July 4, 2008 15:33

Noel Gallagher speaks about knife crime

'In my day, status was trying to be somebody… not trying to kill somebody'

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Noel Gallagher has joined the debate concerning knife crime amongst young people.

Speaking at the Silver Clef Music Therapy awards, the Oasis songwriter admitted that the topic is inescapable.

"I was up in Liverpool for a week a couple of weeks ago and even on the news there it's every single night," said Gallagher told BBC Newsbeat.

He added: "In my day, status was trying to be somebody, do you know what I mean, not trying to kill somebody."

Asked for his opinion on the reasons behind the rise in knife crime, Gallagher considered the role of video games and drugs in youth culture.

"People say it's through violent video games and I guess that's got something to do with it", he suggested. "If kids are sitting up all night smoking super skunk and they become so desensitised to crime because they're playing these video games, it's really, really scary."

Gallagher added that finding a solution would be tough, saying: "I don't even know what [David] Cameron (opposition leader) or Gordon Brown (Prime Minister) are going to do about it."