Be afraid...investigators are out there

A couple from Weston-super-Mare has been caught claiming child benefit for offspring they never had.

After the case Sarah Bamford, of HM Revenue & Customs, said: "This case is the result of many months of intense and thorough work by a dedicated team of tax credit investigation officers."

Many months? The couple lived in a one-room property in the town yet claimed that they had 16 children.

How long does it take HMRC to investigate that it is highly unlikely that anyone would have 16 children, let alone that they would all live in the same room?

Another Labour initiative... that will go nowhere

Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, has announced that thugs who carry knives will be sent down for four years under a new crackdown.

And the band played "I'll believe it when I see it".

Prison doesn't work... nor do holiday camps

HM Prison Birmingham, in Winson Green has launched a "decency agenda".

This means that prisoners should be called by their Christian names and warders should knock before they enter cells.

The "decency agenda" was prompted by an official Government study of the jail that concluded that the 1,400 inmates at Winson Green were not living in a "good environment".

A spokesman said, "First names of prisoners are now given on all cell cards. Members of the Senior Management Team address prisoners by their first names, preferred names or by using the term 'Mr'."

The scheme is a bid to treat prisoners with respect, she added.

This follows on from a report that warders are wearing carpet slippers to patrol prisons at night so as not to disturb prisoners' sleep with their big hobnailed boots.

Mr Mackay would be turning in his grave - and Genial Harry Grout would be having a field day at Winson Green - if he wasn't already too busy running Slade Prison. Even Mr Barraclough didn't go as far as calling Fletcher and Godber "Norman" and "Lennie".

Several years ago, I was in a pub quiz team and one week the captain, Reg, announced that he might be away for a few weeks as he was due up in court and could be sent down. "It'll be okay, though. I've done it before," he said.

I was amazed. The thought of going to prison scared the life out of me - nowadays, I am sure I would still not like it but it doesn't sound too bad. Three meals a day, pool tables, TV in my cell, library, computer games - it almost sounds okay to do bird.

Prison doesn't work bleat the liberal bleeding hearts. Well, when it sounds more like a holiday camp, of course it doesn't. When the Regs of this world are happy to get banged up.

Prison should be a deterrent and so unpleasant that no one would ever want to go back. That means it should be a punishment not an alternative holiday camp.

And while on the subject our useless Justice Minister Jack Straw has commented on a report that said non-violent offenders should be punished but not necessarily jailed... say their victims.
Research shows that 81 per cent of those affected by crimes such as burglary and vehicle theft would prefer "effective" sentences to harsh ones.

Straw said: "This research suggests when offenders receive vigorous effective community sentences - combining punishment and rehabilitation - it can go some way towards comforting victims."

What a load of cobblers. Who conducted this research?

A few years ago, then Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf said that he didn't believe that most people wanted first time burglars jailed.

He is right.

Most people do not want first time, second time or any time burglars jailed. They would much rather see them hung by their testicles from the nearest lamppost.

The surveillance society...

An interesting new book has landed on my desk. The Road to Southend Pier details Ross Clark's struggle against the surveillance society.

Britain’s Information Commissioner said that we are sleepwalking into a surveillance society so Ross Clark decided to find out if that was true.

These are some of the facts uncovered by Mr Clark:

• There are 4·2 million CCTV cameras in Britain, one for every 14 people
• In 2004 Melbourne dismantled its 23 cameras because they did not justify the A$500,000 they cost annually
• Britons are the third most spied on people on earth; only China and Malaysia spy more on their citizenry
• In 1998 Newham introduced a facial recognition software. Unfortunately, it didn’t work on sunny days and had a tendency to confuse young people and women and had a tendency to recognise black people
• Despite the claim that DNA is foolproof – it isn’t. If everyone in Britain (60 million people) was on the database the chances of a mistake being made by misidentifying someone’s DNA at a crime scene is actually one in 16
• In 2007 John Reid admitted that the Prevention of Terrorism Act had been drafted in such a way that people on control orders i.e. terrorists could not have their fingerprints and DNA taken
• In 2007 the Home Office admitted that despite the plethora of CCTV, DNA databases, tagging and police surveillance it had “lost” 322 registered sex offenders
• In 2005 2,000 people randomly volunteered to be surveyed for the biometric ID card. It took an average of seven minutes and 56 seconds to record the information. To cover the entire country would take 905 man years
• Between April and June 2007 the six largest European airlines lost 1·12 million pieces of luggage – this at a time when passengers and their baggage are supposed to be monitored every step of their journey
  
  
  
  

George W Bush is a disgrace to the office of the president

On Monday, 2 July 2007, President George W Bush commuted the 30-month jail sentence of Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, for perjury. Now it seems as if Bush will grant Libby a pardon.

The Republicans have long thought that they can do what they want. Now, it seems as if they know there will be a Democrat in the White House in 2009, or at least not a neo-con so they are just blatantly ignoring the rule of law and setting themselves up for being out of power.

Cheney is probably one of the most evil men to have held the office of vice-president and Bush is to stupid to go against him. Roll on January 2009 when we see the back of these disgraceful men.