Rock In The Dock

A FEW WEEKS ago, a nationwide leap in gun crime was lent grim focus by the murder of two young women at a party in Birmingham. It must have been a relief to investigating police when, as the smoke was still lifting, culture minister Kim Howells, possibly imagining himself wearing some sort of cape, identified the culprit. Charlene Ellis and Latisha Shakespeare were, in Mr Howells' view, victims – at barely one remove – of hip hop.