International Law

Jack Straw is wrong our prison system is a disgrace

Posted on October 30, 2008
Jack Straw is wrong our prison system is a disgraceTime to get tough. Anyone listening to Jack Straw's promises of stricter punishment for offenders might suppose that jails are cushy places combining the comforts of Claridges with the spacious, if austere, surroundings of the Marshalsea debtors' prison, as featured in the BBC adaptation of Little Dorrit...

Topsy turvy world of BBC Newsnight

Posted on October 30, 2008
Topsy turvy world of BBC NewsnightI couldn't believe it last night when Newsnight's lead story was Russell Brand had resigned from his Radio 2 show. Apparently, a stunt backfired. When it was aired, there was 2 complaints from listeners. Following the gutter press making a mountain out of a mole hill, 27,000 people who had not heard it then complained to the BBC...

Prison education scheme 'failed'

Posted on October 30, 2008
Prison education scheme 'failed'Schemes to improve prisoners' basic skills and qualifications in English jails have "failed in almost every respect", an MPs' committee has said.

No help for war veterans

Posted on October 29, 2008
No help for war veteransThe government has refused to fund a trip to France for surviving Normandy war veterans to celebrate the 65th Anniversary of D-Day.Video link.

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Prison reformer misses the point

Posted on October 29, 2008
Prison reformer misses the pointJuliet Lyon the director of Prison Reform Trust and secretary general of Penal Reform International, in an article for Comment is free concludes:"The conditions in prison may no longer be Dickensian but young mothers are still going to jail for the same reasons they were in Victorian times: poverty, debt, addiction and mental illness"...

Former prisoner Mohamed Nasheed wins Maldives election

Posted on October 29, 2008
Former prisoner Mohamed Nasheed wins Maldives electionA former Amnesty International "prisoner of conscience" has spectacularly beaten his former jailer and Asia's longest serving ruler, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, in the Maldives' first democratic election...

Giving prisoners a purpose

Posted on October 29, 2008
Giving prisoners a purposeHansardPrisoners2. Angela Watkinson (Upminster) (Con): What recent discussions he has had with HM Prison Service on increasing the amount of purposeful activity undertaken by inmates in prisons. [230371]28 Oct 2008 : Column 7119...

Tagging 'allows curfew breaches'

Posted on October 28, 2008
Tagging 'allows curfew breaches'Criminals given electronic tags could break their curfews for more than 11 hours and still not be arrested, a report has revealed.Probation inspectors found that being at home for just a few minutes qualified offenders for a warning...

Straw man

Posted on October 28, 2008
Straw manThere must be more than one Jack Straw at large in the cabinet. The thoughtful Mr Straw wrote the forward to a recent collection of essays on penal reform, a book which not only called for a massive cut in the prison population, but included that call in its title...

A prickly subject and it's not Jack Straw for a change...

Posted on October 27, 2008
A prickly subject and it's not Jack Straw for a change...A rare blond hedgehog enjoys some autumn sunshine at a rescue centre after being found at a West Midlands care home. His light colouring makes him too vulnerable to predators to live in the wild...

Why has Jack Straw shoved his head up his arse?

Posted on October 27, 2008
Why has Jack Straw shoved his head up his arse?I am somewhat puzzled why Jack Straw has decided to give this particular speech to the Royal Society of Arts? Google informs me that: "The RSA is a charity which encourages the development of a principled, prosperous society and the release of human potential"...

A prison scandal that should shame us all

Posted on October 27, 2008
A prison scandal that should shame us allThe Government's disclosure, in answer to a question tabled by the Liberal Democrats, that an average of 1.7 babies are born each week to women in prison, has a melancholy and Dickensian ring to it. True, the prisons into which these women are serving sentences are not necessarily grim Victorian fortresses, but it is a dismal comment on the state of our society that we even tolerate the idea of so many children spending their first months of life behind bars...

Jack Straw: 'Punishing criminals must come before offenders' needs'

Posted on October 27, 2008
Jack Straw: 'Punishing criminals must come before offenders' needs'Punishing criminals must be the main factor in guiding sentencing policy, Jack Straw will say in a speech as he admits that the Government has too often concentrated on the needs of offenders...

The 'posh' Prescott

Posted on October 27, 2008
The 'posh' PrescottI found the first part of the BBC 2 programme on John Prescott and class very entertaining. He reminds me of Les Dawson.I couldn't help thinking that his missus behaved like that Bucket woman, Hyacinth.The three London girls were natural born comedians, unfortunately they were as thick as pig shit...

Supermarket chimney sweep?

Posted on October 26, 2008
Supermarket chimney sweep?A naked man found wedged in the chimney of a supermarket in Wigan has been arrested on suspicion of burglary.

Phil Woolas MP was 'pied' by Manchester students

Posted on October 25, 2008
Phil Woolas MP was 'pied' by Manchester students

Toss the wanker overboard...

Posted on October 25, 2008
Toss the wanker overboard...Link.Hat-Tip to Bob Piper

Jailed son freed in father mix-up

Posted on October 25, 2008
Jailed son freed in father mix-upPrison officers released the wrong man after an "administrative error" led to him being mixed up with his father, the Ministry of Justice said.Father and son, both called Terence Clegg, were in HMP Durham, with the elder Clegg due for release...

Voters lose confidence in Osborne after row

Posted on October 25, 2008
Voters lose confidence in Osborne after rowFewer than one in six voters believes George Osborne has the judgement necessary to handle the economy, according to a new poll underlining the fallout from claims that the shadow Chancellor was involved in discussions about a donation from a Russian billionaire...

Italian police to use 200mph Lamborghini

Posted on October 25, 2008
Italian police to use 200mph Lamborghini Italian police unveiled the latest weapon in their war on speeding motorists yesterday ? a muscular, blue and white Lamborghini capable of travelling at 200 miles per hour.Z Cars eat your heart out...

Frogwogs are sore losers

Posted on October 25, 2008
Frogwogs are sore losersI see that the Frogwogs intend to rewrite history to try to minimise the British victory at Agincourt, and accuse us of war crimes during the battle. Perhaps, they are only being Sarkozyiastic?

If this is art I'm a Dutchman

Posted on October 24, 2008
If this is art I'm a DutchmanOne oil canvas, entitled Tesco Value Tomato Soup, fetched £140,000, more than the estimated £80,000, according to Bonhams, the auction house.Some of Banksy's work I would call art. With this I feel he is taking the piss, and making the point that some people have more money than sense.

Fishermen catch dog a mile out to sea

Posted on October 24, 2008
Fishermen catch dog a mile out to seaTwo North Sea fishermen made an unusual catch when they caught a dog.Freddie, a 14-year-old cairn terrier, became disorientated in the fog while on a walk with his owner Jean Brigstock.It slipped into the water as Mrs Brigstock, 73, searched for it but had no success and assumed he was hiding in a nearby holiday park...

NARK LEECH

Posted on October 24, 2008
NARK LEECHThe one thing that is consistent about Mark Leech is his overblown ego andposturing as some kind of self-appointed spokesman for prisoners as though noone else's opinion counts and such a sensitive guy is this parody of a man called MarkLeech that like a big girl's blouse he launches into the world of the conspiracytheorists that everyone is out to get him and to him that is unforgivable as he letsloose with vitriolic abuse even against the more diplomatic and civilised criticismof him...

Bowsy Wowsy: Tories on the ropes claims Iain Dale

Posted on October 24, 2008
Bowsy Wowsy: Tories on the ropes claims Iain DaleThe Independent, in a good article, asks the question: Are attack dogs man's best friend?Then there is the question why did Iain Dale bother to write and the Daily Telegraph bother to publish: The Conservatives should let their attack dogs off the leash?Iain Dale informs us that "Denis MacShane is a Labour MP"...

Sharia Law breaches English Law on human rights decides the House of Lords

Posted on October 24, 2008
Sharia Law breaches English Law on human rights decides the House of Lords"The House of Lords [yesterday] drew stark attention to the conflict between sharia and UK law, calling the Islamic legal code "wholly incompatible" with human rights legislation...

Going going gone - Chairman no chair no man

Posted on October 23, 2008
Going going gone - Chairman no chair no manChairman no chair no man"South African MP Nhlanhla Nene was being interviewed live on a parliamentary review programme when a loud-crack was heard, seconds later his chair collapsed.The South African Broadcasting Commission has apologised to Mr Nene, and said that "all necessary precautions are being put in place to avoid a similar incident"...

Drinking too much coffee 'could shrink women's breasts'

Posted on October 23, 2008
Drinking too much coffee 'could shrink women's breasts' Before coffeeAfter coffee

Would you Adam and Eve it?

Posted on October 23, 2008
First we had mouse kills snake and now it's spider eats bird

Drug can reverse the effects of MS

Posted on October 23, 2008
Drug can reverse the effects of MSDiscovery is hailed as breakthrough in treatment of debilitating condition"Scientists have made a dramatic leap forward in the treatment of multiple sclerosis with the discovery of a drug that not only halts the disease but can also reverse it".

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