Fair dos, agree with you. But if backlashes like this become accepted, the ability of an MP to act correctly and without (subconscious) bias for safety fears will be hampered. Such a dangerous precedent.
https://x.com/skynews/status/1725631144539156771?s=46 The justice system in this country is absolutely insane. 2 years in youth detention for murdering an 82 year old man.
I'm not defending the lightness of the sentence but that looks more like manslaughter than murder to me. Should have got more than 2 years though.
All very well demanding tougher sentencing but where will they go? The prison and probationary services are under resourced, overcrowded and many rehabilitation initiatives have been closed.due to the removal of funding. I found this interesting having had a couple of stints working in Norway. "Norway's focus on rehabilitation and restorative justice is certainly radical, but there is no doubt that it has had a positive impact on the country's crime rate and its economy. The most profound benefit: Norway has one of the lowest recidivism rates in the world." https://www.firststepalliance.org/p...Norway's Prison,recidivism rates in the world. At the time one good idea was that people with short sentences would be free to go to work during the week and be locked up for the weekend E.G. 28 days for drunk driving. I'm not saying follow the Norwegian model blindly but take from it and other successful countries the transferrable processes.
Yes, things that could work in the CJS but are politically not palitable here in Blighty. ... Another being Portugal's decriminalised drug policies.. Death by drug misuse in Portugal nowOne-tenth of Uk's and One-fiftieth of the USA. HIV Infection falling by 90%. These results published this year, are built on trends that have been known for many years but lets have 'war on drugs', feed the the tabloids, rather than use rational evidenced based results to inform how we deal with societal problems.
Feed the tabloids and garner the vote of the gullible middle englander tut tutting over the mail and telegraph. On the drugs issue lets ignore the data coming from countries that have decriminalised, have needle exchanges, have drugs info and testing at festivals and in cities. Making it a safer environment for users and easier for rehabilitation and treatment. It ****ing well works!
As a member of the hang 'em and flog 'em brigade I agree with this 100%. You'll never win the war on drugs. Education and dealing with it as a health problem, legalised and taxed like alcohol would be a massive gain for society. Then bleeding heart liberals will not be able to excuse crime and we can get on with jailing criminals, those who blight good people's lives
Agree with comments above. Strangely when I was a 20 something I was very much “drugs are totally illegal & imprison anyone connected”. Now I’m totally opposite. Some form of proper legalisation is really the only socially acceptable solution. Just thought about this & it’s same for me with VAR. Maybe I’m just an old cynical ****er now & my minds gone mush!
Bit of a rumour being touted that instead of announcing a reduction in inheritance tax Hunt will be announcing tax reductions for the workers, hinting at an early election. Worth noting, and telling any working class Tories you might know, that Liz Truss, and her right wing colleagues, wants the UK to leave the ECHR and an all out assault made on workers rights, including getting rid of the minimum wage AND paid holidays. Also worth noting that since the 2019 election that the Best for Britain group (data scientists and researchers) are claiming that the Tories have wasted nearly £100 billion of taxpayers money, equal to £1500 per adult and child in the UK, something else worth passing on to the working class people that vote for the party their chosen media outlet supports, despite it being an act of self harm.
If, as expected, Hunt goes after people on benefits it’s worth knowing that the director for the Institute for Fiscal Studies says that unemployment benefits “had not risen in 50 years, in real terms”. And with regards to benefit fraud there seems to have been a deliberate attempt to convince the public that the amount of fraud is far greater than the reality. Listening to Matthew Wright, on LBC, the last survey he has, regarding how benefit fraud is perceived by the public, was carried out in 2013. At that time the public perception was that 24% of benefit claims were fraudulent. The reality, according to official figures, was 0.7%. Yet another example of the Tories operating a culture war, turning working class people against those who can’t work, with their constant attacks on benefit claimants and their failure to point out the true facts. Yes I accept that there are some people making fraudulent claims but I also accept that the country is losing more money as a result of creative accounting by big business and the self employed. They are the people who should be hounded, not the poor. Edit. The same economist also states that the UK has one of the meanest benefit systems in Europe, which kind of pokes a massive hole in the argument of those who say migrants are only coming to the UK for the benefits.
BBC has the covid inquiry as breaking news with Patrick Vallance giving evidence. Just moved on to a Media conference about hostages held in Gaza. Harrowing descriptions of what occured on 07/10 more detail than I need today.
The detail is important, though. I think understanding the depth of hate and depravity of the acts themselves and the determination to do it again and again, is central to the response, or should I say to trying to understand the rationale behind the response. One just has to question the world we live in with so much hate and indoctrination on both sides and, indeed around the world in general. Looking at Argentina last night and the US polls, the world is likely going to polarise pretty brutally.
Being well past my three score years and ten I've been protesting from ban the bomb onwards but see only backward steps in (in)humanity. It does me good to take the dog we're minding for a walk along the nearby canal enjoying the Autumnal colours and leaving the horrors of war behind.
Patrick Valance’s notes claim that, according to Dominic Cummins, Sunak was okay with people dying. Wow.
Interesting that you’re 1st para accepts that it’s better to find solutions and ways to minimise drug crime rather than just jailing perpetrators… But you’re 2nd wants to just jail criminals an then find they just commit more crimes on release, rather than finding solutions and ways to minimise crime The liberal approach I support is a realistic way of reducing crime by rehabilitation rather than the idealistic notion that punishment stops crime Various schemes are run around the world that prove that punishment alone leads to high levels of reoffending and effective rehabilitation far lower levels
I do think those who blight good honest people's lives should be jailed, yes, if only to give society a break from their offending. Have you ever lived on an estate where an individual/family makes everyone's life a ****ing misery? What happens when family members are sent down? The estate gets respite even if it is for only 6 months/a year. Rehabilitation can work, but ultimately there are large groups of people who are just scum. You could give a million pounds to everyone, ensure their every need is met and they will still try and take from others, they'll still assault others, they'll still rape others. Have a look at the stats for interventions/programme results from HMPS. Have a look at the SOTP/CALM/TSP courses that are offered and the impact they have (square root of **** all) Some people commit crime simply because its easier than a minimum wage job. I fully believe they should be in prison.
