Judge dies in fall from fourth-floor flat

Judge dies in fall from fourth-floor flat

12.15pm

Fred Attewill and agencies
Monday June 25, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

A crown court judge fell 50ft to his death from his home in an exclusive block of flats last week, it was reported today.

Rodney McKinnon fell from a window of his flat in Dolphin Square, central London, suffering fatal head injuries. He was declared dead after being found in the building's courtyard garden.

Scotland Yard is not treating his death as suspicious, although it is not clear whether the 64-year-old had meant to take his own life or died accidentally. A police report has been passed to the coroner.

It had been reported the judge, who sat at Southwark crown court, lost his balance after climbing onto a desk in his fourth-floor flat, but police have refused to comment on the circumstances surrounding his death.

"A 64-year-old man fell from a window in Dolphin Square on Thursday," a police spokesman said. "He suffered fatal head injuries."

Mr McKinnon lived alone in at the block of flats in Pimlico, which has long been home to peers, wealthy businessmen and high society figures. He had lived there for 10 years.

"Everybody is completely devastated that something so awful could have happened in our midst," Patricia McVicar, a resident at the complex, told The Times.

Brendan Martin, the chairman of the tenants' association, said Mr McKinnon was "very well known and well liked, particularly among the older residents".

Police said a post mortem examination would be carried out tomorrow, and an inquest will be held at Westminster coroner's court. Toxicology tests to establish whether the judge had been drinking when he fell last Thursday could be ordered after the post mortem.

Mr McKinnon, who was sworn in as a judge on the same day as his brother, Warwick, in 1998, has presided over several high-profile cases.

In 2005, he ordered ex-public schoolboy Julian de Vere Whiteway-Wilkinson to pay £2.1m in illegal profits for his part in a multi-million pound operation to supply cocaine to City workers and celebrities, or face a further 10 years in jail.

Freedom of Information Act

It would appear that common sense might prevail at last over the Freedom of Information Act. It does seem rather pointless to have such an Act and then give ministers power to prevent the public and the media getting access to information, this would be an act of folly.

Honestly dishonest

Why should Margaret Thatcher be so surprised that someone as respectable looking as Tony Blair has attempted to steal her handbag? According to this study, two-thirds of the nation are dishonest and not as law-abiding as they would lead us to believe. This leaves me wondering how honest and law-abiding in reality are the other third? Given this study, does it not show that the condemnation of convicted criminals and prisoners is really rank hypocrisy, and the emotion that really should be shown is: There but for the grace of God go I?




Updated photo by Ron.

Lord Goldsmith was Tony Blair's sock puppet

I had not thought of Lord Goldsmith the out-going with shame Attorney General as Tony Blair's sock puppet, but this writer has seen the similarity and I find myself agreeing with the image portrayed.

Who was the last person to see Madeliene and when?

It may be the case that the McCann's were appalled by the German reporter, Sabine Mueller's question, however, it hardly constitutes a slur as reported by Martin Fricker. A slur is an insult. I cannot see any insult in the legitimate question asked by Sabine Mueller: "How do you feel that more and more people seem to imply you might have something to do with it?". Moreover, Martin Fricker claims that she asked this question: "Were you involved in abduction?". However, she clearly refers to "it" and does not mention the word "abduction". It could mean the disappearance of Madeliene as opposed to the McCann version of her abduction. I prefer to use the word disappearance rather than abduction simply because it is a fact that Madeliene has disappeared, whereas there is no evidence to support an abduction. So, it was not a slur. It was a legitimate question, because more and more people are not convinced by the explanations they have so far heard from the McCanns. And, Martin Fricker twisted Sabine Mueller's words to suit his story rather than report what she actually asked.

There was nothing cruel about the McCann's being put on the spot. They were not forced to deny being involved, at all, they volunteered to issue denials. Again, Martin Fricker chooses to use a word not used by the German reporter. He uses "kidnap". Do we know that there has been a kidnap? The truth is, no we don't. So, why is he using a term which is not a fact? There is nothing wrong with anybody reporting what the McCanns say, however, it is wrong to report what they say as being the truth and factual. At best it is hearsay.

It shows how devoid from reality Kate McCann is to reply: "I don't think that's the case". You only have to visit the Daily Mirror forum online to read all the comments doubting the McCanns version of events. As for Gerry McCann saying: "There's no way Kate and I are involved". I for one can certainly think of ways that would involve them. As Sabine Mueller said: "Either they're very good actors or they're telling the truth". Personally, I think they're very good actors. Their stories lack corroboration for them to be truthful. There is truth in their having a meal and drinks at a tapas bar. But, that's as far as it goes. If as they claim, "We're responsible parents", why did they leave the twins for 3 hours without supervision? It is not true that they checked on the children regularly. The Mark Warner staff are certain that the McCanns never left their table once between 7 and 10pm. The big question is, who was the last person to see Madeliene, other than the McCanns, and when? I doubt that anybody saw her immediately prior to 7pm. If it can be established when she was last seen, then the McCanns can be questioned to fill in the gaps between that time and when they claim that they last saw her.

Gordon Brown supports convicted prisoners getting the vote

Gordon Brown, who was crowned as Leader of the Labour Party today, is to support a change in the law to enable all convicted prisoners to vote. Although Gordon Brown did not expressly refer to this at a special Labour Party conference in Manchester, however, it may be implied from this statement: "Wherever we find opportunity denied, aspirations unfulfilled, potential unrealised; wherever and whenever we find injustice and unfairness, there we must be also - and it is our duty to act."

It may be remembered that Tony Blair publicly stated that he was against convicted prisoners getting the vote, in spite of the European Court of Human Rights deciding that it was a breach of human rights to deny prisoners the franchise. Gordon Brown promised change. He indicated that Blair operated without morals, whereas he would have a moral compass to guide him. Also he said his values included honesty (we know that this was not the case with Blair), and duty. If Gordon Brown is a man of conviction, as he claims, then he cannot sidestep this issue.

Censors want 18 ratings on internet

Censors want 18 ratings on internet

By Chris Hastings and Beth Jones, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:35am BST 24/06/2007

Cinema-style ratings are to be introduced on the internet in an attempt to protect children from hardcore pornography and graphic violence.

The British Board of Film Classification wants the most explicit online material to carry a new version of the R18 certificate which normally only applies to material bought in sex shops or screened in specially licensed cinemas.

The new online R18 ratings, subject of a pilot scheme now being run by the board, could be introduced as early as next month if, as expected, the Government backs the scheme. It will be the first time that a British watchdog has tried to regulate access to internet material.

There was concern last night, however, that the scheme would not go far enough to protect the millions of children who daily surf the web.

The system, which is backed by the sex industry, would see porn available for download or streaming clearly labelled as being unsuitable for children. Access to such material would be via a "landing page" which would contain clear warnings, be free of sexual images and require users to verify their age.

Details of the scheme are contained in correspondence between the film board and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph under the Freedom of Information Act.

In March, David Cooke, the board's director, wrote to Phil Clapp, who leads the department's creative industries division, saying that the board believed the scheme "will allow UK customers to avoid inadvertently being exposed to material which may be illegal and/or harmful".

But John Beyer, the director of the watchdog Mediawatch UK, said the system was "utterly useless" as people would still be able to access the material. "A lot of children have their own money and bank accounts and so it's not a problem for teenagers to download 18-rated films," he said.

Internet spreads terror to Britain

Internet spreads terror to Britain

By Andrew Alderson and Miles Goslett, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:35am BST 24/06/2007

It is 11pm on Tuesday and Omar Bakri Mohammed's loyal band of followers hunch over computers and laptops at secret locations across Britain to listen to his defiant message to the west.

Many are hoping that the Muslim cleric, who lives in the Lebanese capital Beirut after being banned from the UK, will spell out his views on the Government's decision to give Salman Rushdie a knighthood. Bakri does not disappoint them.

After listening to Bakri's lecture for more than two hours on a secretive internet chat room, one participant asks in a written question: "Is there a new fatwa against salman and the queen for giving [the knighthood]?"

Speaking with a heavy middle eastern accent, Bakri responds: "Salman Rushdie, no doubt what he did was an apostasy… not because he get knighthood but because he insulted the honour of the prophet Mohammed (with his book The Satanic Verses)… He is murtadd (a traitor for rejecting Islam) anyway so there isn't any need for a new fatwa… People like him deserve to get the capital punishment."

Bakri and his followers had their discussion on a webcast. The webcasts can run several times a week, and up to 70 people a night log in, each with an individual password.

The Sunday Telegraph monitored a range of extremist websites and chatrooms last week as part of an investigation into the spread of Islamist militancy on the internet. MI5, the security service, and Scotland Yard are increasingly concerned that the internet is being used by terrorists to incite attacks in Britain and to recruit volunteers.

We discovered extremists posting messages and images on a recently established, password-protected pro-Islamist site. It is on sites like this that Bakri's broadcasts are referred to openly, with advice on what time they begin and even requests not to "arrive" in the chatroom late. There are also dozens of photographs celebrating, among others, Osama bin Laden, and a tasteless message expressing "amusement" at photographs of American soldiers killed by terrorists.

Vigil, a privately funded intelligence group, believes much of the extremist material comes from al-Qaeda sympathisers in Britain.

Many secretive websites had urged Muslims to protest against Sir Salman's knighthood by attending a rally in London on Friday. On the same day, the Muslim Council of Britain attacked Tony Blair for rewarding an author who had "vilified" Islam.

The growing use of webcasts and websites by extremists has been highlighted by Ed Husain, a London-born former jihadi who turned his back on militancy.

"There is an unchallenged, unreported Islamist underworld in the UK in which talk of jihad, bombings, stabbings, killings and executions is usual," he warned recently. "Rhetoric is an indication of a certain mindset and, I think, the prelude to terror.

"In internet chatrooms… the Islamists break news of beheadings in Iraq, the downing of US helicopters and discuss who is next on their agenda of killing and destruction."

Mr Husain, 32, formerly a member of the extremist group Hizb ut-Tahir but now a PhD student, had his own chilling insight into the sinister activities of his political opponents when he read a poem about him posted on several websites. Supposedly written in the "first person" by Mr Husain, it likened him to Judas and included the lines: "I dread the return of the Caliphate (Islamic government) / Who will apply to extradite me / Put me on trial / And then execute me / As a traitor."

Mr Husain believes the poem is a coded call for Muslims to murder him and warned: "Unless we stem the rising tide of radical Islamist rhetoric in Britain, a prelude to jihadism, then the carnage of Baghdad may well erupt in Bradford and Birmingham."

Last week was not the first time that Bakri has been discovered spreading his message of hate on the internet. Vigil has also obtained recordings of Bakri encouraging his followers to behead their enemies and kidnap Westerners. Bakri was excluded from the UK last year on the grounds that his presence was not conducive to the public good.

Vigil is alarmed by the increased use of the internet by Muslim extremists. Its director, Dominic Whiteman, said: "It is not a coincidence that the rise of the internet and al-Qaeda were simultaneous. The internet is al-Qaeda's oxygen."

According to security sources, there are two ways of tackling the growing problem - physically destroying the websites using expert technology or infiltrating them to obtain intelligence.

Glen Jenvey, a freelance counter-intelligence investigator, set up an internet sting - purporting to be a Muslim extremist website operator - which provided evidence linking Abu Hamza, the British radical Muslim cleric, to terror camps.

Hamza was jailed for seven years last year for inciting murder and race hate. He is seeking to overturn the verdicts and is fighting moves to extradite him to America.

Last week, the Government revealed that there are currently 52 people who are not permitted into the UK because they are suspected of involvement in terrorism. However, the internet means that, despite their ban, their extremist views can still be "exported" to Britain through the worldwide web.

The EU announced a month ago that it wanted to strengthen its monitoring of militant Islamist websites. "Terrorists use the internet not only as a means to communicate and spread propaganda, but also to radicalise, recruit and train terrorists, to spread instructions on how to carry out concrete offences and to transfer covert information," a meeting of ambassadors concluded.

Patrick Mercer, the former Conservative spokesman for homeland security, said of the growing use of the internet by militants: "This is a much greater threat than people realise. Radicalisation is taking place on a number of different fronts and more people are sympathetic than we dare believe. The only way to penetrate this is by the careful development of intelligence sources and a clear understanding of the radicalisation process."

Delhi to jail beggars for 2010 Games

Delhi to jail beggars for 2010 Games

By Mian Ridge in Delhi, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:35am BST 24/06/2007

Indian police are to launch a controversial plan to eradicate beggars and cripples from the streets of Delhi ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

Limping lepers with outstretched arms, pleading mothers pressing their naked babies to car windows, and ragged children begging for food have long been among the more infamous sights in the capital.

Now, however, uncomfortable at the way such symbols of grinding poverty jar with India's newly affluent self-image, city authorities plan to get them off the streets within a couple of years.

A government report -recommends that Delhi's -beggars be rounded up by a special police squad and placed in detention centres, tackling what it views as a serious social problem and also presenting a cleaner image of the city for the games.

The public, too, should be educated about the "evils of almsgiving, which... promotes parasites in the society and demotivates them from doing hard work", according to the report, which was written by academics at Delhi University for the city's department for social welfare.

Begging and giving alms are deeply ingrained in Indian culture. But as 2010 looms, the authorities have embarked on an intensive sprucing-up -exercise to modernise India's capital and transform it into a world-class city.

Roads, hotels and stadiums are being built; the mighty, fetid Yamuna river is being cleaned; and many of Delhi's most familiar features are being obliterated. Stalls selling freshly made food have been banned; the monkeys that roam the streets are being shut up in cages; and there are even plans to herd thousands of the city's stray holy cows into a dairy complex.

The plan to round up -Delhi's beggars and hide them away, however, is the most radical.

"The government wants to beautify Delhi and throw all the ugliness out, but this is no solution to the problem of begging," said Indu Prakash Singh, a homelessness expert with the charity Actionaid. "The only way to deal with begging is at the structural level, by tackling poverty."

Begging is already illegal in Delhi. Anyone caught begging can be arrested and taken before the beggars' court before being incarcerated in one of 12 beggars' homes, which are more like jails than homeless hostels.

At present, the law is under-used. Delhi's beggars' homes have room for 3,600 inmates, but just 1,400 are held in them. Many more will have to be built if the beggars are to be out of sight before 2010, judging by the survey on which the report is based - the biggest to be undertaken on the problem.

About 58,570 beggars - a third of whom were children - were counted throughout Delhi's 134 wards, and 5,003 of them were interviewed in depth.

Nearly half of the adults interviewed collected between 50 and 100 rupees a day (62p-£1.24), not much less than the daily wage of a labourer. Three per cent said they made between 100 and 500 rupees a day.

Almost all the beggars interviewed were illiterate and without skills. Most had come to Delhi from other regions of India - especially the impoverished states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh - and had turned to begging because they could not find work.

Ramayan Mallik, a leper in a wheelchair whose arms stop at the elbows, left his home in Orissa, eastern India, 10 years ago. Wheeling himself into position outside the Sai Baba Temple near Lodhi Road, he said that this was the best place in Delhi to beg, and the most lucrative day was Thursday, when the street throngs with pilgrims.

Mallik makes between 30 and 50 rupees a day, some of which he saves up to send back to his family.

At mention of the plan to eradicate begging in Delhi, he looked bewildered.

"People like to give a little to the poor," he said, as a woman in a crimson silk sari sashayed out of the temple, and, without looking at him, threw four rupees into his lap.

Risk checks ditched to ease jail crowding

Risk checks ditched to ease jail crowding

By Tom Harper, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:58am BST 24/06/2007

Tens of thousands of prisoners will be released without any checks on whether they pose a threat to the public.

Up to 25,000 convicts, including burglars, thugs and drug dealers, will be freed early each year without undergoing "risk assessment" - a key plank of the public protection system set up to deal with dangerous criminals.

In addition, probation officials will not be obliged to check whether the addresses provided by the departing felons are genuine, allowing them simply to "disappear".

The revelations, contained in an email from Roger Hill, head of the Probation Directorate, contradict claims by Ministry of Justice officials last week that all convicts would be checked before release.

The email, sent to all 42 chief probation officers in England and Wales and seen by The Sunday Telegraph, reads: "The Probation Service is not required to conduct a risk assessment or an accommodation check for these prisoners prior to their release on ECL (End of Custody Licences)."

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: "It beggars belief that the Government cannot be bothered to take the necessary steps to evaluate the threat these prisoners pose to the public.

"Labour's assurances last week about risk assessments now ring hollow and it blows any previous guarantees they have made out of the water."

Risk assessments predict whether convicts are likely to re-offend, based on factors including age, previous convictions and social background. The checks, which determine how much supervision freed prisoners will need, are carried out on all those who have served a sentence of at least a year. It is understood that 5,000 of the 25,000 criminals to be released are in that category but will escape the assessment because of a lack of resources.

The Government announced last week that up to 25,000 criminals would go free 18 days early each year, after the prison population reached a record 81,016. They will be serving between four weeks and four years, excluding those jailed for serious violent or sexual crimes. The first 2,000 will be released on Friday, and the rest over the next 12 months. Each will be given nearly £200 spending money to compensate them for the 18 days of lost prison "bed and board".

The Ministry of Justice pledged that the convicts would remain under the supervision of the Probation Service. However, front-line officers estimate they would need an extra 250 staff, at a cost of £10 million, to deal with the extra case load. Lord Falconer, the Justice Minister, has allocated £300,000.

The National Offender Management Service said ministers had seriously underestimated the number of inmates who would clog up prisons under new "indeterminate sentences for public protection" for serious offenders.

Critics fear that many of those freed will go on to commit violent crime. In 2005, Mary Ann Leneghan, 16, was raped and murdered by four men on probation for minor offences in Reading, Berkshire.

Seventy-three per cent of prisoners who serve less than 12 months re-offend within two years, according to the Home Office. Up to eight in 10 of those being freed on Friday are serving less than 12 months.

Brian Caton, the general secretary of the Prison Officers Association, said: "This is an ill thought-out, short-term fix that will go dramatically wrong. A large proportion of those released will re-offend and be back in prison, where prisoners are already crammed three to a cell. The criminal justice policy is a shambles."

Meanwhile, a Bill being published next week threatens to swell the jail population by 3,000 a year, according to the National Association of Probation Officers. So-called "super Asbos" - Violent Offender Orders, or Voos - will restrict the movement of criminals with a history of violence, or those who have just left jail.

But Harry Fletcher, spokesman for the association, said: "Over half of all Asbos are breached. Given the personalities of the individuals involved, the breach rate for the Voo will be even higher."

The Ministry of Justice said: "Prisoners who are released will be required to meet their probation officer and to have regular contact after that."

How bloggers revealed Royal's break-up

How bloggers revealed Royal's break-up

By Peter Allen in Paris, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:35am BST 24/06/2007

To some, it was simply unimportant tittle-tattle, to others it was yet more evidence of the sleaze and hypocrisy of the ruling elite.

Last week's announcement by Ségolène Royal, the former presidential candidate, that she was separating from her boyfriend François Hollande because of his infidelity was the latest in a series of scandals to hit France's political class.

But while the tales of secret lovers and illicit love-children have enthralled and appalled the French public in equal measure, the driving force behind such revelations has not been supermarket tabloids or France's respectful mainstream media.

Instead, it has been the work of les blogueurs, the country's new chattering class, whose discussions of their leaders' peccadilloes now threatens to undermine the country's notoriously strict privacy laws.

The break-up of Miss Royal's home, along with revelations of an extra-marital affair by Nicolas Sarkozy, her victorious rival in the presidential election last month, are but two examples of stories that have first found currency only on the web.

Only after they were in widespread circulation were they followed up by France's television and newspapers, which are often accused of having too cosy a relationship with the politicians they are supposed to scrutinise.

While French politicians still enjoy legal protection of their private lives which is the envy of many British public figures, many media analysts believe the internet will soon make that a thing of the past.

Pierre Dominique, a Paris-based political commentator who regularly contributes to French websites, said: "This was a clear example of how blogs are gradually eroding French privacy laws. Important issues can be raised without fear of prosecution, and this can only be a good thing for democracy.

"Our political leaders have a terrible record in stifling important information about what they get up to."

According to the polling company Ipsos Mori, France is "the most blog-savvy country in Europe". Sites in Belgium and Switzerland, as well as France, led the way with the revelations about the Royal/Hollande relationship.

An article detailing Miss Royal's anger at Mr Hollande's secret relationship with the Paris Match political journalist Valérie Trierweiler first appeared on May 16 on the popular LePolitique.com site.


Mr Hollande, the leader of the Socialist Party, fired off a legal letter, trying to get the story withdrawn, even though it was well-sourced.

More than a month and numerous denials later, Miss Royal finally admitted on Monday in a radio interview that the rumours were true. It was only then that leading -television channels and newspapers felt confident enough to carry the story.

The Left-wing Libération led the mockery with a front page picture of the couple - who have four children aged between 14 and 22 - under the headline, "Who's going to look after the party?"

Mr Sarkozy's well-known desire for privacy has also been assaulted by bloggers. At his insistence, the editor of Paris Match was sacked two years ago after publishing a front-page picture of his wife, Cécilia Sarkozy, with her Moroccan-born lover at that time, Richard Attias.

When Mr Sarkozy was amorously linked with Anne Fulda, the political journalist, at the start of this year there were further attempts to stop the press publishing the truth. Previously, a tell-all book about the Sarkozy marriage, written by Valerie Domain after interviews with a co-operative Mrs Sarkozy, was pulped after the then interior minister complained.

Determined to beat Mr Sarkozy's censorship, Mrs Domain simply changed the characters' names and reissued her work as a Mills & Boon style novel, Between Heart and Reason. The revelations - by now re-attached to the Sarkozys - quickly found their way on to the internet.

Guy Capel, another French blogger, said: "I regularly read postings about the Sarkozy marriage on Swiss sites. Blogging has opened a new, more honest chapter in French political life."

It all makes the era when the former Socialist leader, François Mitterrand, was able to keep the existence of his illegitimate daughter secret throughout his presidency, seem like ancient history.

But, according to a new book about sex and French politics, Sexus Politicus, internet revelations might even assist politicians.

"Far from being a flaw, to cast yourself in the role of seducer is without doubt an important quality in our political life," said its co-author, Christophe Deloire. A recent French opinion poll found 83 per cent of the electorate would still vote for a candidate if he had cheated on his wife.

Lord Goldsmith jumps before he was pushed

It is welcoming news that the corrupt Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, is to leave office. As the article points out "It seemed unlikely that Gordon Brown would have asked Lord Goldsmith to stay on because of his associations in the public mind with the consequences of the Iraq war, cash-for-honours and the aborted investigation of the Saudi arms deal with BAE Systems". Lord Goldsmith self praises himself by claiming that he has been the longest serving Attorney General under a Labour government. However, self praise is no recommendation. And, neither is this a good recommendation "Tony Blair thanked Lord Goldsmith for discharging his responsibility "at all times with integrity and professionalism". The Prime Minister told him: "You can look back at your time as Attorney General with both personal and professional pride." The most corrupt Attorney General being praised by the biggest liar.

“Capturing Public Opinion: Prisons, Media and the Public”

This is the speech that I gave at the ICCCR Conference at the Open University in Milton Keynes.

“Capturing Public Opinion: Prisons, Media and the Public”

Introduction.

11th of September 2001 was a historical day. After 22 years of a life sentence spent in closed prison conditions, I was transferred to Sudbury open prison in Derbyshire. It felt strange arriving in the squashed, closed, uncomfortable cubicle in a Group 4 van and getting out at the Reception Area. I stood outside and had a fag and looked at the wide open space for as far as I could see without a prison bar, wall or fence in sight.

In my room, not a cell, I turned on the TV and the news was on about an event 3,000 miles away, across the Atlantic. Two planes had crashed into two towers. It was awesome. It was immediate. Some stories in today’s newspaper become tomorrow’s chip wrapper. And others, like 9/11, Madeliene McCann, and Paris Hilton go on and on and on.

The Prisoners voice

According to a transcript from an Out-Law Radio broadcast on 9th of November 2006, “Hirst suffers from a form of autism called Aspergers Syndrome and has lived an extraordinary life. Convicted of manslaughter in 1979 he was a violent prisoner when, in 1989, he asked to be put on an educational pilot scheme in prison. He learned about prisoners' rights and used those, rather than violence, to fight for proper treatment in jail.
He later used the Human Rights Act to mount a successful challenge to the Government's ban on prisoners talking to the media, and founded the first prisoners' rights group, the Association of Prisoners”.

Generally speaking, prisoners do not get a very good press from the media. And, the Prison Service, generally speaking, does not take kindly to prisoners who speak to the media, and like Tony B Liar sees the media as being some kind of feral beast. In response to my talking to the media, the Prison Service sent me to Coventry…or as near as damn it, HM Prison Rye Hill in Warwickshire. The idea being that this prison operated a pin number phone system, as opposed to phone cards, and that I would be prevented from telephoning the media. The Daily Telegraph phone number I was informed by the operator was not on my approved list of phone numbers that I was permitted to call. I had submitted Matt Born’s direct line and this was allowed even though he was a journalist on the Daily Telegraph.

This reminds me of the time in 1991, when I was in Gartree Prison, and the Guardian wanted to do a piece on me in relation to my role as the Special Adviser to BBC 2’s 4 part prison drama called Underbelly. The prison authorities refused them permission to visit me. So, I sent out two Visiting Orders in the names of A Hack and A Snapshotter and the prison authorities let them visit me. By the time they realised that they had been fooled the interview was over, and when the prison authorities presented the journalists with a form to sign giving an undertaking not to publish what they had learnt from me, I told them that it had no legal status and that they should refuse to sign it and publish and be damned.

I have a blog, its address is http://prisonersvoice.blogspot.com.

Case-law shows that prisoners are members of the public, albeit not at large. And as such, this section of the public hold opinions. One of the first I recall hearing is that All Coppers Are Bastards. Sometimes prisoners can be quite vociferous, for example, on April Fools Day 1990, shouting from the rooftop of riot-torn Strangeways Prison in Manchester. Basically, the system failed to provide prisoners with an effective complaints channel to air their grievances. The subsequent Woolf Report concluded that there was a lack of justice in prisons.

My prisonersvoice was inspired by “The publication of Rijksen’s Prisoners Speak Out in 1958 was clearly an event of major importance in the history of Dutch post-war criminal justice”. The book was a collection of letters written by prisoners and “covered their experiences of the administration of criminal justice. Most contained considerable criticism of judges and public prosecutors, but also of lawyers and probation workers. The result was a storm of public indignation: the different functionaries were, for the first time, confronted with the implications of their own actions and, for awhile, their self-confidence seemed to be shaken. What had been achieved in any case, was the first piercing of the hermetically closed prison situation. For the first time, prisoners could let their voices be heard from captivity. The Ministry of Justice first tried to suppress the book, thus perhaps guaranteeing an even greater impact. Even 20 years after its publication in a fresh edition in 1961, judges and prosecutors named this more than any other book as a source of their belief that too long a sentence of imprisonment would embitter and damage prisoners, both socially and psychologically”.

Following the Strangeways Prison riot I was given a copy of the Prison Reform Trust book entitled “Prison Rules: A Working Guide”. I was particularly struck by this quote: “In the prison world in particular, it seems that information is power”. I decided to empower myself with as much information as possible because: “Even where prisoners rights and entitlements are clearly established by regulation or even case-law, these rights and entitlements can be constructively withheld by depriving prisoners of the information necessary to ‘ask the right question’. Unnecessarily restrictive access to information is a pervasive element of the institutional atmosphere…”.

I typed “Prisoners and the media” into Google and one of the about 3, 190,000 entries was entitled “Silencing Prisoners Is a Crime Against Journalism” and is published by Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR). According to Wikipedia, FAIR defines its mission as working to "invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints". The first line of the piece reads “Few people are talked about more – and heard from less – than prisoners”. The article continues “Rarely do we turn on a television or pick up a newspaper and learn what prisoners have to say. Without direct communication, they don’t seem very real to us as human beings. As a result, it’s much easier for us to demand ever-harsher prison terms”.

In prison I was restricted to the mainstream media of newspapers, television and radio. Outside prison, I have discovered the blogosphere. In some respects, it has caused the MSM to quake in its boots. And, politicians have discovered the power of the blogosphere. I think it is time that prisoners had access to the internet in their cells.

I have already referred to Silencing Prisoners Is a Crime Against Journalism.
Then there is California Bans Media Interviews with Prisoners.
And, US Media Kills Story that Iraqi PM Executed 6 Prisoners.
And, Hard Evidence of US Torturing Prisoners to Death Ignored by Corporate Media.

On the other hand we have American cable news has been fixated on the jailing of socialite Paris Hilton for the past week, on grounds that she twice violated the probation sentence she earlier received for drunk driving. They interrupted coverage of world leaders at the G8. (They briefly spliced in Gates's decision not to reappoint Peter Pace as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.) A new frenzy broke out with every tiny twist . She was brave, she was weeping, she was mentally fragile. She was released, she was rejailed, she shouted it was unfair and cried, she was undergoing psychiatric evaluation.

Just for a little perspective, we could consider the news from Iraq on Saturday. Incoming mortar fire from guerrillas hit Bucca prison, killing 6 inmates and wounding 50.

I hope all, or at least some, of that makes some kind of sense to you.

Thanks for listening.

A cry for justice

This is a moving article written by Robert Fisk.

This lawyer is an ass

It is generally said that the law is an ass when an absurd decision is made in court. But in the case of the Guantanamo Bay detainees, its John Bellinger, the State Department's top lawyer who is an ass. This fool said: "critics in the US and abroad had offered no credible alternatives for dealing with the dangerous individuals detained there". It is not up to us to provide you with alternatives. It was Bush's legal advisers who told him that he could ignore the law in his war against terror. This was bad advice. Now you have to do the right thing and release all those who have not been charged and put on trial in a court of law.

There and back

Well, I'm back home again. I knew when I booked the train tickets that the Hull to Manchester Picadilly and the Manchester to Milton Keynes trains only had ten minutes each way to catch the connections and this worried me a bit. As it happens, going the train was fifteen minutes late and I missed the connection, and coming back the train was twenty five minutes and missed the connection again. This pissed me off a bit as it added an hour each way to my journey. Then the announcement apologising for the delay and inconvenience. I had to pay thirty pence to go for a piss at Manchester, six shillings for a piss, I remember when going to spend a penny actually meant that. No smoking on the trains, no smoking on the stations, no smoking at the Open University in Milton Keynes. There were opportunities for breaks during the conference sessions, still I found myself popping out every now and then during the sessions for a smoke. I will give you a summary of the conference in another post.

When I got home and searched my case for my jeans with my house keys I realised that I had left them in Milton Keynes. So, I had to do a break in (it was like old times). Luckily, my friend who had been looking after Rocky left a key on the dining room table before he went away himself. Unfortunately, I will need a pane of glass to replace the one I had to break to get in.

Milton Keynes here I come...

Off to the ICCCR Conference today as mentioned here. I hate going on the trains now that there is a no smoking policy. It wasn't so bad when you could jump out at a station and have a quick puff and jump back in again, but now they have a no smoking policy at the stations as well. I think the 4-41/2 hours without a smoke is a cruel and unusual punishment...

Message to the government: Now you turn with this U Turn and sort the problem out

I thought it was very cowardly of the government, and of Lord Falconer in particular, to put in to bat against Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight last night a very inexperienced Prisons Minister who had only been in the job a few weeks. Furthermore, he was up against the very experienced Edward Garnier MP, on behalf of the Tories. I cannot remember the chap's name, and he fluffed it when he said that Labour had inherited the Ministry of Justice. Paxman and Garnier were quick to point out that Labour had not inherited it all they had created it. I think what he meant to say, was that Labour had inherited the problems caused by Michael Howard. Give him his due, at one point when Garnier was attacking him he turned the tables and asked what Garnier would do to solve the problem. Garnier blustered and stumbled trying to come up with an answer but failed miserably. And, this reminds me of David Davis, if you have got nothing positive to contribute, shut the fuck up!

On the other hand, Simon Jenkins of the Guardian has made this worthwhile contribution to the debate. And, Clive Coleman of the Times has also written a thoughtful piece.

Prison Drugs Policy goes to the Dogs

Prison Drugs Policy goes to the Dogs
Date: 19 June, 2007


The IPRT has rubbished the "drug free prison" strategy detailed in May by former Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, noting that under the plan sniffer dogs will outnumber new drug treatment counsellors by almost 50%.

In a speech at the Prison Officers' Association's annual conference, the Mr. McDowell announced the purchase of 32 drug sniffing dogs as part of the Government's plan to create so-called "heroin-free prisons". In April, the Irish Prison Service announced plans to appoint 24 drug counsellors, meaning that more dogs will be appointed than treatment counsellors under the Government's new drug strategy.

"The Government has stated that their so-called drug free prisons plan includes a commitment to rehabilitation and counselling," said IPRT Executive Director Rick Lines. "Yet their decision to appoint more dogs than drug counsellors shows their obsession with appearing 'tough on drugs' leaves treatment and rehabilitation services the poor cousin to headline-grabbing gimmickry."

The IPRT notes that as many as half of Irish prisoners have a history of illegal drug use, a figure that does not include the use of alcohol, and doubts that the new counselling team will meet the current need. "We have to remember that these new counsellors are not adding additional capacity to a fully staffed treatment and rehabilitation service," said Mr Lines. "Rather they are coming into a counselling service described as 'non-existent' by the National Prison Chaplain's Association only two years ago."

The IPRT notes the Government's plan will establish a corps of 135 specialised officers to handle the sniffer dogs, more than five times the number of new drug counsellors to be appointed.

"The fact that the Prison Service will appoint five times as many staff to attend to the needs of 30 dogs as it will to meet the needs of 3,000 prisoners shows the cynical nature of the Government's approach to the drugs issue," said Mr Lines. "Any Government that appoints dogs faster and in greater numbers than addiction and rehabilitation counsellors is not making a serious attempt to address the issue of drug use in prisons, or re-offending by people with problem drug or alcohol use."

In the speech to the POA conference, Mr. McDowell further reiterated the plan to institute mandatory drug testing of prisoners, despite the lack of evidence that such programmes reduce drug use. In 2005, the Scottish Prison Service announced plans to cancel its mandatory drug testing programme after ten years, noting that its failure to produce the intended results meant that money could better be spent in more effective areas of drug services such as treatment.

"In April the IPRT published the findings of a TNS/MRBI poll showing that 81% of respondents believe that offenders with a drug addiction should be placed in drug recovery programmes instead of serving a prison sentence. This clearly shows the widespread public support for an approach to drug use in which treatment rather than punishment is the central feature," said Mr Lines. "Yet from sniffer dogs to mandatory testing to CCTV, the Government has time and time again demonstrated an approach to prison drug use more in common with Inspector Gadget than international best practice."

What a ball ache

What a ball ache.

Ireland leads the way on prison reform

NEW POLL: Majority of voters prefer non-custodial programmes over prison for most offenders
Date: 5 April, 2007

A new poll released today shows that a majority of voters across all political parties would prefer to see most offenders each year diverted away from prison and into non-custodial programmes that address the root causes of their offending and/or supervise them in the community.

The TNS/MRBI poll commissioned by the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults during January 2007 in order to gauge public opinion on a range of issues related to the prison system.

The poll reveals that when given a choice of how to deal with non-violent offenders - who make up over 80% of committals to prisons in Ireland each year - respondents preferred to divert them away from prison and into drug treatment programmes, mental health programmes or sentence them to community service. Prison sentences were a less preferred option, and received similar support as other non-custodial options such as reparation to victims and community supervision by the Probation Service.

The poll also reveals that by wide margins, voters of all political parties question the use of prisons as the best way to deal with crime.

The poll found that:


91% of respondents believe that offenders with mental illness should be treated in a mental health facility instead of being sent to prison.
81% believe that offenders with a drug addiction should be placed in drug recovery programmes instead of serving a prison sentence.
74% are in favour of using alternatives to prison when dealing with young offenders.
66% of respondents believe that people come out of prison worse than they go in .
54% disagree with the statement that 'increasing prison numbers will reduce crime'.
44% agree that criminalising drug use causes more problems than it prevents. Only 28% disagreed.

"This research shows clearly that the Irish electorate has a much more sophisticated understanding of crime and punishment issues than they are given credit for by the main political parties or by much of the media," said IPRT Executive Director Rick Lines. "It also shows that public concern about crime in no way translates into widespread demand for the types of knee-jerk 'get tough' policies being peddled by the Government and main Opposition parties in the run up to the election."

"In fact just the opposite is the case. By wide margins, voters of all political persuasions see prison as a failed response to dealing with most crime, do not prioritise building additional prison spaces as a strategy to tackle crime and, when given a choice, would prefer to see non-violent offenders, who constitute the vast majority of committals each year, diverted out of prisons altogether and into non-custodial programmes and supervision that engage the root causes of the offending or make reparations to victims," he said.

Said Mr. Lines, "Politicians often claim that their calls for ever harsher penalties and ever bigger prisons are based upon public demand for such measures. This research exposes the fallacy of that position. In fact, the political parties are not responding to either public demand, or indeed the demands of their own voters, in the current rush to incarcerate."

"A majority of voters are not only supportive of expanded non-custodial and treatment options for dealing with crime, they actually prefer them as a strategy to deal with most people committed to prison each year. It remains to be seen whether the political parties will have the courage to catch up to the electorate in this regard."


Summary of IPRT Poll Results


Preferred Initiatives to Tackle Crime

When asked which initiative they would most like to see implemented to tackle crime given a budget of €10 million, approaching 4 in 10 (37%) adults would opt for additional Gardaí. This was followed at some remove by youth workers to work with children (17%) and additional drug treatment places (15%). Only 5% chose building additional prison places as their preferred response to tackling crime.

Preferred Measures For Non-Violent Offenders

The preferred options for non-violent offenders are drug treatment for offenders with drug problems (41%), community service (39%) and mental health treatment for offenders with mental health problems (34%).

Opinions Of The Penal System

Those who participated in the research agreed almost universally that mentally ill offenders should be treated in a mental health facility instead of being sent to prison (91%). Whilst 8 in 10 agreed that offenders with a drug addiction should be placed in drug recovery programmes instead of serving a prison sentence (81%).

Most respondents agreed that more people come out of prison worse than they go in (66%).

The majority (54%) disagreed with the statement 'increasing prison numbers will reduce crime'.

Just over 4 in 10 (44%) agreed that criminalising drug use causes more problems than it prevents, while 28% disagreed. Interestingly, the question of whether or not criminalising drug use causes more problems than it prevents attracted the highest level of uncertainty with 19% answering 'neither agree nor disagree' and a further 9% answering 'don't know'.

Youth Offenders

Three quarters (74%) of those interviewed were in favour of using alternatives to prison when dealing with young offenders.

Perceived Proportion Of Violent Offenders Committed To Prison

There is widespread misconception amongst the public regarding the proportion of prisoners who served a sentence for a violent offence in 2005. Figures from the Irish Prison Service Annual Report 2005 show that 15% of prisoners were convicted of a Group 1 or Group 2 offence.

However, the research findings show 69% of respondents overestimated the proportion of prisoners sentenced for violent offences, compared to just 4% who underestimated the proportion.

The prison hulk is sinking, bail out, bail out...

With the government plan to release 2,000 prisoners early to ease overcrowding, we do not want a repetition of what happened recently in Italy.

What I find unacceptable, is that Operation Safeguard, the temporary housing of inmates in police and court cells, is costing £1M per week. Since October last year this has now cost the taxpayer £30M.

Unfortunately, Gordon Brown, before he even officially takes over as Prime Minister next week, is making the big mistake of looking at ways at how more prison places might be created. Rather, he should be seeking to implement methods of not sending so many to prison in the first place. Less prisons, and less prisoners is a sign of law and order working and not vice versa.

A Tooting great laugh

Onwards Cameron's soldiers
marching off to war
with the crass of Jeeves
and policies we've heard before.

Michael Barrymore refuses work

Last week I reported that Michael Barrymore had been arrested in connection with a murder.

This week he was released without charge.

Even though he has not worked in show business very much recently I understand that Michael Barrymore has turned down a chance to do pantomime this year. "I did Aladdin six years ago and no-one has let me forget it" he said.

Yard Cop blows the whistle and our jails are too full

Whatever you do judge don't send him to jail for life. In fact, don't send him to jail at all because he is not a risk to the public. Moreover, there is no room in our already too overcrowded prisons.

Perverting the course of justice may be hounorable

Let me get this right, "The West Ham footballer Terry Sheringham...was arrested on May 15 on suspicion of perverting the course of justice". And, last week the Queen in her Birthday Honours list awarded him a MBE. I would have thought it would have been better to have withheld the award of this honour to see if he was fit to receive it. If he is found not guilty all well and good. If he is found guilty, it would appear that the Queen approves of perverting the course of justice and, at the least, it is worth a MBE. What are we making all the fuss about in the cash for honours scandal, which also involves perverting the course of justice and there we are talking about a Knighthood or Peerage? I just get confused if honourable means dishonourable and vice versa.

Justice must be seen to be done: not carried out in secret

I think there is something rather unsettling about this case. In particular, there is no mention of any actual physical sexual abuse of children. Rather, the conviction was based on images of children. I am not claiming that this is not wrong, but that I don't believe that it is as bad as actual physical sexual abuse of children. It is voyeurism. Perhaps, the most disturbing aspect of the case is "Timothy David Martin Cox, the man behind the website, was jailed for an indeterminate length of time after admitting possessing and distributing indecent images of children". And that "Judge Peter Thompson at Ipswich Crown Court today ordered that Cox stay in prison until experts decide it is safe to release him". My objection is that the sentence is indeterminate, and I feel that the sentence should have been a determinate one. The other aspect I find worrying is leaving it up to a panel of so-called experts to decide when he is safe to be released. Nowhere in the report has it been shown that he is a risk to the public. I feel that it should be up to a judge to determine the length of sentence, and that it should be done in open court. In effect, this so-called panel of experts are re-sentencing behind closed doors and in secret away from public scrutiny. I don't feel that justice is being served. Justice has to be seen to be done.

John Reid on child sex offenders

Diana Johnson MP
Kingston upon Hull North
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
0207 219 5647 or 01482 319135






Our Ref: MB/HIRS01001/01061066

18 June 2007


Dear Mr Hirst,

I am writing to you with a copy of the Home Secretary’s recent statement on the publication of the report reviewing the protection of children from child sex offenders.

Given the concerns that you raised with me regarding the bail hostel on Queens Road I thought that you might find a copy of the statement useful. In relation to that specific hostel, I want to stress how seriously I take this matter and have continued to listen to the debate and to satisfy myself that we are doing everything can do about this bail hostel. I have also visited St. Vincent’s school and spoken with Head and Chair of Governors about their concerns.

Yours sincerely,





Diana Johnson MP


Home Secretary, John Reid’s House of Commons statement on publication of report of review of the protection of children from child sex offenders

13 June 2007

Check Against Delivery


Mr Speaker, with permission, I would like to make a statement regarding the Child Sex Offender Review.

There are few crimes more horrific than sexual offences against children. Ensuring that this most vulnerable group in society are safe is at the heart of the Government’s agenda and my role as Home Secretary.

The UK already has the strongest restrictions on child sex offenders. We have now considered how we can further improve the system to provide maximum protection to our children.

That is why, in June last year, I commissioned a comprehensive review of the management of child sex offenders. Over the last year, Home Office ministers and officials have consulted widely with stakeholders abroad and in the UK including all of the major children’s charities.
I would like to put on record my thanks to all those who contributed to the review, especially my Hon friend the member for Bradford South, who led the review, and Sara Payne for her support and understanding throughout.

The Home Office today publishes the report of that review. The report contains a number of actions that will make short, medium and long-term improvements in the way we manage child sex offenders.

The Review shows the multi-agency system we operate to manage high-risk offenders can work well, and that the professionals working on the front line to protect children deserve praise for the excellent work they do.

However, the Review has identified some areas where improvements can be made:

• Sharing more information with the public;

• Improving the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) and the treatment of offenders; and

• Strengthening supervision and management of offenders, including through the use of technology.

Sharing Information
When I commissioned this review I started from the position that information should no longer remain the preserve of officialdom. Although, the police and other agencies can already disclose information about specific offenders to members of the public, local practice varies significantly and some areas do this far more than others.

I want to see much greater consistency between areas and a new presumption that where there is a potential risk, relevant members of public should and will be told.

We will therefore update the law to give police and other local agencies a duty to consider - in every case - whether a member of the public needs to know about an offender’s history in order to protect a child. And there will be a presumption that the authorities will disclose that information if they consider the offender presents a risk of serious harm to a member of the public’s children.

But I want to go further than this and give the public a more active role in this process. At present, information is only disclosed on a limited basis and usually with the consent of the Sex Offender, for example by agreeing to a Criminal Records check for employment with children.

However, we already know that 90% of child abuse occurs by those who are known to the child, such as a family member. Therefore we will target paedophiles who deliberately ingratiate themselves into families.

So, initially on a pilot basis, parents and guardians who are concerned about someone they have a relationship with, and who has unsupervised access to their children, will be able to register an interest with the police in that person. If that person has convictions for child sex offences, there will be a presumption that the police will disclose those offences to the parent if they consider the child to be at risk and if disclosure is necessary to manage that risk. This new system will initially be piloted in three police force areas from April 2008 backed by £2 million in new resources, and will be overseen by a national stakeholder advisory group. The Association of Chief Police Officers has written to every Chief Constable to inform them of the plans. The Ministry of Justice will also be writing to Chief Probation Officers.

In addition, we will be committing £150,000 to pilot a community-awareness campaign in partnership with the Stop It Now! charity. This will develop messages and deliver information to better equip parents and carers to safeguard children effectively.

Improving MAPPA and Treatment of Offenders
We will introduce national standards for all MAPPA areas, to improve the quality and consistency of decision making and to increase the capacity of MAPPA to manage dangerous offenders.

The Home Office and Ministry of Justice will provide an extra £1.2 million to MAPPA areas to:
• Underpin the standards and to promote public protection outcomes.
• Introduce a standardised set of rules of residence for approved premises housing offenders on probation.
• Introduce compulsory programmes of purposeful activity to occupy offenders’ time in approved premises, thereby increasing the amount of supervision they are subject to.

We will also work towards developing a more flexible approach to providing treatment, to maximise the number of offenders treated and the effectiveness of that treatment. This will include developing the use of drug treatments alongside existing psychological treatments.

For example, anti-androgen drugs and SSRI (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor) anti-depressants have been shown to be effective in reducing sexual drive and reducing offending. But this will need to be on a voluntary basis to prevent re-offending, because to succeed it relies on the co-operation of the offender.


Management and the use of Technology
We will improve the supervision and management of registered sex offenders by increasing the amount of information they must provide to police, such as:
• Their email and internet identities
• Their passport details
• When they begin a new relationship with single parents

The development of new technologies - such as the internet - has opened up new avenues of risk for children, and new opportunities for offenders. Our response must match these new risks, and we must ensure that we take the fullest advantage of technology to protect children:

• We will increase the use of the internet to publicise and track down high-risk offenders who have gone missing

• We will review the use of satellite tracking to monitor offenders on licence.

• We will pilot compulsory use of polygraph tests and this House has already agreed the necessary amendment to the NOMS Bill earlier this year.

Polygraphs, or lie-detectors, are routinely used by probation officers in the USA. Initial trials in this country on a voluntary basis showed that polygraph testing may be useful in the supervision and treatment of offenders, and in preventing further offending. We are now committing £800,000 for further trials and a scientific evaluation of compulsory polygraph testing, to determine whether it is an effective risk-management tool.


CONCLUSION
These actions will bring considerable improvements to the way we manage child sex offenders, and they will continue our agenda of refocusing the criminal justice system on the rights of the victims rather than the rights of the offender. Above all, they will further enhance the protection of children.




0607files\home office\gov prs\f13 JR child sex offenders statement.doc

Good bye, Tony Blair

Hat-Tip to Tim Ireland at Bloggerheads for this brilliant video.

Madeliene: When the balloon goes up

If Gerry McCann did not already know that Madeliene would not be found in 50 days, which the McCanns intend to celebrate with the launch of 50 balloons, why did he announce his intention at 43 days into the search? He already knew in advance. Either Gerry McCann is psychic, or he knows what happened to Madeliene.

It is rather convenient that the so-called crime scene was allowed to be contaminated by the McCanns before the police could forensically examine the flat.

Amazon swamps the Nile

Change all the history, geography and record books...It's now claimed that the Amazon is longer than the Nile.

Black is bad, white is good

The government is to claim that blacks are more likely to become criminals than whites.

Racist or what?

Donald Rumsfeld and US army generals have 'lied' about Abu Ghraib abuse

It has emerged that Donald Rumsfeld, generals and other senior army commanders 'knew of Abu Ghraib abuse' of detainees, claims a US army general who has turned whistleblower. He "also said he was convinced former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld lied under oath to a Congressional committee about when and how much he knew of the scandal".

Blurred Vision: Cameron's blueprint for Britain

I wait at the stumps as David Cameron runs up to bowl his speech and discover that he is a spin bowler. Eagerly I await but at the last second he stops and fails to deliver. This is not New Labour and 20/20 Vision. This is Blurred Vision. We have had Tarzan in the Tory Party. Meet the Twin Pillars of Hercules, Opportunity and Security for all, will he be strong enough to pull them together?

We stand on the platform and the tannoy announces its garbled message the train now arriving is called "Our Society. Your Life". It's every child's dream, a Hogwarts School in every comprehensive school and it's called a "grammar stream". No deep sea trawling here, rather its trolling in a trickle.

Tooting. Now why does that remind me of a rolled up £20 note and a line of coke? David Cameron is preaching to the converted today, Conservatives candidates and activists. I feel that the general public will need more convincing. There is nothing "new politics" in saying that the state and society are separate entities.

The reason that the Conservative Party policies are cigarette paper thin right now is that David Cameron is waiting for the Conservative Party Policy Review Groups to come up with some ideas for him in the next few weeks. What is clear right now is that they tend to be tough on terrorism and tough on crime. I fail to see how this differs from what Labour is offering. There will be economic stability. Again, in what way does this differ from Labour? They intend to give support to the family. I suppose a crutch will look good in people's homes. Everybody will have equal opportunity, just as well that David Cameron calls himself a "determined optimist". Personally, I am pessimistic.

More here.

David Cameron builds a house of cards on sand...

Desperate Dave Cameron harks back to Winston Churchill and the Battle of Britain.

Introduction:

Take a step backwards to the Phoney War as Dave "Bob The Builder I Can Fix It Yes I Can" Cameron drops propaganda leaflets like this speech, because he has not yet prepared any policies to attack Labour and present to the public. The British people will have a clear choice. New Labour which is old Tory, or Old Tory which is trying to pass itself off as New Labour. Don't worry if this leads you to be double-visioned. New Labour and New Tory are traveling side by side in the same direction. That is, you have Old Labour which has become New Labour with Old Tory thrown in for good measure, and New Tory which is old Tory with New Labour and Old Labour thrown in for good measure and this produces a choice between the old and the new politics. Is that clear as mud for you? It's me against Gordon Brown, and quite honestly I am shitting bricks. That's the choice at the next election, get your dictionary out as I am going to spell it out to you exactly what I mean. Bullshit Alert.

Building our house together:

First of all, get your bucket and spade. Put sand into the bucket, pat it down and then turn it over and lay it down on the sand and lift the bucket up and hey presto we have built a sand castle.

Centre ground: Oh dear, the Great Clunking Fist flattens the sand castle because he claims that it was built on his centre ground. Turn the knob on the radio and see if there is a different tune on another radio station. Its playing a repeat so rebuild the sand castle on the centre ground.

We pretend to be tree huggers and claim that we love and care for the environment. Upfront tax cuts will not fool the public, therefore, we hide the tax cuts for the rich. We can fool some of the people all of the time but not all of the people all of the time.

The foundations - social responsibility

As I said, I haven't got any detailed policies. So, what we need to do is sell the public an idea. Of course, it's pie in the sky. Not even as substantial as junk food from McDonalds. I'm going to try and sell them the old social responsibility idea. We need to let people know that there is the state and there is society and that they are different. We are the state and look after our own interests and they are society and if they have a problem they must look after themselves the best way that they can.

Vision for Britain: Security and opportunity

Building site under construction. The boards are up and we cannot see what is going on behind them. If experience is anything to go by, the builders are sat on their arses drinking tea whilst the white hats look at the plans and talk about what they would like to build but don't know yet how to achieve it. The plans don't make any sense.

Security means a strong state. And social responsibility means a strong society where possible; a strong state where necessary. Border controls and teaching Britishness to those who manage to get in anyway. Family values. We need to help the young on to the housing ladder so that they can reach their tree houses which is all they will be able to afford under the Tory government.

Stand up Speak up:

Because we are stuck for coming up with any policies, we intend to ask the public for their views.

Meanwhile, the tide comes in and washes away the sand castle...

UPDATE: Telegraph report here.

Speech

I have just finished my speech in preparation for this. Now I am celebrating with a second triple Bells whisky and Coke and ice. It is, after all, the Weekend and I think I deserve it. I will post the speech once I have delivered it and get the first opportunity to do so. It is on the theme I was given, however, I suspect that it does not conform to the 4 bullet points. In any event, I have my own style of writing and don't go in much for conformity. The theme is really about the mainstream media. I think the blogosphere has moved things on a bit since then and I have included it in my speech. It is pertinent, especially as some of the blog posts I have read recently have accused the MSM of ignoring or killing stories relating to Iraq and Iraqi prisoners, or Guantanamo Bay, whereas it has played up the predicament of Paris Hilton. I think this was worth highlighting, and not just that prisoners generally get a bad press. I think we know that already.

Cops, lawyers and the BBC...

PC Plod has to go back to school and learn how to speak standard English. With someone as old as maneatingcheesesandwich it will be like teaching an old dog new tricks...

And here's a American copper teaching a lawyer not to be such a smart arse...

Shock, horror, the Biased Broadcasting Corporation is biased.

The Queen gives a Nazi salute to celebrate her 81st birthday

The Queen gives a Nazi salute to celebrate her 81st birthday. The Queen who is of German stock and the Royal Family changed its name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor during the First World War, appears to have gone a bit ga-ga in her old age...

Lockerbie and Pan-Am flight 103

Let us hope that if the High Court in Edinburgh decides to quash this conviction on appeal, that that will be the end of the matter because it would appear to be madness if another £80M was spent on a new trial.

Oh Why? Why? Why? Bliar?

Oh Why? Why? Why? Bliar?

Prior to George W. Bush going to war with Iraq, Tony Blair had reservations about the Whitehouse making adequate plans for the aftermath of the war. This should have been Tony Blair's excuse to withdraw British support but he did not take the opportunity. Worse still, "He also agreed to commit troops to the conflict even though President George Bush had personally said Britain could help 'some other way'". Tony Blair failed to take the opportunity when Bush offered him an opt out. "Condoleezza Rice, then Bush's national security adviser, confirms that the President offered Blair a way out. Bush told Blair: 'Perhaps there's some other way that Britain can be involved.' Blair replied: 'No, I'm with you.'".

Can anybody offer any rational reason why Tony Blair committed himself and our country to get involved in this madness?

Robberies soar as Italy frees 15,000 inmates

Robberies soar as Italy frees 15,000 inmates

NIck Pisa in Rome, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:56am BST 17/06/2007

Armed robberies of Italian banks and building societies have soared after a controversial prisoner amnesty in the country's crowded jails.

Last year's indulto, or pardon, for prisoners with less than three years left to serve caused uproar.

More than 15,000 inmates were released. Within hours, dozens had been arrested and sent back to jail after reoffending. New crime figures have again fuelled the controversy.

The number of bank robberies has risen nationwide, official statistics say, including a staggering 102 per cent increase in Piedmont, in the north.

There have also been marked increases in Veneto (85.1 per cent) and the Marche region (86.9 per cent), where, after a three-day series of bank raids that netted more than £70,000, police arrested six people and found that all had been released under the amnesty.

In Turin, three men arrested for holding up a bank inside a hospital disguised as doctors were also found to be pardoned ex-prisoners.

One ex-convict, released after serving seven years for armed robbery, was arrested as he fled the scene of a raid in Milan and told police: "I needed the money to visit my girlfriend in Cuba."

In another case in Milan a man who was released early from a 10-year sentence for robbing 25 banks was back inside within a week after holding up several cashiers. He was arrested after one of them recognised him from an earlier hold-up.

There were 194 bank robberies nationwide in the month before the amnesty was introduced last July. After the law was passed by Romano Prodi's centre-Left coalition that figure rose steadily, peaking at 332 in October - at an average of more than 10 a day.

When the amnesty was introduced, Italy's prison population was 62,000; its jails have a capacity of 45,000. Ministry of Interior officials told The Sunday Telegraph that so far 26,000 prisoners had been released and that more than 3,000 - or 11.5 per cent - had been sent back to jail. The amnesty has come in for scathing criticism from the opposition, with the Alleanza Nazionale leader Gianfranco Fini saying: "The law is an insult to law-abiding Italian citizens."

Inmates convicted of Mafia-related crimes, terrorism, rape, paedophilia and people-smuggling were excluded from the amnesty.

Last August, The Sunday Telegraph described how within hours of being released dozens of prisoners were back in jail after reoffending.

The most serious case was in the northern city of Udine where plumber Piero Melis, 53, was released early from an eight-month sentence for attacking his wife Carla - only to be rearrested less than six hours later after allegedly trying to strangle her.

Prison chiefs rebel over court cells

Prison chiefs rebel over court cells

By Ben Leapman, Home Affairs Correspondent, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:56am BST 17/06/2007

Prison governors have accused the Government of holding criminals in "squalid" and "potentially dangerous" court cells because jails are full.

In an outspoken attack, the usually moderate Prison Governors' Association (PGA) described the use of court cells as a "desperate, bottom-of-the-barrel option".

It revealed that it had entered an official dispute with the Prison Service for the first time in its history, urging its members not to volunteer to supervise the temporary jails. But the Ministry of Justice is forcing governors to carry out the task.

Anne Owers, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, is expected to add to the criticism when she publishes the first report on facilities at one of the courts involved within a few weeks.

Last week, the prison population reached an all-time high of 80,977, only 481 places away from absolute capacity. The total included 415 in police stations and 24 in court cells. Nine courts have been put on standby to hold up to 100 prisoners a night.

Paul Tidball, the president of the PGA and a former governor of Cardiff Prison, accused the Government of breaking a promise that only carefully-vetted prisoners, who were unlikely to be violent, would be placed in court cells.

Instead, he said, courts had been sent "all sorts", including prisoners under the influence of drugs and a man on the first night of a life sentence. As a result, according to Mr Tidball, staff are at risk of assault.

The PGA urged ministers to order the early release of thousands of minor offenders simply to resolve the immediate crisis. Tony Blair is said to have blocked the idea when it was put forward by Lord Falconer, the minister in charge of prisons.

Mr Tidball said: "If that proves to have been the case, prison governors will remember the Prime Minister for requiring them to compromise their professionalism by presiding over the squalor of prisoners in crown court cells during a period of chaos. Millions of pounds a month are being wasted on locking up prisoners in potentially dangerous conditions."

The PGA says prisoners in court cells often sleep on mattresses on the floor. There are no showers and few phones. One particular concern is that smoking, permitted in prison cells, is banned in court buildings. Guards fear depriving inmates of tobacco, on top of other hardships, could spark violence.

Last week, it emerged that prisoners had been awarded £2.5 million in compensation over claims of abuse, assault, unlawful detention and medical negligence.

Court cells in use as temporary prisons are staffed by private security firms rather than regular warders, but prison governors are being told to oversee the sites. John Reid, the Home Secretary, promised 8,000 extra prison places before he relinquished control of the system last month, but they will not be ready until 2012.

Last week, prison officers were ordered to transfer all suitable inmates to open prisons for the final two months of their sentences to free high security cells.

Juliet Lyon, the director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: "Forget rehabilitation - imprisonment is now reduced to a dangerous game of musical cells.

"Prison after prison is reaching its safe operating limit so people are being decanted into unsuitable court cells. In some cases, they are stacked up in escort vans reeking of urine. This is no way to run a criminal justice system."

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: "Court cells are used only as a measure of last resort if accommodation in prison and police cells is exhausted.

"In order to ensure correct supervision, a compulsory rota of on-call Prison Service governor grade staff has been put in place."

Why George W. Bush is the biggest terrorist threat facing the world

The obvious danger for America and the rest of the world in having someone as apparently stupid as George W. Bush as the President in the Whitehouse, is that he is not capable of distinguishing which of his advisers is providing him with good advice and which are providing him with bad advice.

The problem with The War Against Terror is that it is too vague a concept for rational understanding. Those concepts that can be understood are the State versus the Individual, the Individual versus the State, and the State against another State.

It would appear that what George W. Bush has done is as an Individual he has taken on the world. Anyone he sees as an enemy is an enemy in his private war and he describes them as "illegal enemy combatants". That is, they are illegal under Bush Law, because Bush has gone against American law, International law, and has suspended the Geneva Convention. It is terrifying that he has thrown off any civilised restraints upon human conduct. In effect, it is Jungle Law, and Bush is claiming that he is King of the Jungle. This hairy ape sees himself as Tarzan.

The Bush Administration claims that the arrest and detention of suspected terrorists is a very highly classified area and that neither the public nor the courts can question this. Furthermore, the so-called justification for this approach is stated as there was a before 9/11 and there is an after 9/11 and after 9/11 the gloves came off. Bush has set himself up as the judge, jury and prosecutor. His legal advisers were wrong to tell him that he had unfettered discretion in his prosecution on The War Against Terror. It means that the biggest terrorist threat that the world is facing comes from George W. Bush himself.

There is legal and illegal, judicial but no extra-judicial, and moral and immoral. Given that George W. Bush on 27 January 2005 made the statement that "torture is never acceptable", why has he unlawfully authorised the CIA and Military to engage in the torture of suspected terrorists? Bush added "nor do we hand over people to countries that do torture". Then why did America hand over Maher Arar to Syria where he was not only subjected to brutal interrogation, but also torture? Maher Arar is innocent of any links to terrorism, and yet he was kidnapped by the American government and subjected to the secretive programme "extraordinary rendition" a euphuism for kidnapping. Maher Arar asks a good question, "Why, if they have suspicions, don't they question people within the boundary of the law?".

The law is what separates the law-abiding from the lawless. George W. Bush has become an outlaw. He is as much a war criminal now, as Hitler was during World War 2. How is is that "The most common destination for rendered suspects are Egypt, Morocco, Syria and Jordan, all of which have been cited for human-rights violations by the State Department, and are known to torture suspects"? On what and who's authority is the CIA holding dozens of suspected terrorists outside of the territorial jurisdiction of the US? These are in addition to the 550 detainees in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Who governs the secret CIA prisons in Afghanistan, Iraq, Qatar and Thailand, amongst other countries? Who guards the guards against abuse of the prisoners?

China and child slavery

And the Olympic Gold Medal for child slavery goes to China.

More here.

Cameron goes bottom up

Link for photo.
David Cameron says that he hasn't got a clue what the Tory Party policies are going to be and is going to ask the public for ideas. All he knows is that from the top down its going to be bottoms up. Answers on a postcard please...