Budget 2010: Law and Order reform
We shall see today if cuts fall on some of the most useless expenditure. Will George Osborne listen to Ken Clarke's sensible comments on the wastefulness of short prison sentences? Will he listen to the Prison Governors Association calling for abandoning £4bn of prison building? Not many public servants are asking for less. Osborne would do well to study Labour's law and order misspending. Tony Blair, riding to power with his "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime", made sure nobody would ever out-tough Labour. Never mind the evidence – all that mattered was what worked politically. But did it? In the end Labour chased its own tail, stirring more fear of crime instead of reassuring.
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
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