Has anyone outside the Metropolitan Police kept a tally of the number of stabbings in London in the past week or so? Sorry to sound glib, only I started to but I lost count.
In a cruel twist, two of the victims had prepared speeches on knife crime for a public speaking challenge.
The Conservative Party leader David Cameron has referred to the spate as indicative of Britain's broken society and now the lord chief justice-in-waiting has waded in, declaring it an "epidemic".
Sir Igor Judge is right: according to latest figures, nearly 14,000 victims of assault were taken to hospital last year with wounds caused by knives or other sharp implements.
And anyone who thinks that the local accident and emergency department would be a safe refuge for patching up would be wrong. There is a chance of being stabbed there too.
To this end, hospital trusts are now ordering stab protection vests for their staff. One hopes that the apparel will be discreet rather than give the medical and ancillary staff the appearance of Robocop.
They can at least take comfort in that they are not alone: the street cleaners of the supposedly genteel London suburb of Wimbledon have already been issued with stab-proof vests after Merton Council took pre-emptive action against weekend "revelries".
Last night the BBC TV news reported how the nature of knife crime has changed - from one where the perpetrators slashed their prey to one where they caused deep wounds. Curiously, while the number of knife injuries has increased among under-16s in recent years, the number of gunshot wounds has decreased.
Despite that glimmer of good news about gun crime, there remains something shameful about a society that has to go about its normal business wearing body armour.
Perhaps Cameron has a point about broken Britain. The trouble is the Tory leader has yet to come up with a proactive solution to repair this nation he regards as kaput other than a reactive "lock 'em up".
Which sounds similar to Gordon Brown's.
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