The Daily Mail is, as usual, misrepresentating people. This time it has picked on the Scout Movement and is “reporting“

as the fight against Britain’s growing blade culture intensifies, Scouts have been told not to take penknives on camping trips.

Except that it’s a load of rubbish. If they had actually read the section on knives, they would know that it is actually only a reminder of the laws around knife use and guidance about safety.

What the article in Scouting magazine says is that

knives of any sort should not be carried by anybody to a Scout meeting or camp, unless there is likely to be a specific need for one. [Emphasis added]

If there is a need for a penknife, such as on a backwoods camp, then obviously Scouts would be allowed to carry them. But on a normal Scout evening or an activities-based camp, penknives should be left at home because they’re not needed.

Britain’s knife culture means that we as Scout leader’s have to be especially careful about teaching our Scouts how to use knives and what is appropriate use. But penknives are by no means banned and are always used where necessary – but not where unnecessary.

Knives are dangerous, and that is why we don’t have them when we don’t need them. But we’re Scouts – and scouting requires the use of knives.

The actual article from the Scouting magazine: