LIKE most 16-year-old boys, Andrew Holland went out on Friday night to be with his friends.

Only this time he never came home.

Andrew was stabbed to death after a row outside a chip shop in Farnworth. His friend was also stabbed and is seriously injured in hospital.

Who knows what Andrew's family must now be going through, their lives torn apart by the escalation of violence on our streets?

Horrifically, Andrew is the third person in less than a year to die from stab wounds on the streets of Bolton.

Three lives lost. Three families for whom life will never be the same again.

Of course, it is early days in the police investigation and it is unclear what led to the dispute that ended in Andrew's death.

But one thing is patently clear, something needs to be done and quickly to stop any further bloodshed.

What is it that drives young men to carry or pick up knives in the first place?

Is it that it feels cool to be armed? Is it alcohol related? Are gangs involved?

These and other questions need to be addressed locally and nationally by our politicians and police officers.

But much has to be done in the community.

We need to know what is going on and why. And how can we stop what in the past would have been a fist fight, ending in murder.

In the past, knife amnesties and calls for tougher laws seem to have had little effect.

It is time for an urgent and thorough debate, but not just in the corridors of power.

Youth leaders, teachers, emergency service workers and young people themselves have to be involved.

And the education that violence only breeds more violence has to begin earlier, in our schools and the home.