Knife crime, online safety and mental health

DNA's cast are all in a "gang" of sorts. But it is not a street gang that commits crimes for money. In a way, the gang is a stand-in for all kinds of group identity. At one point, Leah, Phil's girlfriend, delivers a monologue where she compares humans to their nearest relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos. Chimps are "evil", and protect their territory against outsiders. Bonobos are friendly. "The woman was saying that if we'd discovered bonobos before chimps our understanding of ourselves would be very different," Leah says. We see her wishing for another possibility, another way of making our identity. It becomes clear that distinctions between an in-group and an out-group create violence even as they offer protections from it.

Is there a solution? A new survey for the BBC asked 2,000 teenagers about their biggest worries and hopes. Many fear their concerns will not be addressed.

Can music cause violence? A new report finds that lyrics and music videos have been used to imprison hundreds of young Black men. It has sparked debate about rap, crime and racism.

Can we learn to be nicer? Many feel the world is getting meaner. Antisocial behaviour is on the rise. One writer thinks the answer could be a return to Victorian-style education.

The title, DNA, draws our attention to the inevitable. We often say that a trait or ability is "in someone's DNADeoxyribonucleic acid is the material in an organism that carries genetic information." - we mean that it was inevitable from the moment they were born. At one point, Leah experiences deja vuA sense that something you have not seen before is somehow familiar. It is a French phrase meaning "already seen" or "seen before"., and seems to think that  everything has already happened. The structure of the play, which moves through four repetitive scenes of waiting, ending in a decision, reinforces that impression. The repetition literally comes true when Adam is found alive, and Phil orders Brian and Cathy, two other gang members to kill him. Because they thought they had killed him, the gang now feels they have no choice. At every turn, they think they are doing what has to be done. In this way, they are acting as if their DNA is like those "evil" chimps, as if they had no other choice. In the history of drama, tragedy is often about the irony of fate - Oedipus , one of the first heroes of ancient Greek Tragedy, is sent away to avoid a prophecy that he will kill his father, and this is what ends up leading him to kill him. In DNA, the tragedy is that fate is made unavoidable by believing in it.

Can free will exist if the future is known in advance? The world's most powerful spy software company is launching a tool that can use phones to alert police of future crimes.

Is too much choice stressful? Most people want to be free to do whatever they like, but some philosophers argue that this is impossible and would be a recipe for unhappiness. 

Are genes irrelevant? Left wingers believe so. But for many, they are everything. As Jeans for Genes week launches, we examine a new book arguing that both sides are wrong.

Throughout DNA, characters suggest that the world is partly made by us, as we perceive it. At the beginning, when Adam has died, characters refuse to use the word death. John Tate, the leader of the gang until Phil steps in, asks "are things really that bad?". He says that the word "death" is banned. When Phil orders the murder of Adam, he calls it an experiment and a game, and says that it is fun. The gang itself is a kind of identity created by imagining and pretending that they are all in it together. A few years before the play came out, there were public rows about lies in the lead up to the invasion of IraqA country in the Middle East with a population of 43.5m. in 2003. The group's dependence on fiction might echo the political moment it comes from. Karl Rove, one of the architects of the war on terror and the US-led invasion of Iraq, famously said that the government can create its own reality, and Kelly may be making a nod to this. It is a theme that continues to resonate in our own era, when experts often talk about post-truth politics.

Is social media evil? Far-right riots have erupted in England after Monday's atrocious events. Some point the finger at social media for spreading rumours and inspiring violence.

Rap and drill 'used to send young men to jail'

Is democracy its biggest victim? We have long believed that the key to a free society is rational discussion in search of truth. Now some fear truth is dead - and freedom with it.

Does objective reality exist? Some physicists in the sphere of quantum mechanics argue that reality only exists in the eye of the observer. But could something so contrary to our instinct really be true?

After Adam's fall, no one in the gang wants to take responsibility for their actions. The whole plot is driven by their attempts to pass it onto other people. This denial of the reality of their responsibility affects them all differently.  Some express guilt, some go mad, and some leave. John Tate becomes a devoutEarnestly religious. Christian. Adam, the first man in the Bible, famously "fell" out of paradise, when he acquired the knowledge of good and evil by eating the apple. When Leah eats the sweet that Phil offers, and then leaves, she echoes this eating of the apple. She accepts the knowledge that what the gang has done is evil.

Can we ever stop inhuman acts? The Greek coastguard stands accused of deliberately drowning desperate migrants. It is making some lose their faith in the good of humanity.

Should inaction be a crime? A group of young Portuguese children are challenging European governments over insufficient climate action. Some say this is the only way to halt the crisis.

Should parental responsibility end at 18? Judges all over the world are forcing young people to leave their parent's homes. Now some argue it is time to redefine our notion of adulthood.

The characters repeatedly look to their leaders to avoid responsibility. Phil, who seems not to speak much, only finally speaks up when it seems to him that a new leader is needed. "I'm in charge. Everyone is happier," Phil says, but it is clear that the pressures of power corrupt. Leadership is exercised through violence and threats. What allows Phil to become leader is his willingness to harm innocent people. When Cathy becomes leader at the end, the gang gets crueller and crueller. The play's picture of humans craving a strong leader is a bleak one, but it also suggests we could take other paths. We do not have to follow leaders, and can take responsibility for our own actions.

Has the Supreme Court put him above the law? While the world is reeling from his attempted assassination on Saturday, many are still in shock from the ruling early this month that implies a US president can commit crimes with impunity. Some say it is the end of democracy.

Will Labour revive Britain? Keir Starmer has become only the fifth Labour leader ever to win a general election. He inherits a country in the steepest decline it has ever known.

Are they both war criminals? An international prosecutor is targeting the two main figures in the Israel-Gaza conflict. But there is much opposition for him to overcome.