MUCH has been said and written about the increasing gun culture among young men in big cities around England - but the sad fact is that here in Suffolk we are not immune from that scourge.

MUCH has been said and written about the increasing gun culture among young men in big cities around England - but the sad fact is that here in Suffolk we are not immune from that scourge.

A clear indication of this came at the beginning of December with the fatal shooting of Jimoh Plunkett at the Zest nightclub in Ipswich.

Suffolk police do not believe that the shooting was linked to the recent spate of gun attacks in south and east London, but they do believe that the key to solving the crime lies in the capital rather than Ipswich itself.

That, of course, is the flipside to this area having such good lines of communication with London.

Ipswich is now a popular location for commuters - and many people who live and work in the town like the fact that London is so accessible. It is possible to visit the capital to go to a show, go to its tourist attractions, or even just go shopping.

But on the other hand it is easy for the capital's criminals to come here where they may think security is not as tight and bring their murderous activities to our streets . . . or nightclubs.

That makes the job of the police all the more difficult. Suffolk police involved in the investigation into Mr Plunkett's death are having to work very closely with their colleagues from the Met in an attempt to track down his killer or killers.

This tragic case is a reminder to all of us that when we hear about shootings in Peckham or Moss Side, Manchester, that we are not immune from the dangers of gang culture.

HOW to make children eat more healthily is one of the burning questions of our times.

Can you make young children who don't like eating fresh fruit and vegetables leave the crisps and cakes at home?

Now staff at Murrayfield Primary in Ipswich have started checking children's lunchboxes to try to ensure that their lunches are not too unhealthy.

To some parents this is unacceptable meddling in their lives, for others it is a welcome attempt to ensure that children eat as healthily as possible.

Trying to reconcile everyone to a healthy eating policy was always going to be almost impossible. What is needed is for people on all sides of the argument to accept that everyone believes they have the best interests of the children at heart.

IPSWICH Town's latest defeat to Wolves leaves the club hovering dangerously near the relegation zone of the Championship table.

While it would be wrong to panic, with only a seven point gap between Town and the last relegation place there is no room for complacency at Portman Road.

Over they years there have been many clubs that thought they were too big to slip into the third level of English football - clubs like Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, Manchester City, Sunderland and Wolves themselves.

Ipswich fans might think they should be in the Premiership, but now the priority is to avoid being sucked into the relegation quagmire.