Gallagher wants crackdown on knife crimes

LONDON, July 4 (UPI) -- Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher expressed how disturbed he is by the rising number of knife crimes among youths when he accepted an award in England this week.

Eighteen young people have been slain in London this year, 13 from knife wounds.

The BBC quoted Gallagher as saying when Oasis was honored with a lifetime achievement at the Silver Clef music awards ceremony that it was a "pity scumbags are taking over our streets."

"In my day, status was trying to be somebody, do you know what I mean? Not trying to kill somebody," Gallagher, 41, told the crowd. "I was up in Liverpool for a week a couple of weeks ago and even on the news there, it's every single night. I was watching a documentary on Panorama and another one about kids carrying knives and violence. One of the lads, a little lad, made a telling comment. The guy said, 'Do you not think there's anything better for you in life?' And he said, 'Yeah, there probably is, but I've never known anything else.'"

London's Metropolitan police has set up a task force of 75 officers in response to the recent spike in knife crimes, the BBC said.