The pictures we run today are shocking, yet in many ways not surprising.

Knife crime has been one of the big headlines of the year and the deaths, particularly in London, cry out for something to be done.

But people carrying knives is not a brand new horror story that has suddenly sprung up.

What is new is this ever-increasing glamorisation of knives — and that is why every parent must look at today's Oxford Mail pictures and question whether their child could be involved.

Where once those carrying knives would have kept it more secret, they now brazenly pose on the Internet for all to see how 'tough' they are.

And when more and more children see their peers posing 'gangsta' style on the web, they think it’s okay too and so we have a self-perpetuating cycle.

Some may say that posing like this in their own homes is not really that dangerous. But just as they are trying to advertise how 'cool' they are, these youngsters are also advertising themselves as the next stabbing victim.

If rivals see them with weapons on the web, it’s logical that when they next see them on the street, they will surmise they are armed and a dangerous situation may escalate from there.

Police enforcement is needed but we do not publish these pictures to vilify these young people. If anything, they should act as a warning to parents and a warning to us all that education to defuse this trend is also desperately needed.