Noel Gallagher talked about the prevalence of knives and the "scumbags taking over our streets" as he arrived to pick up a lifetime achievement award for Oasis.

Rock veterans Oasis were receiving the award celebrating their contribution to the music industry at the 33rd O2 Silver Clef Lunch at London's Park Lane Hilton.

Gallagher also set the record straight over the controversy surrounding his questioning of hip hop act Jay-Z as the headline act for this year's Glastonbury Festival. He said: "For the record, I like Jay-Z so that's my opinion, everybody."

Gallagher was asked about knives taking over the streets and replied: "It's horrible. It's horrible."

He said the problem was not only in London as he had visited Liverpool recently and seen knife-related incidents on the news.

He continued: "The scumbags are taking over the streets you know.

"I don't even know what Cameron and Gordon Brown are going to do about it."

He continued: "It all goes back to the Thatcher years. It's a cliche to say it but that's where the rot set in."

He said that in the North there were rows and rows of derelict houses. Gallagher said: "Me and the missus talk about it at night about how our kids are going to grow up. I don't know what you can do.

"In my day, status was trying to be somebody, do you know what I mean, not trying to kill somebody.

"So how's that all changed? It's really really scary."

Jay-Z's acoustics "tribute" performance of Wonderwall at last weekend's Glastonbury Festival may have helped boost sales of Oasis's album (What's The Story) Morning Glory, as well as the single Wonderwall, music chain HMV has said.

Speaking about the controversy, Gallagher said he had been asked his opinion about ticket sales at Glastonbury but people had talked about him "blasting and slamming" which he said was "bulls*".

He added: "I should just say things like every two-bit s*bag pop star and say everything's amazing."

He proceeded to answer "It's amazing" to subsequent questions.

Oasis were at the forefront of the British rock revival of the 1990s and have influenced many top-selling acts from around the globe.

Their 1997 album Be Here Now is the fastest selling album in UK chart history and sold more than one million copies in just a fortnight, awards organisers said.

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