there was a study that showed there may be a decrease in accidental needle sticks in OR personnel if blunt needles were used, because they were less likely to penetrate a surgical glove. It was even recommended that they be used in some closures. On more careful examination, the real reason for fewer needle sticks was that the blunt needles were useless and pushed to the side.

Some government suit decided to mandate blunt needles (OSHA and JACHO), so all the needles were replaced without telling the surgeons! I fill out 3 forms now for each sharp needle that use, to satisfy these new mandates!

What will happen next? Will they take away scalpels and make us use plastic sporks?
=== ===

Brit Health Care

Note the FOURTEEN links at the bottom of that blog post. Follow them.

Guess pencils should be next. I work in urgent care and a kid came in after being stabbed in the palm by his classmate. The pencil was still in his hand, a through and through injury.

Now, my swords, well, those are different... -- Flynne at December 27, 2012 8:37 AM

Well my wall hanger sword is a William Wallace (Braveheart) sword.

The swords I keep in my car's trunk come from Badger Blades. (Yes, I know-- blatant advertising. I have no association with them other than owner of their products.)

They are battle sharp and I have absolutely no worry about taking them out and using them if needed. They have been slammed against both anvils and cinder blocks. I'll trust them with my life.

So what is next -- taking away sticks? Would they confiscate my 7 ft. staff? I think I can find a rock down by the stream on my property.

The issue is not the weapon. It is the person wielding the weapon!

Age of article and the inherent stupidity therein aside, I've gotta ask, where'd they find those 'chefs'?

Guess they're from the cooking school where the cooks beat the food into shape with nothing but a round stick.

Having worked as both a chef and a line cook to get through college, I can say with complete assurance that every type of typical kitchen knife (parer, boning, chefs, bread, etc.) all have very real reasons for their existence (they weren't created just because someone thought it looked cool).

While one *could* use only a paring knife to prepare every meal, it's not particularly efficient.

This is (was) just another useless moron who wants a world enrobed in bubble wrap.

The British lower classes dont actually cook anymore. No need to have those dangerous utensils in the home.

Like guns,for the body guards of the rich and famous, dangerous sharp instruments should be reserved for the private chefs, of the upper classes, who have been trained how to handle them.