Ready salted and cheese flavoured...
In mid 1971, I was 20 years of age (but looked 14), and had been transferred from Armley Prison in Leeds to Walton Prison in Liverpool enroute to Wakefield Prison in West Yorkshire. That Leeds to Wakefield is only 10-15 miles, it was strange that the Prison Service goes via Liverpool. In any event, for me it was a case of bums to the wall. I had long wavy hair just like one of the 3 Muskateers (I didn't say musky queers). One day I was approached by a young lifer who said he wished to speak to me in confidence. I was expecting him to proposition me, as I knew he was a bit that way inclined. The Great Yorkshire Understatement. When he got to his cell he asked me if I would put my hand up his arsehole. He wished to retrieve about 12 inches of brush handle which had got stuck up there after it had been sucked in after it had broken off from the remainder. I was trying not to laugh at his plight. The problem is that when a brush handle snaps, it produces a pointy weapon which some prisoners use as a wooden knife to stab another prisoner. In this case, it had turned sideways inside and was protruding under the skin as though he was about to give birth to an Alien. I told him I didn't think I could do anything to assist him and he should go along to the prison hospital to get it removed. This is when I first learnt about the Black Museum kept at Walton Prison. It contains, amongst other things, objects removed from inmates rear ends. I tell you this because I was reminded of this bizarre incident when I read the following letter and the reference to empty crisp packets. Beyond the humour it raises a serious issue.
MICHAEL QUINN - OUT-SIDE-IN
In 1999, a High Court judge upheld a case allowing access
for gay inmates to condoms so as to prevent the spread or contraction of transmittable diseases. Almost eight years down
the road we are now facing the same type of ignorance and
bigotry from prison management and staff.
We have recently been contacted by inmates stating that
although they are in consensual relationships whilst ‘inside’,
on approaching medical teams for condoms they are being
refused on instructions of management. This is in clear violation
of Mr Justice Latham’s court decision. We have contacted the
prison management involved only to be ignored. We have also
contacted the various Home Office and prison ministers, similarly
to be ignored.
We have in our possession horror letters from inmates who have
resorted to using empty crisp packets, cling film or nothing at
all. This is totally unacceptable and flies in the face of every
safe sex instruction available, therefore I write to Inside Time
to ask for help in clarifying the current situation.
Matthew Lees, Offender Health, Department of
Health, writes:
Above all other considerations, prisons must maintain good
order and discipline for people in custody. They should not
therefore take any action that can be interpreted as encouraging
overt sexual behaviour by prisoners.
However the Prison Service recognises that sex in prisons is a
reality, which carries with it a public health dimension. Prison
doctors therefore have authority to prescribe condoms if, in
their clinical judgement, there is a risk of HIV infection or
transmission of any other sexually transmitted illness.
Richard Bradshaw, the Director of Prison Health in the
Department of Health, issued a Clinical Guidance Note in July
2006 which sets out the policy very clearly in order to ensure
that good clinical practice on issuing condoms is in place in all
establishments.
The letter leaves governors free to devise their own protocols.
It may be appropriate to attach conditions for the issue of
condoms in certain cases; the overriding principle must be the protection of the health of prisoners.
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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Sunday, January 20, 2008
Madeleine: The Missing Link
Madeleine: The Missing Link
Metodo 3 the private detective agency employed by the McCanns have released an artist's impression of a suspect that they claim may have abducted Madeleine McCann.
Anthropologists are excited about this discovery as the leaving no stone age man unturned...
Metodo 3 the private detective agency employed by the McCanns have released an artist's impression of a suspect that they claim may have abducted Madeleine McCann.
Anthropologists are excited about this discovery as the leaving no stone age man unturned...
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Old boot
Old boot
After the floods recede near her home
there are tell-tale signs that Heather
Mills may have gone on a long walk to
escape the media.
Hat-Tip to Inside Time
After the floods recede near her home
there are tell-tale signs that Heather
Mills may have gone on a long walk to
escape the media.
Hat-Tip to Inside Time
Richard Branson in difficulty climbing Northern Rock
Richard Branson in difficulty climbing Northern Rock
Leave no stone unturned...
Leave no stone unturned...
Pain in the arse and his dog Rocky
Pain in the arse and his dog Rocky
This still is taken from the Prisons Video Magazine issue 67 Summer 2007. I found it in Inside Time the national newspaper for prisoners November 2007 issue and beneath it is this text:
"The latest edition of PVM, No. 67, now available in your prison, looks at various stories of people readjusting back to normal life. The DVD starts with the story of John Hirst, a notorious lifer who talks about the difficulty of resettling to life 'on the out' after serving 25 years in prison. John also talks about his succesful campaign to win prisoners the vote".
UPDATED photo by Ron
This still is taken from the Prisons Video Magazine issue 67 Summer 2007. I found it in Inside Time the national newspaper for prisoners November 2007 issue and beneath it is this text:
"The latest edition of PVM, No. 67, now available in your prison, looks at various stories of people readjusting back to normal life. The DVD starts with the story of John Hirst, a notorious lifer who talks about the difficulty of resettling to life 'on the out' after serving 25 years in prison. John also talks about his succesful campaign to win prisoners the vote".
UPDATED photo by Ron
Hanging in the balance
Hanging in the balance
Amid diplomatic turmoil between Britain and Russia, one of the world's greatest post-Impressionist masterpieces was finally hung at the Royal Academy in London yesterday.
This raises the question; should the war criminal Tony Blair be hung?
"Russia cancelled the exhibition just before Christmas because it was concerned that its paintings might be seized in London...However, the Russians relented after Britain rushed through laws to guarantee against the seizure of foreign state-owned assets in this country".
Isn't it marvellous how Britain can rush through laws for the sake of Russian paintings, and yet take ages and has still not passed laws to give convicted prisoners the right to vote?
Amid diplomatic turmoil between Britain and Russia, one of the world's greatest post-Impressionist masterpieces was finally hung at the Royal Academy in London yesterday.
This raises the question; should the war criminal Tony Blair be hung?
"Russia cancelled the exhibition just before Christmas because it was concerned that its paintings might be seized in London...However, the Russians relented after Britain rushed through laws to guarantee against the seizure of foreign state-owned assets in this country".
Isn't it marvellous how Britain can rush through laws for the sake of Russian paintings, and yet take ages and has still not passed laws to give convicted prisoners the right to vote?
Friday, January 18, 2008
A rant and rave
A rant and rave
Last night, or to be exact 5 minutes into this morning, I started to watch Nightwatch - Emergency on ITV, which I had seen advertised on Teletext, and it was confirmed what I was watching when the title came up. Therefore, what was the point of having the spare prick at a wedding? Namely, "Hi. I'm Steve Scott. Your watching Nightwatch". Am I really? Well, I never! He droned on "And coming up on this week's programme...". Doesn't ITV think I can find out by myself what's coming up by my watching the programme without the need for this fucking idiot getting paid for stating the obvious? I know that it has been said that people's attention span is only 8 minutes, nevetherless, after 15 minutes the irritating sod is back telling me what I have just been watching for the last 15 minutes, recapping, and what's coming up after the break and to stay tuned in. There was just 1 advert advertising an ITV programme and then it was de ja vue, or Groundhog Day, "Hi. I'm Steve Scott" he then recaps again what I had been watching in the first 15 minutes, in case I had forgotten this and his recap during the 1 minute interval, and tells me again what is coming up in part 2. Grrrrhhh!
Half of the programme featured the coming and goings of an A&E department in a Birmingham hospital and my mind wandered to Mousie and my admiration for her and the work that she does in the front line. I already knew that the human bite is worse than a dog's (Park Rangers take note) but I learned that even a cat's bite is worse than a dog's. Rocky only picks up 3rd prize! One chap (not bitten) lost the tip of his thumb and surgeons spent 14 hours grafting it back on, only for him to go back into the operating theatre the next day to have it removed again, and a bit more besides, because it had not worked out, and to stop infection.
The other half of the programme featured a Fire and Rescue department in Bristol Temple Meads. I was interested to learn that when firemen start the job they are put on probation for 2 years. I think that the Criminal Justice System is in need of reform because usually one has to commit a criminal offence to be put on 2 years probation! Who the fuck gave planning permission for high rise blocks of flats when even the extendible ladder failed to reach the 12th floor let alone the 15th floor? And of course, the lift was out of action! I shared the frustration and annoyance expressed by the firemen at the 10 call outs per night to car fires started by car thieves to destroy evidence; and the 6 call outs every night to students halls of residence, when 4 tenders have to attend, because the bloody idiots set off the fire alarms as a prank. Why doesn't the Dean of the university get a grip of this madness?
"I'm Steve Scott. You have been watching...". I would dearly like to see a remake of The Wickerman, this time starring Steve Scott, and for something seriously to go wrong with the pyrotechnics, and all the Fire and Rescue engines to be out on call tending car fires and student halls of residence. Sorry, Steve, burn in hell! Alternatively, get a real job!
Last night, or to be exact 5 minutes into this morning, I started to watch Nightwatch - Emergency on ITV, which I had seen advertised on Teletext, and it was confirmed what I was watching when the title came up. Therefore, what was the point of having the spare prick at a wedding? Namely, "Hi. I'm Steve Scott. Your watching Nightwatch". Am I really? Well, I never! He droned on "And coming up on this week's programme...". Doesn't ITV think I can find out by myself what's coming up by my watching the programme without the need for this fucking idiot getting paid for stating the obvious? I know that it has been said that people's attention span is only 8 minutes, nevetherless, after 15 minutes the irritating sod is back telling me what I have just been watching for the last 15 minutes, recapping, and what's coming up after the break and to stay tuned in. There was just 1 advert advertising an ITV programme and then it was de ja vue, or Groundhog Day, "Hi. I'm Steve Scott" he then recaps again what I had been watching in the first 15 minutes, in case I had forgotten this and his recap during the 1 minute interval, and tells me again what is coming up in part 2. Grrrrhhh!
Half of the programme featured the coming and goings of an A&E department in a Birmingham hospital and my mind wandered to Mousie and my admiration for her and the work that she does in the front line. I already knew that the human bite is worse than a dog's (Park Rangers take note) but I learned that even a cat's bite is worse than a dog's. Rocky only picks up 3rd prize! One chap (not bitten) lost the tip of his thumb and surgeons spent 14 hours grafting it back on, only for him to go back into the operating theatre the next day to have it removed again, and a bit more besides, because it had not worked out, and to stop infection.
The other half of the programme featured a Fire and Rescue department in Bristol Temple Meads. I was interested to learn that when firemen start the job they are put on probation for 2 years. I think that the Criminal Justice System is in need of reform because usually one has to commit a criminal offence to be put on 2 years probation! Who the fuck gave planning permission for high rise blocks of flats when even the extendible ladder failed to reach the 12th floor let alone the 15th floor? And of course, the lift was out of action! I shared the frustration and annoyance expressed by the firemen at the 10 call outs per night to car fires started by car thieves to destroy evidence; and the 6 call outs every night to students halls of residence, when 4 tenders have to attend, because the bloody idiots set off the fire alarms as a prank. Why doesn't the Dean of the university get a grip of this madness?
"I'm Steve Scott. You have been watching...". I would dearly like to see a remake of The Wickerman, this time starring Steve Scott, and for something seriously to go wrong with the pyrotechnics, and all the Fire and Rescue engines to be out on call tending car fires and student halls of residence. Sorry, Steve, burn in hell! Alternatively, get a real job!
Chairman Brown in Beijing
Chairman Brown in Beijing
As the prime minister sets out his market stall and sells Britishness to China, is he guilty of selling out on human rights issues?
Yes.
China is still failing (in the words of Amnesty's Kate Allen) "to honour the promises it made, when bidding for the Olympics, to improve human rights. It still locks up dissidents, shuts down opposition websites and executes more people every year than the rest of the world put together".
As the prime minister sets out his market stall and sells Britishness to China, is he guilty of selling out on human rights issues?
Yes.
China is still failing (in the words of Amnesty's Kate Allen) "to honour the promises it made, when bidding for the Olympics, to improve human rights. It still locks up dissidents, shuts down opposition websites and executes more people every year than the rest of the world put together".
YouTube's dancing prisoners denied new licence to thrill
YouTube's dancing prisoners denied new licence to thrill
Dance all you want behind locked doors, but you aint gonna dance in the street...
Dance all you want behind locked doors, but you aint gonna dance in the street...
The silly season
The silly season
Labour: "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime".
Police response: Police cast as villains in panto row
An amateur dramatics group staging a pantomime version of Pirates of the Caribbean in Carnon Downs, Cornwall, has been told by police to keep two plastic swords and a pop-gun under lock and key whenever the props are not being used on stage. Elaine Gummow, the co-director, said that to satisfy health and safety regulations she had to inform the local constabulary if she planned to move the offending items. She added: “It all seems a bit ridiculous – we had to tell police we had ‘no malicious intent’. There are heavier things on stage that can cause injury than plastic swords.”
Labour: "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime".
Police response: Police cast as villains in panto row
An amateur dramatics group staging a pantomime version of Pirates of the Caribbean in Carnon Downs, Cornwall, has been told by police to keep two plastic swords and a pop-gun under lock and key whenever the props are not being used on stage. Elaine Gummow, the co-director, said that to satisfy health and safety regulations she had to inform the local constabulary if she planned to move the offending items. She added: “It all seems a bit ridiculous – we had to tell police we had ‘no malicious intent’. There are heavier things on stage that can cause injury than plastic swords.”
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Pigs can fly
Pigs can fly
Prince William gets no preferential treatment here.
You mean just like Cornet Wales not having to go to war in Iraq?
As a viewer on BBC 1 Look North pointed out, it does help when Grandma owns the Flying Club!
Flying Officer Wales "had the comforting presence of his instructor by his side". I would not call that flying solo.
Would the RAF allow the media in for every other Flying Officer's "solo" flight?
Police arrest innocent Rocky and let guilty paedophile free
Police arrest innocent Rocky and let guilty paedophile free
If the police did not busy themselves with falsely arresting and imprisoning innocent dog walkers, then perhaps they would not have released the paedophile on their most wanted list.
UPDATE: Released paedophile is arrested
A wanted paedophile who was mistakenly released by a police force has been arrested in Sussex.
If the police did not busy themselves with falsely arresting and imprisoning innocent dog walkers, then perhaps they would not have released the paedophile on their most wanted list.
UPDATE: Released paedophile is arrested
A wanted paedophile who was mistakenly released by a police force has been arrested in Sussex.
The cost to the taxpayer of MPs representing their own interests
The cost to the taxpayer of MPs representing their own interests
I think it is incredible that they work for us and yet they vote themselves their own pay rises. I recall when Gordon Brown was officially chancellor (he still is unofficially because Darling is just a puppet), he insisted that the public sector kept pay rises below the rate of inflation. And yet, a so-called independent review body has recommended that MPs should get above inflation rate pay increases for the next 3 years.
Why does everybody else have to pay living costs out of their wage or benefits and yet MPs receive over £20,000 above their wage for living costs?
Who else can claim expenses and yet not produce any receipts to justify the allowance?
Lesbian soldier Kerry Fletcher wins case
Lesbian soldier Kerry Fletcher wins case
A lesbian soldier who endured lewd sexual innuendo from a senior staff sergeant who claimed he could "turn her straight" could win compensation of more than £400,000, after winning her case against the Ministry of Defence.
Why hasn't the senior staff sergeant involved been named and shamed and demoted?
More to the point, why are soldiers who are seriously injured in Iraq awarded a mere pittance in comparison?
Fair trial groups attack EU prison plan
Fair trial groups attack EU prison plan
Fair trial campaigners have given warning that there will be miscarriages of justice under European Union plans to hand over Britons tried and convicted in absentia by foreign courts.
Kafka is alive and well and living in Europe...
Fair trial campaigners have given warning that there will be miscarriages of justice under European Union plans to hand over Britons tried and convicted in absentia by foreign courts.
Kafka is alive and well and living in Europe...
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Man's best friend or dangerous dog?
Man's best friend or dangerous dog?
According to Wikipedia:
"The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 is a piece of UK legislation that was introduced in response to various incidents of serious injury or death resulting from attacks by aggressive and uncontrolled dogs, particularly on children. These incidents received heavy tabloid attention, causing widespread public concern over the keeping of dangerous dogs and a resulting legislative response".
I think it is fair to say that the Act is more in keeping with politicians displaying knee-jerk reactions rather than employing their thought processes. Nevertheless, I have been charged under section 3(1):
"3 Keeping dogs under proper control
(1) If a dog is dangerously out of control in a public place—
(a) the owner; and
(b) if different, the person for the time being in charge of the dog,
is guilty of an offence, or, if the dog while so out of control injures any person, an aggravated offence, under this subsection".
Section 10 provides an interpretation:
"10(3) For the purposes of this Act a dog shall be regarded as dangerously out of control on any occasion on which there are grounds for reasonable apprehension that it will injure any person, whether or not it actually does so, but references to a dog injuring a person or there being grounds for reasonable apprehension that it will do so do not include references to any case in which the dog is being used for a lawful purpose by a constable or a person in the service of the Crown".
The key words here are "reasonable apprehension". For example, according to Wikipedia:
"In England and Wales, an assault consists of a person intentionally or recklessly causing another person to apprehend immediate and unlawful violence".
Therefore, it is the fear of (mental) rather than the actual physical contact which constitutes the offence. In this sense, it is a "thought crime".
Having the benefit of seeing how C*** W*****, the Park Ranger, behaves and having read his police statement, in my view, his apprehension is not reasonable. I suspect it is neurotic. If that is the case, then it is his problem and not mine.
However, there is another element to this whole affair. Another Park Ranger called Richard decided to start picking on me whilst I was walking my dog Rocky in Pearson Park in Hull. Eventually, I complained to the relevant council department and this Richard was the subject of a disciplinary hearing and received a reprimand. From that point on he left me alone. Shortly thereafter, two other Park Rangers, one of whom is C*** W*****, began picking on me. I find this to be too much of a coincidence. In prison it is common practice when a prisoner and a prison officer come into conflict for that prison officer to "mark his card", and then he finds that he is targeted by other prison officers for rough treatment.
It may be that I am not as responsible a dog owner as I could and/or should be. For example, even though animal charities may disagree about the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, "Both charities do agree that all dog owners should be responsible and keep their animals on leads or under close supervision in public places". I don't usually keep Rocky on his lead accept when near or crossing busy roads. Some may argue that if Rocky is walking about 50 yards away from me then that is not close supervision. However, the case may not rest on that at all. If I was the Crown Prosecution Service lawyer I might have doubts about the credibility of their star witness and the reliability of his evidence.
According to Wikipedia:
"The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 is a piece of UK legislation that was introduced in response to various incidents of serious injury or death resulting from attacks by aggressive and uncontrolled dogs, particularly on children. These incidents received heavy tabloid attention, causing widespread public concern over the keeping of dangerous dogs and a resulting legislative response".
I think it is fair to say that the Act is more in keeping with politicians displaying knee-jerk reactions rather than employing their thought processes. Nevertheless, I have been charged under section 3(1):
"3 Keeping dogs under proper control
(1) If a dog is dangerously out of control in a public place—
(a) the owner; and
(b) if different, the person for the time being in charge of the dog,
is guilty of an offence, or, if the dog while so out of control injures any person, an aggravated offence, under this subsection".
Section 10 provides an interpretation:
"10(3) For the purposes of this Act a dog shall be regarded as dangerously out of control on any occasion on which there are grounds for reasonable apprehension that it will injure any person, whether or not it actually does so, but references to a dog injuring a person or there being grounds for reasonable apprehension that it will do so do not include references to any case in which the dog is being used for a lawful purpose by a constable or a person in the service of the Crown".
The key words here are "reasonable apprehension". For example, according to Wikipedia:
"In England and Wales, an assault consists of a person intentionally or recklessly causing another person to apprehend immediate and unlawful violence".
Therefore, it is the fear of (mental) rather than the actual physical contact which constitutes the offence. In this sense, it is a "thought crime".
Having the benefit of seeing how C*** W*****, the Park Ranger, behaves and having read his police statement, in my view, his apprehension is not reasonable. I suspect it is neurotic. If that is the case, then it is his problem and not mine.
However, there is another element to this whole affair. Another Park Ranger called Richard decided to start picking on me whilst I was walking my dog Rocky in Pearson Park in Hull. Eventually, I complained to the relevant council department and this Richard was the subject of a disciplinary hearing and received a reprimand. From that point on he left me alone. Shortly thereafter, two other Park Rangers, one of whom is C*** W*****, began picking on me. I find this to be too much of a coincidence. In prison it is common practice when a prisoner and a prison officer come into conflict for that prison officer to "mark his card", and then he finds that he is targeted by other prison officers for rough treatment.
It may be that I am not as responsible a dog owner as I could and/or should be. For example, even though animal charities may disagree about the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, "Both charities do agree that all dog owners should be responsible and keep their animals on leads or under close supervision in public places". I don't usually keep Rocky on his lead accept when near or crossing busy roads. Some may argue that if Rocky is walking about 50 yards away from me then that is not close supervision. However, the case may not rest on that at all. If I was the Crown Prosecution Service lawyer I might have doubts about the credibility of their star witness and the reliability of his evidence.
Author's murder trial to be held in secret
Author's murder trial to be held in secret
"A judge has ruled that parts of a murder trial must take place in secret next week in order to protect national security".
WTF?
Why does the Crown using the Crown Prosecution Service wish to prevent the public from hearing the defendant's defence to the charge? It would appear that there is something not straightforward about this case. As I understand it, the defendant is seeking to argue that British Intelligence is somehow implicated in the murder and that he is being fitted up for the crime. In my view, if there was no smoke without fire why would the CPS bother even to seek the gagging order in the first place? And, secondly, threaten the judge that if he did not grant the secret trial then they would be forced to drop the prosecution. What does Wang Yam know that the State does not wish the public to discover?
"A judge has ruled that parts of a murder trial must take place in secret next week in order to protect national security".
WTF?
Why does the Crown using the Crown Prosecution Service wish to prevent the public from hearing the defendant's defence to the charge? It would appear that there is something not straightforward about this case. As I understand it, the defendant is seeking to argue that British Intelligence is somehow implicated in the murder and that he is being fitted up for the crime. In my view, if there was no smoke without fire why would the CPS bother even to seek the gagging order in the first place? And, secondly, threaten the judge that if he did not grant the secret trial then they would be forced to drop the prosecution. What does Wang Yam know that the State does not wish the public to discover?
The silence of the lamb
The silence of the lamb
It's a slow news day. The Daily Telegraph reports Girl vanishes near Madeleine McCann site. I would hardly call a distance of 120 miles "near". But that has not stopped Metodo 3, the private detective agency employed by the McCanns, from trying to create a link to Madeleine's disappearance, like the bumbling Inspector Clouseau played by Peter Sellars in the Pink Panther films. Given that this little girl went missing on Sunday, it has only just reached the British media on Wednesday, without all the fanfare we witnessed at the time Madeleine disappeared. And only then because the media hungry McCanns will stop at nothing, even jumping on someone else's bandwagon, as they try and sell us the "we have done nothing wrong line".
It's a slow news day. The Daily Telegraph reports Girl vanishes near Madeleine McCann site. I would hardly call a distance of 120 miles "near". But that has not stopped Metodo 3, the private detective agency employed by the McCanns, from trying to create a link to Madeleine's disappearance, like the bumbling Inspector Clouseau played by Peter Sellars in the Pink Panther films. Given that this little girl went missing on Sunday, it has only just reached the British media on Wednesday, without all the fanfare we witnessed at the time Madeleine disappeared. And only then because the media hungry McCanns will stop at nothing, even jumping on someone else's bandwagon, as they try and sell us the "we have done nothing wrong line".
My bonnie lies over the ocean (but not about her age)
My bonnie lies over the ocean (but not about her age)
Old bloggers never die they just keep blogging on. Ask Gingersnaps, she should know having just reached the ripe old age of 41...
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
DJ Andy Kershaw jailed over restraining order
DJ Andy Kershaw jailed over restraining order
By Nigel Bunyan
Last Updated: 7:12pm GMT 15/01/2008
Andy Kershaw, the BBC radio presenter, has begun a three-month prison sentence after being warned that his life was turning into a "Greek tragedy".
Kershaw, 48, was jailed on the Isle of Man for breaking a restraining order taken out by his ex-girlfriend after he pestered both her and the new man in her life. As he passed sentence, the High Bailiff said Kershaw seemed "hell-bent" on destroying himself.
The Radio 3 presenter admitted being "menacing and provocative" when approaching Juliette Banner, the mother of his two children, and Jim Imrie, a Glasgow-based prison officer.
Passing sentence, High Sheriff Michael Moyle told Kershaw that previous warnings about his behaviour appeared to have fallen on "deaf ears".
He went on: "You seem hell bent on destroying yourself and you do not seem to appreciate that the author of your destruction is yourself.
"I genuinely regret that you, by your actions, have brought this state of affairs to pass. I regret that I feel I have no obligation other than to impose custody."
The High Sheriff added: "You are going to drive a wedge between yourself and your children if you carry on in this way".
Kershaw, who is fighting a dependency on alcohol, replied: "On the contrary, sir, my children have spent the last two weekends with me. They have voted with their feet".
He then blew a kiss to his new girlfriend, Catherine Turner, 42, before being led away to begin his sentence at the island's only prison.
Kershaw, who lives on the seafront at Peel, escaped with a three-month suspended prison term the last time he appeared at the Courts of Justice in Douglas last October.
On that occasion he pleaded guilty to harassing Miss Banner by banging drunkenly on her front door and shouting at both her and Mr Imrie. However, by the time he was sentenced he had already spent six nights in prison.
His latest breach came on November 2 when he approached the couple as they went for coffee at Peel Breakwater. He glared at them before circling them and walking "in front of them backwards", the court was told.
Kershaw also admitted sending his children text messages that referred to their mother and her boyfriend in an "abusing" manner.
He further admitted being drunk and disorderly outside Peel police station on November 7. He called one officer "an idiot".
The High Bailiff ordered him to complete the earlier three-month sentence but said it would run concurrently.
He also ordered that the restraining order against him should remain in place. This bans him from going within 50 yards of the couple's new home on the island.
Nigel Cordwell, defending, had earlier told the court that Kershaw was "devastated" to find himself "in this humiliating situation". He would accept "stoically" any decision to imprison him.
Mr Cordwell said the dispute between his client and Miss Banner centred on the issue of access to their children. However, progress was now being made in this area.
Kershaw's latest fall from grace comes three months after he spoke exclusively to the Daily Telegraph of his "nightmarish" problems.
He admitted that his long-term relationship with Miss Banner had been blighted by a number of sexual infidelities.
His ex-girlfriend learned of these as the couple unloaded their belongings following their move from Crouch End, north London, in April 2006.
"She found a text from someone I'd had a one-night stand with 12 months earlier," he said. "It meant nothing, and I was still desperately in love with Juliette, but for her it was the last straw."
The couple went briefly to Relate, the relationship counselling service, but 15 months ago Miss Banner moved out, taking the children with her. Kershaw's isolation was compounded when she forged a relationship with Mr Imrie and set up home with him.
Day in court
Day in court
Here is the weather forecast. It was pissing it down this morning in Hull and there was a wind. Naturally, my umbrella costing a £1 from the Pound Shop blew inside out and parted from the stem before I had even reached the magistrates court. I arrived at 9.30am as per my instructions from Payne and Payne solicitors. Someone representing the firm called me into an office at 10.20am, and I am unsure whether he sacked me or I sacked him, in any event I was out of the office at 10.21am. I approached the clerk and informed her that I was now representing myself and was ushered straight into Court Number 1. The magistrate was a throwback from the 18th or 19th century, patronage and all that crap. The two charges were read out:
1) Owner allow dog out of control to cause injury...Contrary to Section 3(1) and (4) of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991;
2) Section 4 words/behaviour - fear unlawful violence...Contrary to Section 4(1) and (4) of the Public Order Act 1986.
I entered pleas of not guilty on both counts. I elected to go for the Crown Court and trial by jury on the first count, and the second charge was dropped by the prosecution. The case was adjourned until 26 February 2008. I was out of there by 10.30am.
The title is incorrect as it was not really a day in court, more like 10 minutes. Still, it is a daunting procedure and can cause stress. I think it is indicative of how weak the charge against me was that it was first downgraded from assault to threatening behaviour before being dropped altogether as soon as I indicated that I intended to defend my innocence rather than accept a guilty plea to speed things up.
Although the wording of the remaining charge refers to the owner, in effect it will be Rocky who is on trial. I have employed Ruth Bundy & Co, Leeds, to represent Rocky. Payne and Payne, Hull, will not now be on my Christmas Card list.
And if anybody is in any doubt, or has forgotten, Rocky is innocent ok?
Here is the weather forecast. It was pissing it down this morning in Hull and there was a wind. Naturally, my umbrella costing a £1 from the Pound Shop blew inside out and parted from the stem before I had even reached the magistrates court. I arrived at 9.30am as per my instructions from Payne and Payne solicitors. Someone representing the firm called me into an office at 10.20am, and I am unsure whether he sacked me or I sacked him, in any event I was out of the office at 10.21am. I approached the clerk and informed her that I was now representing myself and was ushered straight into Court Number 1. The magistrate was a throwback from the 18th or 19th century, patronage and all that crap. The two charges were read out:
1) Owner allow dog out of control to cause injury...Contrary to Section 3(1) and (4) of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991;
2) Section 4 words/behaviour - fear unlawful violence...Contrary to Section 4(1) and (4) of the Public Order Act 1986.
I entered pleas of not guilty on both counts. I elected to go for the Crown Court and trial by jury on the first count, and the second charge was dropped by the prosecution. The case was adjourned until 26 February 2008. I was out of there by 10.30am.
The title is incorrect as it was not really a day in court, more like 10 minutes. Still, it is a daunting procedure and can cause stress. I think it is indicative of how weak the charge against me was that it was first downgraded from assault to threatening behaviour before being dropped altogether as soon as I indicated that I intended to defend my innocence rather than accept a guilty plea to speed things up.
Although the wording of the remaining charge refers to the owner, in effect it will be Rocky who is on trial. I have employed Ruth Bundy & Co, Leeds, to represent Rocky. Payne and Payne, Hull, will not now be on my Christmas Card list.
And if anybody is in any doubt, or has forgotten, Rocky is innocent ok?
Monkey business
Monkey business
Law catches up with John Wayne, Cape Town's celebrity baboon
By Ian Evans in Cape Town
Published: 15 January 2008
He's been spotted on top of Table Mountain, been a stowaway on board a trawler and visited an upmarket shopping centre. Meet Cape Town's latest celebrity: John Wayne, a 10-year-old baboon.
The primate has achieved celebrity status in South Africa's Mother City, with residents, police, vets and experts from the city's baboon management team hot on his trail, and journalists and television crews following the chase.
But then, after a whirlwind tour of some of Cape Town's wealthiest southern suburbs, he was cornered on a school roof and shot with a tranquiliser dart. His escapes had finally come to an end.
But John Wayne's monkeying around has highlighted the deep divisions within the city towards one of man's closest relatives.
There are around 350 chacma baboons in 13 troops on the Cape Peninsula, where they have lived for more than a million years. Because of growing development, a number of animals walk down from the mountains – where they usually feed on up to 200 varieties of berries, plants and leaves – to forage in bins and houses. That has angered some homeowners, who resort to shooting or poisoning the baboons that can reach weights of up to 47kg (103lb). On average 15 a year are killed.
One resident who is fed up is Joan Laing, 49, chairwoman of the her local Baboon-free Neighbourhood Action Group. She has lived in Welcome Glen for five years and been "visited" by the animals 14 times.
"They come into the house, take what they want and make a dreadful mess. They ransack and empty everything," she said. "They're dangerous. They bite people and have torn pets apart with their sharp teeth. They are wild animals and should be in the mountains, not coming into houses. I just hope they don't end up killing someone."
But others dispute this portrait of the baboons, saying that people's hostility stems from fear and ignorance. Jenni Trethowan, 48, has been running Baboon Matters for almost 20 years, ever since a troop was eliminated near her Cape Peninsula home. She cares for the animals and has organised extensive education programmes for residents, advising them not to leave out food or bins and make houses more "baboon-proof" by installing window bars.
Baboon Matters also set up the Baboon Management Team – which comprises the council, South African National Parks and Cape Nature Conservation and local homeowners – and organised monitors to keep track of the troops.
"I'm a houseowner and the baboons have caused thousands of rands of damage but I don't want to hurt them," said Ms Trethowan. "We both live here and we need to live together but they do polarise opinion. Residents have to work collectively not to encourage baboons to come to our houses. They'll always go for easy food instead of spending hours foraging for it in the mountains."
John Wayne has been released near Cape Point after he was given a clean bill of health. And for those mourning the loss of the baboon road show, all is not lost. "He walked out quite arrogantly without even a glance back," said Allan Perrins from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "I don't think this will be the last we hear of John Wayne."
Law catches up with John Wayne, Cape Town's celebrity baboon
By Ian Evans in Cape Town
Published: 15 January 2008
He's been spotted on top of Table Mountain, been a stowaway on board a trawler and visited an upmarket shopping centre. Meet Cape Town's latest celebrity: John Wayne, a 10-year-old baboon.
The primate has achieved celebrity status in South Africa's Mother City, with residents, police, vets and experts from the city's baboon management team hot on his trail, and journalists and television crews following the chase.
But then, after a whirlwind tour of some of Cape Town's wealthiest southern suburbs, he was cornered on a school roof and shot with a tranquiliser dart. His escapes had finally come to an end.
But John Wayne's monkeying around has highlighted the deep divisions within the city towards one of man's closest relatives.
There are around 350 chacma baboons in 13 troops on the Cape Peninsula, where they have lived for more than a million years. Because of growing development, a number of animals walk down from the mountains – where they usually feed on up to 200 varieties of berries, plants and leaves – to forage in bins and houses. That has angered some homeowners, who resort to shooting or poisoning the baboons that can reach weights of up to 47kg (103lb). On average 15 a year are killed.
One resident who is fed up is Joan Laing, 49, chairwoman of the her local Baboon-free Neighbourhood Action Group. She has lived in Welcome Glen for five years and been "visited" by the animals 14 times.
"They come into the house, take what they want and make a dreadful mess. They ransack and empty everything," she said. "They're dangerous. They bite people and have torn pets apart with their sharp teeth. They are wild animals and should be in the mountains, not coming into houses. I just hope they don't end up killing someone."
But others dispute this portrait of the baboons, saying that people's hostility stems from fear and ignorance. Jenni Trethowan, 48, has been running Baboon Matters for almost 20 years, ever since a troop was eliminated near her Cape Peninsula home. She cares for the animals and has organised extensive education programmes for residents, advising them not to leave out food or bins and make houses more "baboon-proof" by installing window bars.
Baboon Matters also set up the Baboon Management Team – which comprises the council, South African National Parks and Cape Nature Conservation and local homeowners – and organised monitors to keep track of the troops.
"I'm a houseowner and the baboons have caused thousands of rands of damage but I don't want to hurt them," said Ms Trethowan. "We both live here and we need to live together but they do polarise opinion. Residents have to work collectively not to encourage baboons to come to our houses. They'll always go for easy food instead of spending hours foraging for it in the mountains."
John Wayne has been released near Cape Point after he was given a clean bill of health. And for those mourning the loss of the baboon road show, all is not lost. "He walked out quite arrogantly without even a glance back," said Allan Perrins from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "I don't think this will be the last we hear of John Wayne."
Venice to put speed cameras in canals
Venice to put speed cameras in canals
This sounds like a good idea. We should follow suit and put all our speed cameras in canals!
This sounds like a good idea. We should follow suit and put all our speed cameras in canals!
Vitamins plan 'to cut prison violence'
Vitamins plan 'to cut prison violence'
"Prisoners will be given vitamins and mineral supplements in an attempt to improve their behaviour and cut down on violence behind bars, The Daily Telegraph has learned".
It strikes me that if prisoners need vitamins and mineral supplements then the prison diet is lacking. During Margaret Thatcher's reign in power, I remember that prisoners food budget suffered cuts. At that time, prisoners received on average 33p per meal. I recall reading the report in a newspaper and my attention wandered to an advert offering a small tin of Kitekat for 33p! The report claimed that prisoners food was not based upon a monetary budget, rather it was based upon dietary requirements. When I showed the report to the prison officer in charge of the kitchen he replied "bollocks!". This was also my view. I believed that the Prisons Minister had misled Parliament on the issue.
In any event, whether prisoners food rations are based upon a monetary budget or upon dietary needs it would appear that prisoners food rations are inadequate for good health. With the introduction of private prisons those prisoners held in the private sector received on average £1 per meal. I have yet to learn the justification for the anomaly of why prisoners in the public sector prisons had to manage on two thirds of the food budget/dietary requirements compared to those prisoners in the private sector. Perhaps, this will give Jack Straw, the Minister of Justice, food for thought?
"Prisoners will be given vitamins and mineral supplements in an attempt to improve their behaviour and cut down on violence behind bars, The Daily Telegraph has learned".
It strikes me that if prisoners need vitamins and mineral supplements then the prison diet is lacking. During Margaret Thatcher's reign in power, I remember that prisoners food budget suffered cuts. At that time, prisoners received on average 33p per meal. I recall reading the report in a newspaper and my attention wandered to an advert offering a small tin of Kitekat for 33p! The report claimed that prisoners food was not based upon a monetary budget, rather it was based upon dietary requirements. When I showed the report to the prison officer in charge of the kitchen he replied "bollocks!". This was also my view. I believed that the Prisons Minister had misled Parliament on the issue.
In any event, whether prisoners food rations are based upon a monetary budget or upon dietary needs it would appear that prisoners food rations are inadequate for good health. With the introduction of private prisons those prisoners held in the private sector received on average £1 per meal. I have yet to learn the justification for the anomaly of why prisoners in the public sector prisons had to manage on two thirds of the food budget/dietary requirements compared to those prisoners in the private sector. Perhaps, this will give Jack Straw, the Minister of Justice, food for thought?
Policeman who killed in-law 'feared losing kids'
Policeman who killed in-law 'feared losing kids'
In this case I find it incredible not only that he was granted bail in the first instance and secondly that "Judge John Bevan, who made the decision, said he "could not remember" why he had taken the unusual step of freeing a man accused of murder". Could it be because the judge is senile and or that both the police inspector and the judge belong to the funny handshake brigade?
In this case I find it incredible not only that he was granted bail in the first instance and secondly that "Judge John Bevan, who made the decision, said he "could not remember" why he had taken the unusual step of freeing a man accused of murder". Could it be because the judge is senile and or that both the police inspector and the judge belong to the funny handshake brigade?
Monday, January 14, 2008
Cop out by Lincolnshire Police
Cop out by Lincolnshire Police
It was reported on BBC1 Look North tonight that Lincolnshire Police has decided not to charge a 17 year old youth who caused a head on crash whilst driving without a licence and insurance. The youth who was racing against a friend overtook and crashed into an elderly couples car on the other side of the road. The couple narrow escaped serious injury or death. Apparently, the police decided to let the youth off instead with a final warning. I do not know whether this was a first and final warning or whether he had received previous warnings for other offences. In any event, it remains puzzling why the police decided not to prosecute in a case which is obviously a serious offence. According to the Lincolnshire Police it was because of the youths age and upon gathering evidence. However, the youth is 7 years over the age of criminal responsibility, and the evidence is that he had no driving licence and no insurance and by overtaking his friend on a bend he caused a head on car crash. Whilst I accept it is not a good thing to have a criminal record at such a young age which may harm his future prospects, nevertheless I feel that a warning is not the appropriate penalty in the circumstances.
It was reported on BBC1 Look North tonight that Lincolnshire Police has decided not to charge a 17 year old youth who caused a head on crash whilst driving without a licence and insurance. The youth who was racing against a friend overtook and crashed into an elderly couples car on the other side of the road. The couple narrow escaped serious injury or death. Apparently, the police decided to let the youth off instead with a final warning. I do not know whether this was a first and final warning or whether he had received previous warnings for other offences. In any event, it remains puzzling why the police decided not to prosecute in a case which is obviously a serious offence. According to the Lincolnshire Police it was because of the youths age and upon gathering evidence. However, the youth is 7 years over the age of criminal responsibility, and the evidence is that he had no driving licence and no insurance and by overtaking his friend on a bend he caused a head on car crash. Whilst I accept it is not a good thing to have a criminal record at such a young age which may harm his future prospects, nevertheless I feel that a warning is not the appropriate penalty in the circumstances.
Behind bars: Bragg to bring sound of music to prisons
Behind bars: Bragg to bring sound of music to prisons
As part of a unique initiative, Billy Bragg (with a little help from Mick Jones and others) wants to get musical instruments into all of Britain’s prisons. But to the Bard of Barking, these aren’t gifts: they’re potential lifesavers.
Interview by Nick Duerden
Published: 12 January 2008
On a makeshift stage that, on any other day, is merely storage space within a cavernous gym hall, a band called the Meerkatz are halfway through a spirited rendition of "Do They Know It's Christmas?". The singer – a healthcare worker by day here at Styal women's prison in Wilmslow, near Manchester – gurns his way through the song as if it were a bowel movement. But if the crowd seems more appreciative than one would expect of an audience at three o'clock on a freezing winter's afternoon, it's because it is made up exclusively of inmates who would otherwise be doing, according to prisoner Adele, "boring stuff like learning how to read and write".
The singer-songwriter Billy Bragg was supposed to be here an hour ago in his role as figurehead of the Jail Guitar Doors initiative, bringing with him £1,600 worth of donated musical instruments, but he is currently stuck in traffic on a motorway far, far away. By the time he does finally turn up, huffing and puffing and full of apology, many of the congregated prisoners here will very likely have already made bail. But few right now are lamenting his tardiness. As the Meerkatz reach the climax of the Band Aid Christmas perennial, seven young women congregate on the side of the stage, each of them glammed up for their moment in the spotlight, and anxious for the microphone.
When Bragg last visited a prison, as part of his year-long trek around Her Majesty's establishments proffering musical gifts as incentives for self-betterment, it was to Pentonville in late November. There, in a small room far from the din and clang of the cells, a group of no more than a dozen inmates turned up to show appreciation. In Styal, however, it's more like 175, and they've taken over the darkened gym for an afternoon of raucous celebration and, in some cases, what grandmother would call "heavy petting". The Head of Interventions here, Annick Platt, thought it would be a good idea to make a day of it, and ran an X Factor-like competition offering inmates a chance to appear on stage alongside today's visiting national treasure, irrespective of the fact that many of the entrants had little idea precisely who the national treasure was. "Billy who?" asks Adele. Perhaps tellingly, Adele is just 24.
"In the past," Platt tells me, "we've found art therapy to be highly beneficial for inmates. A lot of the women we have here suffer from mental health disorders, or from drug problems, and a great many of them self harm. For all sorts of reasons, then, these are very damaged women, and while we can offer no magic cure, we have found that by engaging their creative side we can often help them, if you like, 'escape' their surroundings. Because nobody controls your thoughts, do they?"
It is only through art, she continues, that many are able to express themselves at all. Those too shy or too awkward to talk of their pain and suffering with social workers can instead articulate it in painting or poetry, examples of which adorn the walls throughout the complex. After today, they'll also be able to express themselves in song.
"They've not much to look forward to," Platt admits, "and so something like today's event really does give them a focus. In many ways, it's not so much a luxury as a lifesaver. When the Meerkatz last played, we had no reports that evening of any prisoner self harming. These kinds of things make them feel better about themselves, it lifts their spirits. That's very encouraging to us."
Which is why the atmosphere on stage right now is close to fever pitch. True, none of the seven women who won last week's contest is ever likely to impress Simon Cowell with their vocal prowess, but few could fault their enthusiasm. This line-up of excitable, giggling twentysomethings includes an arsonist and a repeat drug offender. One is inside for GBH, another for doing something unspeakable to a baby. One by one, they come to the centre of the stage and accompany the band on a selection of current hits and old favourites. One of the less serious offenders, 21-year-old Alicia, a heavyset girl with a head full of tight curls and a voice of considerable volume, lets loose on an almighty rendition of Lulu's "Shout" until stage fright descends, and she runs off, furious with herself.
"It's all very well practising the song in my cell, like," she tells me afterwards, scratching at the self-inflicted scars that line her arms like irregular train tracks, "but on stage, with all the lights, the microphone and the crowd – well, that's another story."
Alicia, who has never heard of Billy Bragg either but is grateful for his "support", was raised in a succession of care homes across the north-east of England, and says that anger is her most voluble emotion: "That's when I'm most likely to sing, when I'm angry. It's how I unstress myself. I'm telling you, if somebody had wound me up before going on stage today, I'd have sung a lot more powerful than what I did ..."
Back in the hall, it's almost five o'clock now. A side door opens, and the national treasure finally emerges. The crowd immediately start shouting: "WHO ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU?" but it's good-natured and fun, and after a flurry of "sorrys", Bragg accompanies the Meerkatz and all seven finalists in a shambolic version of "Route 66", twirling the arsonist round and round with an outstretched arm. So whipped up in the atmosphere does he become that, as the band segues into "Johnny B Goode", he removes his jacket and, uncharacteristically, indulges in the kind of overly elbowed dance familiar to all drunken uncles of a certain age.
"I'm playing with The Pogues in Manchester tomorrow night," he tells the cheering, jeering crowd at one point. "I can't see it getting any wilder than this, can you?"
Jail Guitar Doors, Bragg will later explain to me over a meal in a deserted Indian restaurant, is an independent initiative aiming to supply musical equipment to inmates of Her Majesty's prisons nationwide via donations. Taking its name from the B-side of The Clash's 1978 single "Clash City Rockers", Jail Guitar Doors came into being in the early part of last year after the singer received a letter from Malcolm Dudley, a prison rehabilitation officer at Guy's Marsh in Dorset, asking for help in getting musical instruments into prison on the conviction that they could do good, and perhaps even affect long-term change. Bragg had already undertaken a similar initiative in a hospice, helping dying women articulate their terror of leaving behind family members through music.
"I like to work with people who have been marginalised from society," he says. "Also, I wanted to do something in memory of [The Clash's] Joe Strummer, who died just over five years ago. It seemed to me something that all musicians would be able to see the value of immediately, if only because all musicians are already keenly aware of just what a contribution music can make to life, and how it can help you transcend your surroundings no matter how bleak they may appear."
The Guy's Marsh project went well, so much so that when Bragg was later invited to the NME Awards he decided to use the event to give the campaign some necessary oxygen. Taking the stage, he told the assembled wealthy rock stars of his plans to raise sufficient funds to get acoustic guitars into every prison in the country, and that he would be willing to accept any and all donations.
"People were very kind, very generous indeed," he says.
Pertinently, the first person to stump up some cash was The Clash's Mick Jones (who would later accompany him on several prison visits), quickly followed by various indie bands, and TV presenters such as Dermot O'Leary, Jonathan Ross and Phill Jupitus. To date, he has raised more than £10,000.
"It's not easy getting things like guitars into prisons," he points out, "because there's the fear that they could be used as weapons – although they never yet have, to my knowledge. I've spent much of the past 12 months giving the same spiel over and over again to each new governor, and slowly but surely the message is getting out there, and people are becoming increasingly receptive. With good reason, too."
He gives an example. Of those prisoners at Guy's Marsh who actively participated in music sessions before they were paroled, only 10 to 15 per cent have since re-offended. The national average is 61 per cent. "So there's your proof," he says. "It works."
When he visited Pentonville in November, bringing with him guitars, keyboards, drums and a very humble Mick Jones, the prisoners who came along to participate were not high risk. No murderers or terrorists here, and in fact the atmosphere was rather jovial, an updated Porridge complete with its own Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale equivalents. But here at Styal, his audience is much more varied, council tax non-payers rubbing shoulders with hardened, neck-tattooed criminals, some of whom will never see the outside again. These are women whose gaze you fear to meet, women who lashed out at a cruel life and bad luck, and are now paying the price. But Bragg refuses to differentiate among them. Anyone can sign up to his programme, the only criterion required being imprisonment. It is this very fact that has made the campaign, in some quarters at least, so controversial. Can murderers really be rehabilitated? Moreover, do we want them to be – because doesn't rehabilitation suggest the possibility of parole, and eventual release?
"I never ask the prisoners I meet why they are inside," he responds tartly. "When I'm with them, I'm dealing with them strictly as individuals. What they did to get themselves in here in the first place is none of my business. I don't want to judge them on that, not least because they've been judged on it already – they're banged up, aren't they? And anyway, these instruments aren't presents, they're a challenge, a challenge for them to try to make something of themselves. My hope is that they will see this as an opportunity to take that first step on the path back to society.
"Of course," he says, softening, "a lot of people do ask me why I don't give the guitars to the victims of their crimes instead, but look, I can't do anything for those people now. What I can do is my very best to ensure that there aren't any further victims."
After Bragg's avuncular performance before the rowdy Styalers, Annick Platt takes us both on a tour of the grounds. Built on the site of a former children's home, many of the original buildings still survive, and the inmates here are segregated depending on the risk they pose, both to themselves and to others. Those more in need of discipline are kept in the traditional prison wings, two to a cell, while first offenders – and Styal has many – are kept in small houses with dormitories sleeping between four and six. Here, the women are allowed the run of the place, given budgets for supplies and daily duties to fulfil. It's all rather like being on a university campus but one permanently monitored, and with the doors closed and double bolted.
In one of the houses a young inmate, probably still a teenager and dressed in football colours, comes up to say hello. Platt suggests she show us round her living quarters. She takes us to the front room, where half a dozen girls are slumped on sofas in front of a television, and on into the kitchen and then the art room where poems have been stuck on to the wall. One is particularly affecting, an expletive-laden stanza about the noises in a young girl's head and how she refuses to be broken by them. Bragg seizes upon this enthusiastically, and with no one else in the room to listen to him, focuses all his zeal on our teenage guide. She listens with an almost scholarly obedience as he bangs on about the importance of creativity like this, the lifeline it gives to us all, and how if she and her friends here could concentrate on doing more things like this – writing poetry, creating music, singing songs – then, well, who knows how their futures could pan out? Twenty-five years ago, the guitar helped Bragg out of his east-London bedroom and showed him the world. Anything is possible.
"Spread the word, friend," he stresses. "Encourage as many people as you can, yeah?"
Speech over, he falls silent. The absence of applause is palpable.
"And here's where we do the washing," the girl says next, the tour recommencing.
Jail Guitar Doors will continue in its attempts to raise awareness and money throughout 2008, but its founder will be taking more of a backseat from now on. This March, the 50-year-old singer is releasing Mr Love & Justice, his first album in six years, and touring commitments will keep him elsewhere. Though he has now secured the backing of the Minister for Prisons, David Hanson, he is ideally looking for someone else to pick up the gauntlet and run with it. Mick Jones would be a possibility, but Jones isn't quite as keyed up as Bragg, if only because no one is ever quite as keyed up as Billy Bragg. After all these years, he is still a tireless social and political activist, and a serial campaigner who wants to help people not for selfish self-advancement but rather, it seems, in the name of good, old-fashioned philanthropy.
"At the end of the day," he says, "we just can't keep sticking people in prisons without trying to rehabilitate them in some or other effective way, and if this only ever works for one inmate, then, well, that's one less person behind bars, isn't it?"
I tell him that he is doing seriously compassionate work here, and that if he is not careful then the Queen could soon be forced to take note, and perhaps even honour him appropriately.
"Oh Christ, no," he groans, hand on forehead. "I don't need anything like that, thanks. I've got a road named after me in [his native] Barking, and Bob Dylan mentioned me in his autobiography. That's all I need; I'm sorted. I've no time for something like an OBE, and wouldn't accept one if it was offered anyway. It would compromise what I do. It would suggest that I now somehow belong to the establishment."
In this still-deserted Indian restaurant in Wilmslow at a little after eight o'clock at night, he sits himself up very straight, his shirt creased, his jacket crinkled, the air of inspirational university lecturer surrounding him like thick fog.
"I don't belong to any establishment," he says.
For more information, or to make a donation, visit: www.jailguitardoors.org.uk
Billy Bragg's jailhouse rock project cuts reoffending rate
By Amol Rajan
Published: 12 January 2008
Billy Bragg has backed the miners, campaigned against racism and promoted perestroika in the Soviet Union. Yet the folk-rock singer from Barking has embarked on his most ambitious socio-political project to date; an attempt to wean convicted criminals serving time away from a life of crime. And it's working.
In an exclusive interview in The Independent Magazine today, Bragg reveals an initiative he set up last year is producing radical results for some of the country's most damaged prisoners. Through the Jail Guitar Doors campaign – named after the B-side to The Clash's 1978 single "Clash City Rockers" – Bragg is raising money to provide inmates in British prisons with musical equipment. By encouraging them to express themselves in music, Bragg insists it raises morale and minimises the risk of recidivism. Among those who have engaged in sessions with Bragg, the rate of reoffending is much lower than the national average. His campaign has enlisted the support of several public figures, including the TV presenters Dermot O'Leary, Jonathan Ross, and Phil Jupitus, as well as influential musicians such as The Clash's Mick Jones. It has raised more than £10,000 to date, and this week won the support of the manufacturer Gibson Guitars.
"It seemed to me something that all musicians would be able to see the value of immediately", Bragg says in the interview. "If only because all musicians are already keenly aware of just what a contribution music can make to life, and how it can help you transcend your surroundings no matter how bleak they appear".
The 50 year-old activist, who last year published an acclaimed polemic on the condition of modern Britain, goes on to explain his campaign's early success.
Bragg visited Guy's Marsh prison in Dorset last year, working closely with many of its inmates. Of those prisoners who participated in his therapeutic sessions before parole, only 10-15 per cent have reoffended. That is significantly lower than the national average of 61 per cent. "So there's your proof", says Bragg. "It works".
His efforts have not gone unnoticed, and Bragg's initiative is developing an influential fan base. The prisons minister David Hanson wants the scheme to be introduced in more jails.
"I was delighted to accompany Billy Bragg at HMP Pentonville last year," Mr Hanson said. "I'm looking to enable the extension of his scheme to prisons in the North-west very shortly. We're looking to use Billy's charitable efforts to support people to have positive activity in prison, to help them learn life skills, and to be able to equip them better for when they leave prison, so they don't reoffend when they go out."
According to Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, "Projects like Billy Bragg's can absolutely make a difference. That's one reason prison overcrowding is so damaging: it stretches resources and makes it difficult to perform this kind of creative work with prisoners more widely".
Bragg's prison work is only the latest political project of a musical maverick with impeccable socialist pedigree. After buying his way out of a tank regiment in the British Army for £175, Bragg campaigned vociferously against the Thatcher government, coming to public attention for his support of the 1984 miners' strike.
A former member of both the Labour-supporting music collective Red Wedge and the pressure group Charter 88, which campaigned for radical electoral reform, Bragg has always worn his politics on his sleeve. He once qualified his support of proportional representation by saying: "It would shine a torch into the dirty little corner where the BNP defecate on our democracy".
Commenting on penal policy in today's interview, he says: "We just can't keep sticking people in prisons without trying to rehabilitate them in some or other way.
"I never ask prisoners I meet why they are inside. When I'm with them, I'm dealing with them strictly as individuals. And anyway, these instruments aren't presents; they're a challenge, a challenge for them to try to make something of themselves. My hope is that they will see this as an opportunity to take that first step on the path back to society."
Prisoners 'to be chipped like dogs'
Prisoners 'to be chipped like dogs'
Hi-tech 'satellite' tagging planned in order to create more space in jails
Civil rights groups and probation officers furious at 'degrading' scheme
By Brian Brady, Whitehall Editor
Published: 13 January 2008
Ministers are planning to implant "machine-readable" microchips under the skin of thousands of offenders as part of an expansion of the electronic tagging scheme that would create more space in British jails.
Amid concerns about the security of existing tagging systems and prison overcrowding, the Ministry of Justice is investigating the use of satellite and radio-wave technology to monitor criminals.
But, instead of being contained in bracelets worn around the ankle, the tiny chips would be surgically inserted under the skin of offenders in the community, to help enforce home curfews. The radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, as long as two grains of rice, are able to carry scanable personal information about individuals, including their identities, address and offending record.
The tags, labelled "spychips" by privacy campaigners, are already used around the world to keep track of dogs, cats, cattle and airport luggage, but there is no record of the technology being used to monitor offenders in the community. The chips are also being considered as a method of helping to keep order within prisons.
A senior Ministry of Justice official last night confirmed that the department hoped to go even further, by extending the geographical range of the internal chips through a link-up with satellite-tracking similar to the system used to trace stolen vehicles. "All the options are on the table, and this is one we would like to pursue," the source added.
The move is in line with a proposal from Ken Jones, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), that electronic chips should be surgically implanted into convicted paedophiles and sex offenders in order to track them more easily. Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is seen as the favoured method of monitoring such offenders to prevent them going near "forbidden" zones such as primary schools.
"We have wanted to take advantage of this technology for several years, because it seems a sensible solution to the problems we are facing in this area," a senior minister said last night. "We have looked at it and gone back to it and worried about the practicalities and the ethics, but when you look at the challenges facing the criminal justice system, it's time has come."
The Government has been forced to review sentencing policy amid serious overcrowding in the nation's jails, after the prison population soared from 60,000 in 1997 to 80,000 today. The crisis meant the number of prisoners held in police cells rose 13-fold last year, with police stations housing offenders more than 60,000 times in 2007, up from 4,617 the previous year. The UK has the highest prison population per capita in western Europe, and the Government is planning for an extra 20,000 places at a cost of £3.8bn – including three gigantic new "superjails" – in the next six years.
More than 17,000 individuals, including criminals and suspects released on bail, are subject to electronic monitoring at any one time, under curfews requiring them to stay at home up to 12 hours a day. But official figures reveal that almost 2,000 offenders a year escape monitoring by tampering with ankle tags or tearing them off. Curfew breaches rose from 11,435 in 2005 to 43,843 in 2006 – up 283 per cent. The monitoring system, which relies on mobile-phone technology, can fail if the network crashes.
A multimillion-pound pilot of satellite monitoring of offenders was shelved last year after a report revealed many criminals simply ditched the ankle tag and separate portable tracking unit issued to them. The "prison without bars" project also failed to track offenders when they were in the shadow of tall buildings.
The Independent on Sunday has now established that ministers have been assessing the merits of cutting-edge technology that would make it virtually impossible for individuals to remove their electronic tags.
The tags, injected into the back of the arm with a hypodermic needle, consist of a toughened glass capsule holding a computer chip, a copper antenna and a "capacitor" that transmits data stored on the chip when prompted by an electromagnetic reader.
But details of the dramatic option for tightening controls over Britain's criminals provoked an angry response from probation officers and civil-rights groups. Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: "If the Home Office doesn't understand why implanting a chip in someone is worse than an ankle bracelet, they don't need a human-rights lawyer; they need a common-sense bypass.
"Degrading offenders in this way will do nothing for their rehabilitation and nothing for our safety, as some will inevitably find a way round this new technology."
Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said the proposal would not make his members' lives easier and would degrade their clients. He added: "I have heard about this suggestion, but we feel the system works well enough as it is. Knowing where offenders like paedophiles are does not mean you know what they are doing.
"This is the sort of daft idea that comes up from the department every now and then, but tagging people in the same way we tag our pets cannot be the way ahead. Treating people like pieces of meat does not seem to represent an improvement in the system to me."
The US market leader VeriChip Corp, whose parent company has been selling radio tags for animals for more than a decade, has sold 7,000 RFID microchips worldwide, of which about 2,000 have been implanted in humans. The company claims its VeriChips are used in more than 5,000 installations, crossing healthcare, security, government and industrial markets, but they have also been used to verify VIP membership in nightclubs, automatically gaining the carrier entry – and deducting the price of their drinks from a pre-paid account.
The possible value of the technology to the UK's justice system was first highlighted 18 months ago, when Acpo's Mr Jones suggested the chips could be implanted into sex offenders. The implants would be tracked by satellite, enabling authorities to set up "zones", including schools, playgrounds and former victims' homes, from which individuals would be barred.
"If we are prepared to track cars, why don't we track people?" Mr Jones said. "You could put surgical chips into those of the most dangerous sex offenders who are willing to be controlled."
The case for: 'We track cars, so why not people?'
The Government is struggling to keep track of thousands of offenders in the community and is troubled by an overcrowded prison system close to bursting. Internal tagging offers a solution that could impose curfews more effectively than at present, and extend the system by keeping sex offenders out of "forbidden areas". "If we are prepared to track cars, why don't we track people?" said Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo).
Officials argue that the internal tags enable the authorities to enforce thousands of court orders by ensuring offenders remain within their own walls during curfew hours – and allow the immediate verification of ID details when challenged.
The internal tags also have a use in maintaining order within prisons. In the United States, they are used to track the movement of gang members within jails.
Offenders themselves would prefer a tag they can forget about, instead of the bulky kit carried around on the ankle.
The case against: 'The rest of us could be next'
Professionals in the criminal justice system maintain that the present system is 95 per cent effective. Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is unproven. The technology is actually more invasive, and carries more information about the host. The devices have been dubbed "spychips" by critics who warn that they would transmit data about the movements of other people without their knowledge.
Consumer privacy expert Liz McIntyre said a colleague had already proved he could "clone" a chip. "He can bump into a chipped person and siphon the chip's unique signal in a matter of seconds," she said.
One company plans deeper implants that could vibrate, electroshock the implantee, broadcast a message, or serve as a microphone to transmit conversations. "Some folks might foolishly discount all of these downsides and futuristic nightmares since the tagging is proposed for criminals like rapists and murderers," Ms McIntyre said. "The rest of us could be next".
Comment: Personally, I don't like the idea of such invasive monitoring. However, if I was given the option of an implanted chip or custody I would opt for the chip.
Hi-tech 'satellite' tagging planned in order to create more space in jails
Civil rights groups and probation officers furious at 'degrading' scheme
By Brian Brady, Whitehall Editor
Published: 13 January 2008
Ministers are planning to implant "machine-readable" microchips under the skin of thousands of offenders as part of an expansion of the electronic tagging scheme that would create more space in British jails.
Amid concerns about the security of existing tagging systems and prison overcrowding, the Ministry of Justice is investigating the use of satellite and radio-wave technology to monitor criminals.
But, instead of being contained in bracelets worn around the ankle, the tiny chips would be surgically inserted under the skin of offenders in the community, to help enforce home curfews. The radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, as long as two grains of rice, are able to carry scanable personal information about individuals, including their identities, address and offending record.
The tags, labelled "spychips" by privacy campaigners, are already used around the world to keep track of dogs, cats, cattle and airport luggage, but there is no record of the technology being used to monitor offenders in the community. The chips are also being considered as a method of helping to keep order within prisons.
A senior Ministry of Justice official last night confirmed that the department hoped to go even further, by extending the geographical range of the internal chips through a link-up with satellite-tracking similar to the system used to trace stolen vehicles. "All the options are on the table, and this is one we would like to pursue," the source added.
The move is in line with a proposal from Ken Jones, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), that electronic chips should be surgically implanted into convicted paedophiles and sex offenders in order to track them more easily. Global Positioning System (GPS) technology is seen as the favoured method of monitoring such offenders to prevent them going near "forbidden" zones such as primary schools.
"We have wanted to take advantage of this technology for several years, because it seems a sensible solution to the problems we are facing in this area," a senior minister said last night. "We have looked at it and gone back to it and worried about the practicalities and the ethics, but when you look at the challenges facing the criminal justice system, it's time has come."
The Government has been forced to review sentencing policy amid serious overcrowding in the nation's jails, after the prison population soared from 60,000 in 1997 to 80,000 today. The crisis meant the number of prisoners held in police cells rose 13-fold last year, with police stations housing offenders more than 60,000 times in 2007, up from 4,617 the previous year. The UK has the highest prison population per capita in western Europe, and the Government is planning for an extra 20,000 places at a cost of £3.8bn – including three gigantic new "superjails" – in the next six years.
More than 17,000 individuals, including criminals and suspects released on bail, are subject to electronic monitoring at any one time, under curfews requiring them to stay at home up to 12 hours a day. But official figures reveal that almost 2,000 offenders a year escape monitoring by tampering with ankle tags or tearing them off. Curfew breaches rose from 11,435 in 2005 to 43,843 in 2006 – up 283 per cent. The monitoring system, which relies on mobile-phone technology, can fail if the network crashes.
A multimillion-pound pilot of satellite monitoring of offenders was shelved last year after a report revealed many criminals simply ditched the ankle tag and separate portable tracking unit issued to them. The "prison without bars" project also failed to track offenders when they were in the shadow of tall buildings.
The Independent on Sunday has now established that ministers have been assessing the merits of cutting-edge technology that would make it virtually impossible for individuals to remove their electronic tags.
The tags, injected into the back of the arm with a hypodermic needle, consist of a toughened glass capsule holding a computer chip, a copper antenna and a "capacitor" that transmits data stored on the chip when prompted by an electromagnetic reader.
But details of the dramatic option for tightening controls over Britain's criminals provoked an angry response from probation officers and civil-rights groups. Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: "If the Home Office doesn't understand why implanting a chip in someone is worse than an ankle bracelet, they don't need a human-rights lawyer; they need a common-sense bypass.
"Degrading offenders in this way will do nothing for their rehabilitation and nothing for our safety, as some will inevitably find a way round this new technology."
Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, said the proposal would not make his members' lives easier and would degrade their clients. He added: "I have heard about this suggestion, but we feel the system works well enough as it is. Knowing where offenders like paedophiles are does not mean you know what they are doing.
"This is the sort of daft idea that comes up from the department every now and then, but tagging people in the same way we tag our pets cannot be the way ahead. Treating people like pieces of meat does not seem to represent an improvement in the system to me."
The US market leader VeriChip Corp, whose parent company has been selling radio tags for animals for more than a decade, has sold 7,000 RFID microchips worldwide, of which about 2,000 have been implanted in humans. The company claims its VeriChips are used in more than 5,000 installations, crossing healthcare, security, government and industrial markets, but they have also been used to verify VIP membership in nightclubs, automatically gaining the carrier entry – and deducting the price of their drinks from a pre-paid account.
The possible value of the technology to the UK's justice system was first highlighted 18 months ago, when Acpo's Mr Jones suggested the chips could be implanted into sex offenders. The implants would be tracked by satellite, enabling authorities to set up "zones", including schools, playgrounds and former victims' homes, from which individuals would be barred.
"If we are prepared to track cars, why don't we track people?" Mr Jones said. "You could put surgical chips into those of the most dangerous sex offenders who are willing to be controlled."
The case for: 'We track cars, so why not people?'
The Government is struggling to keep track of thousands of offenders in the community and is troubled by an overcrowded prison system close to bursting. Internal tagging offers a solution that could impose curfews more effectively than at present, and extend the system by keeping sex offenders out of "forbidden areas". "If we are prepared to track cars, why don't we track people?" said Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo).
Officials argue that the internal tags enable the authorities to enforce thousands of court orders by ensuring offenders remain within their own walls during curfew hours – and allow the immediate verification of ID details when challenged.
The internal tags also have a use in maintaining order within prisons. In the United States, they are used to track the movement of gang members within jails.
Offenders themselves would prefer a tag they can forget about, instead of the bulky kit carried around on the ankle.
The case against: 'The rest of us could be next'
Professionals in the criminal justice system maintain that the present system is 95 per cent effective. Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is unproven. The technology is actually more invasive, and carries more information about the host. The devices have been dubbed "spychips" by critics who warn that they would transmit data about the movements of other people without their knowledge.
Consumer privacy expert Liz McIntyre said a colleague had already proved he could "clone" a chip. "He can bump into a chipped person and siphon the chip's unique signal in a matter of seconds," she said.
One company plans deeper implants that could vibrate, electroshock the implantee, broadcast a message, or serve as a microphone to transmit conversations. "Some folks might foolishly discount all of these downsides and futuristic nightmares since the tagging is proposed for criminals like rapists and murderers," Ms McIntyre said. "The rest of us could be next".
Comment: Personally, I don't like the idea of such invasive monitoring. However, if I was given the option of an implanted chip or custody I would opt for the chip.
Bank charges court test to open
Bank charges court test to open
Banks and their customers are awaiting the start of a High Court test case which could bring a fundamental change to UK High Street banking.
I have to admit that I have a financial interest in seeing the banks losing this case. If the OFT wins I hope that the judgment is retrospective in that the banks have to repay all those they have charged for being overdrawn in their accounts. Benefits barely cover the cost of living without the banks taking large chunks of my dole money on a regular basis.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Guantánamo Bay: How long must this go on?
Guantánamo Bay: How long must this go on?
Belated birthday greetings to George Bush's brain child, Guantánamo Bay, which was six years old yesterday.
Belated birthday greetings to George Bush's brain child, Guantánamo Bay, which was six years old yesterday.
Should there be a Royal Commission or a major public inquiry into our prisons?
Should there be a Royal Commission or a major public inquiry into our prisons?
The Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers, is calling for a Royal Commission or a major public inquiry into the state of our prisons. Since Labour came to power in 1997 the prison population has increased from 60,000 to 80,000, and they are planning to increase this figure to 100,000. One of the questions Anne Owers would like an answer to is why is it that there has been such an increase when the crime rate has been stable for years? Logically, one would expect a reduction in the prison population. Anne Owers is critical of Labour for not heading off the present prison crisis 10 years ago, and the plan to build Titan jails holding 2,500 prisoners. All the evidence shows that smaller more local prisons are more effective. Ministers believe that they are protecting the public with their ill thought out policies. "But the Chief Inspector thinks that ministers should spend less time worrying about building bigger jails and more time thinking about why so many people end up in them".
Billy Bragg's jailhouse rock project cuts reoffending rate
More of the same here.
The Chief Inspector of Prisons, Anne Owers, is calling for a Royal Commission or a major public inquiry into the state of our prisons. Since Labour came to power in 1997 the prison population has increased from 60,000 to 80,000, and they are planning to increase this figure to 100,000. One of the questions Anne Owers would like an answer to is why is it that there has been such an increase when the crime rate has been stable for years? Logically, one would expect a reduction in the prison population. Anne Owers is critical of Labour for not heading off the present prison crisis 10 years ago, and the plan to build Titan jails holding 2,500 prisoners. All the evidence shows that smaller more local prisons are more effective. Ministers believe that they are protecting the public with their ill thought out policies. "But the Chief Inspector thinks that ministers should spend less time worrying about building bigger jails and more time thinking about why so many people end up in them".
Billy Bragg's jailhouse rock project cuts reoffending rate
More of the same here.
Friday, January 11, 2008
McCanns claim only they have the right to make money out of the death of Madeleine
McCanns claim only they have the right to make money out of the death of Madeleine
I think it is a bit rich that "The parents of missing Madeleine McCann are furious that the boss of a child modelling agency is touting a lookalike of their daughter for hire". If the McCanns had not killed and disposed of their daughter's body then we would still have the original and there would be no need for a look-alike.
But this takes the biscuit "Clarence Mitchell, the McCann family spokesman described it as a "shameless money-making scheme"". He was not referring to the findmadeleinefund which I believe is a shameless money-making scheme. To use this to pay for the Mcann family to fly in and out of Portugal and pay for their expenses, to use this to pay off the McCanns mortgage arrears on their house, to use this to pay £300,000 to Metodo3 which is a useless private detective agency.
Gerry and Kate and Clarence, have you not heard of pot calling the kettle black?
I think it is a bit rich that "The parents of missing Madeleine McCann are furious that the boss of a child modelling agency is touting a lookalike of their daughter for hire". If the McCanns had not killed and disposed of their daughter's body then we would still have the original and there would be no need for a look-alike.
But this takes the biscuit "Clarence Mitchell, the McCann family spokesman described it as a "shameless money-making scheme"". He was not referring to the findmadeleinefund which I believe is a shameless money-making scheme. To use this to pay for the Mcann family to fly in and out of Portugal and pay for their expenses, to use this to pay off the McCanns mortgage arrears on their house, to use this to pay £300,000 to Metodo3 which is a useless private detective agency.
Gerry and Kate and Clarence, have you not heard of pot calling the kettle black?
Just another crime statistic
Just another crime statistic
Well I didn't know who was following me from the cash point this morning as I put my benefit money into my wallet, but the next thing I know is that as four 13-15 year old girls rushed past me one of them grabbed my wallet and they all ran off towards Pearson Park (which I am prevented from entering because of bail restrictions in relation to the alleged incident with Rocky). At 57 I am no longer the athlete I was and even without the bail restriction it is doubtful I could have successfully recovered my wallet and contents. I have already called my bank to cancel the debit cards and phoned the police non-emergency telephone number to report the theft and be given a crime number in exchange.
I have become just another crime statistic.
UPDATE: The police phoned my mobile phone from the Pearson Park police station to ask if I had lost a wallet. I responded not exactly it was stolen. In any event, it was thrown away in the park area and someone found it and posted it through the police station letter box. Naturally, it was minus the cash and the debit cards. Oddly, my birth certificate was also missing. I have an appointment to view some mugshots tomorrow. I am not optimistic given that they we wearing hoodies.
Photo: Hat-Tip Iain Dale's Diary.
Well I didn't know who was following me from the cash point this morning as I put my benefit money into my wallet, but the next thing I know is that as four 13-15 year old girls rushed past me one of them grabbed my wallet and they all ran off towards Pearson Park (which I am prevented from entering because of bail restrictions in relation to the alleged incident with Rocky). At 57 I am no longer the athlete I was and even without the bail restriction it is doubtful I could have successfully recovered my wallet and contents. I have already called my bank to cancel the debit cards and phoned the police non-emergency telephone number to report the theft and be given a crime number in exchange.
I have become just another crime statistic.
UPDATE: The police phoned my mobile phone from the Pearson Park police station to ask if I had lost a wallet. I responded not exactly it was stolen. In any event, it was thrown away in the park area and someone found it and posted it through the police station letter box. Naturally, it was minus the cash and the debit cards. Oddly, my birth certificate was also missing. I have an appointment to view some mugshots tomorrow. I am not optimistic given that they we wearing hoodies.
Photo: Hat-Tip Iain Dale's Diary.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
One dog and his companion
One dog and his companion
Well I got up this morning and checked my gas meter, when I went to the fridge which I keep in a cupboard under the stairs, only to discover that there was 2p of credit left on it therefore I activated the emergency credit of £4.00. My thinking was that at least my dole money, minus the £30 bank overdawn charge, would be in my bank account. Alas my balance only showed the -£30. Now and again the money does not register until Friday, but generally speaking it is registered on Thursday. It may just be a glitch. There again, it may be down to the fact that I signed on a day late this week and this could be the cause. It is worrying for me because I am almost skint. Luckily for me I still had 57p left over from Christmas, and was able to buy a 37p loaf of bread from Tesco Express across the road. I pulled out two sausages from the freezer and was able to have a sausage sandwich for breakfast. The coffee has run out, although I have some milk and teabags, and the sugar is almost out. I have just warmed up the last of the mince, potato and vegetable stew. There is a good half bowl full. Usually, I eat it all in two meals over two days. This time it has almost stretched to three meals over three days. Later tonight I will fry a couple of beefburgers from the freezer and put them into a sandwich. There is nothing worse than trying to sleep with hunger pangs in the stomach. Before eating the mince I took Rocky for his afternoon walk and went to the chemist to pick up my prescription eyedrops which assist to prevent my glaucoma from getting worse than it already is. Rocky was off his lead as we went down "The Track" (a former railway line which is now a pedestrian and cyclist only path), and he decided to bound up to an Asian-looking young man and bark at him. The man started to panic and kick out at Rocky. I rushed up to him and shouting that Rocky was alright. The man calmed down and said that he was frightened. I said that Rocky can smell his fear and he agreed that this was the case. We had a chat for a few minutes and shook hands before we went our separate ways. I wished two things; firstly that Rocky would not do this, and secondly, that the encounter with the parkie had not ended as amicably as it did on this occasion. I am wondering if I should keep Rocky on his lead more often? I think he does it out of devilment and when he barks at these people he is saying to them "I can smell that you fear me".
The princess and the frog
The princess and the frog
The French President Nicolas Sarkozy: "He said that he wanted to break with the "hypocrisy and lies" which had been the "deplorable tradition" of French politics in the past".
Meanwhile, top political blogger Iain Dale (below) gives his reaction to the statement that he may no longer be able to hide behind his hypocrisy and lies.
Photo: Hat-Tip Iain Dale's Diary
The French President Nicolas Sarkozy: "He said that he wanted to break with the "hypocrisy and lies" which had been the "deplorable tradition" of French politics in the past".
Meanwhile, top political blogger Iain Dale (below) gives his reaction to the statement that he may no longer be able to hide behind his hypocrisy and lies.
Photo: Hat-Tip Iain Dale's Diary
Numbers game
Numbers game
Jack Straw has been accused of misleading Parliament and the public over his proposed prison building programme. Initially, he claimed that it would cost £1.2 billion but it has emerged that the true cost is almost double that at £2.3 billion.
The Times story here.
Jack Straw has been accused of misleading Parliament and the public over his proposed prison building programme. Initially, he claimed that it would cost £1.2 billion but it has emerged that the true cost is almost double that at £2.3 billion.
The Times story here.
Former Death Row inmate arrives back in Britain
Former Death Row inmate arrives back in Britain
Kenny Richey who was convicted of murder in Texas and escaped the death penalty on one occasion by just an hour has flown back to Britain.
Daily Telegraph story here.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
£150m offender-tracking system scrapped
£150m offender-tracking system scrapped
By Philip Johnston
Last Updated: 2:09am GMT 09/01/2008
A £500 million computer project to underpin the criminal justice system and protect the public has been scrapped.
C-Nomis was supposed to track and manage offenders from charge to sentence, imprisonment and beyond, linking the courts, prisons and probation services.
But the Government said a ''version" would be introduced in prisons only.
C-Nomis was designed to make it easier for probation staff to prepare for a criminal being freed, protecting the public and reducing the chance of new crimes.
But, after spending more than £150 million, David Hanson, the Justice Minister, pulled the plug. He said steps would be taken to increase data shared between prisons and probation.
Opposition MPs said this could have been done without spending so much. Nick Herbert, the shadow justice secretary, said: "This blows a hole in the Government's promise to deliver end-to-end offender management."
Harry Fletcher of the probation union Napo, said: "This is yet another government IT disaster. Tens of millions have been wasted on projects that have not delivered".
Comment: I suppose this makes a change from losing discs containing data...now they just lose the whole system!
By Philip Johnston
Last Updated: 2:09am GMT 09/01/2008
A £500 million computer project to underpin the criminal justice system and protect the public has been scrapped.
C-Nomis was supposed to track and manage offenders from charge to sentence, imprisonment and beyond, linking the courts, prisons and probation services.
But the Government said a ''version" would be introduced in prisons only.
C-Nomis was designed to make it easier for probation staff to prepare for a criminal being freed, protecting the public and reducing the chance of new crimes.
But, after spending more than £150 million, David Hanson, the Justice Minister, pulled the plug. He said steps would be taken to increase data shared between prisons and probation.
Opposition MPs said this could have been done without spending so much. Nick Herbert, the shadow justice secretary, said: "This blows a hole in the Government's promise to deliver end-to-end offender management."
Harry Fletcher of the probation union Napo, said: "This is yet another government IT disaster. Tens of millions have been wasted on projects that have not delivered".
Comment: I suppose this makes a change from losing discs containing data...now they just lose the whole system!
Communications
Communications
Computer back and up and running again. However, I have yet to work out why My Recent Readers widget in the sidebar isn't operating.
I have received a phone call from the Job Centre telling me that there has been a change to the appointment time for 15 January. I informed the chap that yesterday the appointment day had been changed to 22 January. He was not aware of this. Hopefully the communications improve at the Job Centre, because nobody had thought to contact me to inform me of the original appointment date and time. It was only mentioned in passing yesterday otherwise I was not aware of it and would of course have failed to meet the appointment.
Computer back and up and running again. However, I have yet to work out why My Recent Readers widget in the sidebar isn't operating.
I have received a phone call from the Job Centre telling me that there has been a change to the appointment time for 15 January. I informed the chap that yesterday the appointment day had been changed to 22 January. He was not aware of this. Hopefully the communications improve at the Job Centre, because nobody had thought to contact me to inform me of the original appointment date and time. It was only mentioned in passing yesterday otherwise I was not aware of it and would of course have failed to meet the appointment.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
The benefit of discretion
The benefit of discretion
I should have signed on at 3.55pm yesterday but I forgot and did not remember until it was too late at about 5.30pm. The annoying thing is that I was aware at 2pm that I had to sign on just as I was taking Rocky for his afternoon walk. But, then I discovered that he had a bad limp in his left front leg and this concerned me. I am aware that he has had a broken leg before I got him and that sometimes he tends to favour the leg a bit. When I returned from his walk and opened the kitchen cupboard to give him a treat, I was assaulted by the strong smell of mice coming from within the cupboard. I set about dismantling the cupboard to get at the nest I believed to be underneath the enclosed bottom shelf. Of course it wasn't a simple unscrewing job but required getting out the Allen Keys. I did find that the mice have been using this place and set 4 mousetraps. Last night I caught 4. Two years ago I caught 7. With all this going on I forgot I had to sign on.
So this morning I had to go and explain why I missed yesterday's appointment. Luckily, I got Rosie who was very understanding and sympathetic and after hearing my tale of woe used her discretion not to sanction me for the lapse of memory and mind distraction. Apparently, they can penalise you by deducting a day's benefit. But, she said I did not need sanctioning and given the recent price hike in gas and electric supply I could have ill-afforded a financial penalty. It made me think why couldn't the police have adopted the same attitude over Rocky and state that I do not need sanctioning?
I am in a bit of a trough at the moment. Not the same trough that all the Tories have got their snouts into.
I should have signed on at 3.55pm yesterday but I forgot and did not remember until it was too late at about 5.30pm. The annoying thing is that I was aware at 2pm that I had to sign on just as I was taking Rocky for his afternoon walk. But, then I discovered that he had a bad limp in his left front leg and this concerned me. I am aware that he has had a broken leg before I got him and that sometimes he tends to favour the leg a bit. When I returned from his walk and opened the kitchen cupboard to give him a treat, I was assaulted by the strong smell of mice coming from within the cupboard. I set about dismantling the cupboard to get at the nest I believed to be underneath the enclosed bottom shelf. Of course it wasn't a simple unscrewing job but required getting out the Allen Keys. I did find that the mice have been using this place and set 4 mousetraps. Last night I caught 4. Two years ago I caught 7. With all this going on I forgot I had to sign on.
So this morning I had to go and explain why I missed yesterday's appointment. Luckily, I got Rosie who was very understanding and sympathetic and after hearing my tale of woe used her discretion not to sanction me for the lapse of memory and mind distraction. Apparently, they can penalise you by deducting a day's benefit. But, she said I did not need sanctioning and given the recent price hike in gas and electric supply I could have ill-afforded a financial penalty. It made me think why couldn't the police have adopted the same attitude over Rocky and state that I do not need sanctioning?
I am in a bit of a trough at the moment. Not the same trough that all the Tories have got their snouts into.
Monday, January 07, 2008
It's a dog's life
It's a dog's life
Yesteday afternoon I watched a very moving film on ITV called After Thomas about a family with an autistic boy who came out of his world to a large extent when they bought him a Golden Retriever puppy which he named Thomas after Thomas The Tank Engine. It reminded me of Flash the Golden Retriever my foster parents had when I was young. In the film the young boy on one occasion kicked the dog, and it brought back the memory of my foster mother telling me that it was the first thing I did to Flash.
I am still concerned about the troubles over Rocky. Yesterday, there was a news report about how many dogs had been placed in rescue centres over the Christmas holiday period, and how some TV personality was trying to raise public awareness about the issue. He made a statement that there are no bad dogs only bad owners. I don't agree with this statement because it denies that dogs have a character of their own. True, generally speaking, a dog's behaviour reflects training and upbringing. But, what about damaged goods? In the same way that a person's behaviour in later life is shaped by a bad early start, so it can be with a dog which has come from a rescue centre. Some of Rocky's character has already formed and it is a pity that I did not get him earlier enough to improve his character. Still, I don't consider his problems uncontrollable. None of us are perfect, and the same applies to dogs. I love and accept Rocky warts and all. He is manageable, by no stretch of the imagination would I say he comes under the Dangerous Dogs Act.
In my view, some of the park rangers should be on leads and not let loose on the general public.
Yesteday afternoon I watched a very moving film on ITV called After Thomas about a family with an autistic boy who came out of his world to a large extent when they bought him a Golden Retriever puppy which he named Thomas after Thomas The Tank Engine. It reminded me of Flash the Golden Retriever my foster parents had when I was young. In the film the young boy on one occasion kicked the dog, and it brought back the memory of my foster mother telling me that it was the first thing I did to Flash.
I am still concerned about the troubles over Rocky. Yesterday, there was a news report about how many dogs had been placed in rescue centres over the Christmas holiday period, and how some TV personality was trying to raise public awareness about the issue. He made a statement that there are no bad dogs only bad owners. I don't agree with this statement because it denies that dogs have a character of their own. True, generally speaking, a dog's behaviour reflects training and upbringing. But, what about damaged goods? In the same way that a person's behaviour in later life is shaped by a bad early start, so it can be with a dog which has come from a rescue centre. Some of Rocky's character has already formed and it is a pity that I did not get him earlier enough to improve his character. Still, I don't consider his problems uncontrollable. None of us are perfect, and the same applies to dogs. I love and accept Rocky warts and all. He is manageable, by no stretch of the imagination would I say he comes under the Dangerous Dogs Act.
In my view, some of the park rangers should be on leads and not let loose on the general public.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Iain Dale wins hypocrite of the year award for 2008
Iain Dale wins hypocrite of the year award for 2008
Bob Piper has drawn my attention to this post from Iain Dale's Diary which he criticises. Bob rightly accuses Iain Dale of hypocrisy and cites the following comment to prove his point:
"Geoff said...
I have always been polite on this and all other blogs - except to jailhouselawyer who I would quite happy describe as bottom-sucking murdering scum to his face...shortly before placing my fist in the middle of it for killing that helpless old lady with an axe.
I sincerely hope that there is Hell for him to rot in for all time.
Apart from him: decorum and politeness should rule at all times.
January 02, 2008 2:54 PM".
Of course Verity puts in her tuppence worth...
"verity said...
... No one on Iain Dale's diary is the target of as many personal insults as me...".
"verity said...
...Geoff- Iain once told me I had to stop insulting Jailhouse Lawyer, although he let your comment through in a blatant display of sexual favouritism.
January 02, 2008 5:50 PM".
"Geoff said...
...I just detest jailhouselawyer though. Sorry. In deference to Iain I shall now only expose his vile crime to those who don't know about it on other blogs.
January 04, 2008 5:01 PM".
This so-called "geoff" is such a coward on the internet he hides his real identity. As it happens I am partial to bottom-sucking. However, it is a matter of public record that I was convicted of manslaughter and not murder therefore to call me "murdering scum" is clearly a libel. As Iain Dale is legally responsible for what is published on his blog, perhaps he will take a more responsible attitude in future if he faced legal action?
As for Verity's claim, I suspect that this other internet identity-less person overrates herself. Surely, this accolade should go either to Tim Ireland or myself?
Bob Piper has drawn my attention to this post from Iain Dale's Diary which he criticises. Bob rightly accuses Iain Dale of hypocrisy and cites the following comment to prove his point:
"Geoff said...
I have always been polite on this and all other blogs - except to jailhouselawyer who I would quite happy describe as bottom-sucking murdering scum to his face...shortly before placing my fist in the middle of it for killing that helpless old lady with an axe.
I sincerely hope that there is Hell for him to rot in for all time.
Apart from him: decorum and politeness should rule at all times.
January 02, 2008 2:54 PM".
Of course Verity puts in her tuppence worth...
"verity said...
... No one on Iain Dale's diary is the target of as many personal insults as me...".
"verity said...
...Geoff- Iain once told me I had to stop insulting Jailhouse Lawyer, although he let your comment through in a blatant display of sexual favouritism.
January 02, 2008 5:50 PM".
"Geoff said...
...I just detest jailhouselawyer though. Sorry. In deference to Iain I shall now only expose his vile crime to those who don't know about it on other blogs.
January 04, 2008 5:01 PM".
This so-called "geoff" is such a coward on the internet he hides his real identity. As it happens I am partial to bottom-sucking. However, it is a matter of public record that I was convicted of manslaughter and not murder therefore to call me "murdering scum" is clearly a libel. As Iain Dale is legally responsible for what is published on his blog, perhaps he will take a more responsible attitude in future if he faced legal action?
As for Verity's claim, I suspect that this other internet identity-less person overrates herself. Surely, this accolade should go either to Tim Ireland or myself?
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Couch potato...
Couch potato...
My computer is still away getting fixed. So, last night I watched a couple of programmes on TV. I really enjoyed The Snow Leopard on BBC2, however, I was concerned about the tracking collar and ear tags. According to a scientist, it hurt him as much as the snow leopard to put the collar on it. I could not help but remember my old headmaster telling me before he gave me six strokes of the cane on my arse that it would hurt him as much as it hurt me. I failed to see how.
The Bike Squad on ITV. This new drama about the plod on bikes was very entertaining. I found myself with tears in my eyes a few times at the emotional content and how amusing it was. I kept thinking about maneatingcheesesandwich and wondering how he would feel in their situation and what he thought about the programme if he had seen it?
My computer is still away getting fixed. So, last night I watched a couple of programmes on TV. I really enjoyed The Snow Leopard on BBC2, however, I was concerned about the tracking collar and ear tags. According to a scientist, it hurt him as much as the snow leopard to put the collar on it. I could not help but remember my old headmaster telling me before he gave me six strokes of the cane on my arse that it would hurt him as much as it hurt me. I failed to see how.
The Bike Squad on ITV. This new drama about the plod on bikes was very entertaining. I found myself with tears in my eyes a few times at the emotional content and how amusing it was. I kept thinking about maneatingcheesesandwich and wondering how he would feel in their situation and what he thought about the programme if he had seen it?
Rocky is innocent ok? And so am I
Rocky is innocent ok? And so am I
Yesterday I went to see my probation officer because she, according to the notes of the interview, "requires details leading to offence". Surely, that should be alleged offence? The onus is upon the prosecution to establish guilt beyond all reasonable doubt. However, it would appear that the probation service tends to believe allegations just because they are printed in black and white. Humphrey, my friend the judge, on the other hand, has stated that whether a dog is under control or not, when it is not on a lead, is a grey area. Admittedly there are notices proclaiming that "All dogs must be on a lead" in Pearson Park. However, the rule is not enforced. I did ask one of the parkie's about this when I first got Rocky, and he said that provided a dog was not a control problem the policy was not to enforce the rule. So, we have a rule that states one thing and a policy that states another. This is a contradictory state of affairs. It means that whether a dog is under control or not is at the discretion of the dogs owners and individual parkies. This may lead to conflict. As this case has highlighted.
From the notes of the interview, it states that I would be amazed if I was to discover that the Animal Rescue Centre had sold me a dangerous dog. I added that I did not believe that Rocky is dangerous.
When I got recalled to prison in 2004, I noted that much was made of a so-called "pattern of behaviour". This consisted of observations and hearsay evidence written down by hostel staff in the Occurance Book. During the police interview, to back up the initial two charges, they introduced a log compiled by a couple of parkies, of their observations which the police have stated show a "pattern of behaviour". I knew that my probation officer would focus on this so-called "pattern of behaviour". It is supposed to indicate that somebody is deemed to be a risk to the public. However, I get up on a morning and take Rocky for a walk at 9am, 2pm feed him at 5pm and walk him again at 7pm. That to me is a pattern of behaviour. It couldn't be more innocent.
We are living in dangerous times...
Yesterday I went to see my probation officer because she, according to the notes of the interview, "requires details leading to offence". Surely, that should be alleged offence? The onus is upon the prosecution to establish guilt beyond all reasonable doubt. However, it would appear that the probation service tends to believe allegations just because they are printed in black and white. Humphrey, my friend the judge, on the other hand, has stated that whether a dog is under control or not, when it is not on a lead, is a grey area. Admittedly there are notices proclaiming that "All dogs must be on a lead" in Pearson Park. However, the rule is not enforced. I did ask one of the parkie's about this when I first got Rocky, and he said that provided a dog was not a control problem the policy was not to enforce the rule. So, we have a rule that states one thing and a policy that states another. This is a contradictory state of affairs. It means that whether a dog is under control or not is at the discretion of the dogs owners and individual parkies. This may lead to conflict. As this case has highlighted.
From the notes of the interview, it states that I would be amazed if I was to discover that the Animal Rescue Centre had sold me a dangerous dog. I added that I did not believe that Rocky is dangerous.
When I got recalled to prison in 2004, I noted that much was made of a so-called "pattern of behaviour". This consisted of observations and hearsay evidence written down by hostel staff in the Occurance Book. During the police interview, to back up the initial two charges, they introduced a log compiled by a couple of parkies, of their observations which the police have stated show a "pattern of behaviour". I knew that my probation officer would focus on this so-called "pattern of behaviour". It is supposed to indicate that somebody is deemed to be a risk to the public. However, I get up on a morning and take Rocky for a walk at 9am, 2pm feed him at 5pm and walk him again at 7pm. That to me is a pattern of behaviour. It couldn't be more innocent.
We are living in dangerous times...
Friday, January 04, 2008
Arrested Development
Arrested Development
Following on from this post.
Yesterday morning I was arrested and handcuffed at home and thrown into a cage in the back of a police van. It was uncomfortable to say the least. I wouldn't have put a dog in that space let alone a human being. I was informed that I was being arrested for assault and being in charge of an out of control dog. I was also informed that they would be taking my dog Rocky into custody. I was assured that it would all be over and done with quickly and that I would return.
I did not exercise my right to have a solicitor present during the taped interview as I suspected that it would have lengthened the whole process considerably getting in touch with a solicitor at a moment's notice to represent me. Besides, I could halt the proceedings at any stage if I felt that the going was too tough. The taped interview lasted approximately 2 hours.
I was locked in a cell for about 3 hours whilst somebody made a decision how to proceed. I could hear Rocky barking the whole time in his cage outside in the yard. It was the same kind of barking I heard him make when he was in the Dog Rescue Centre. More a whining yap. I was powerless to comfort Rocky through his ordeal.
Eventually, I was informed that the assault charge had been dropped and replaced with "Section 4 words/behaviour - fear unlawful violence contrary to The Public Order Act 1986". And "Owner allow dog out of control to cause injury contrary to section 3(1) and (4) of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991".
Rocky couldn't drag me out of there fast enough and dragged me along for about a mile until he felt safe.
I phoned the DG of the Prison Service and he said the last thing he needs is for me to be recalled for owning a dog!
Just on my way to see my probation officer.
Computer is still down at least until the weekend, meanwhile I am using an internet cafe.
Following on from this post.
Yesterday morning I was arrested and handcuffed at home and thrown into a cage in the back of a police van. It was uncomfortable to say the least. I wouldn't have put a dog in that space let alone a human being. I was informed that I was being arrested for assault and being in charge of an out of control dog. I was also informed that they would be taking my dog Rocky into custody. I was assured that it would all be over and done with quickly and that I would return.
I did not exercise my right to have a solicitor present during the taped interview as I suspected that it would have lengthened the whole process considerably getting in touch with a solicitor at a moment's notice to represent me. Besides, I could halt the proceedings at any stage if I felt that the going was too tough. The taped interview lasted approximately 2 hours.
I was locked in a cell for about 3 hours whilst somebody made a decision how to proceed. I could hear Rocky barking the whole time in his cage outside in the yard. It was the same kind of barking I heard him make when he was in the Dog Rescue Centre. More a whining yap. I was powerless to comfort Rocky through his ordeal.
Eventually, I was informed that the assault charge had been dropped and replaced with "Section 4 words/behaviour - fear unlawful violence contrary to The Public Order Act 1986". And "Owner allow dog out of control to cause injury contrary to section 3(1) and (4) of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991".
Rocky couldn't drag me out of there fast enough and dragged me along for about a mile until he felt safe.
I phoned the DG of the Prison Service and he said the last thing he needs is for me to be recalled for owning a dog!
Just on my way to see my probation officer.
Computer is still down at least until the weekend, meanwhile I am using an internet cafe.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
A great start to the New Year
A great start to the New Year
This morning I take Rocky for his morning walk in the local park. We almost get all the way round without incident. Then he spots one of the parkies he doesn't like and charges towards him. Unfortunately, the parkie starts to panic and waves his pick-up stick around which Rocky interprets as a threatening gesture. It is almost like a scene out of a Buster Keaton movie as they both dance around. He radios for back up claiming he is being attacked. A passing police car stops and the parkie hops into it. A short while later plod approaches me and tells me to stand still. I ignore him and continue to walk towards home. He asks me if I am going home. I state that I am. He then states that someone will be around later to deal with both me and Rocky. I have my breakfast then pop along to the internet cafe.
There should be a law against hostile parkies. However, I expect a case will be tried to be made out that Rocky is a dangerous dog under the Dangerous Dogs Act or that I need a ASBO to keep him under control.
This morning I take Rocky for his morning walk in the local park. We almost get all the way round without incident. Then he spots one of the parkies he doesn't like and charges towards him. Unfortunately, the parkie starts to panic and waves his pick-up stick around which Rocky interprets as a threatening gesture. It is almost like a scene out of a Buster Keaton movie as they both dance around. He radios for back up claiming he is being attacked. A passing police car stops and the parkie hops into it. A short while later plod approaches me and tells me to stand still. I ignore him and continue to walk towards home. He asks me if I am going home. I state that I am. He then states that someone will be around later to deal with both me and Rocky. I have my breakfast then pop along to the internet cafe.
There should be a law against hostile parkies. However, I expect a case will be tried to be made out that Rocky is a dangerous dog under the Dangerous Dogs Act or that I need a ASBO to keep him under control.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Computer problems
Computer problems
Yesterday I think that Bill Gates infected my computer and it is out of action at least until Thursday at the earliest when my geek friend said he can come over and fix it again for me.
Yesterday I drank a whole 75cl bottle of Cava and smoked my joints and watched Jools Holland. I think that his show is the best thing on television during 2007 and the best thing to start 2008.
This morning I watched the Vienna Philarmonic Orchestra performing its New Year's Day concert.
Photo: Hat-tip Tom Watson's blog.
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