Personally, I think Louis Theroux or Morgan Spurlock would do a great job - both of them are miles better than Mr Porky with his leaden delivery and jerky camerawork.
It's difficult to make hard and fast rules about these things, but murder is one of the crimes I had in mind when saying that some combinations of crime and criminal require a long period of incarceration.
Even then, there are circumstances in which I would prefer to see the offender rehabilitated - as an example, where the perpetrator is young, and the crime is motivated by something other than greed (I'm thinking vengeance, fear, or other circumstances here).
Someone who is prepared to take a human life while carrying out a robbery is obviously not likely to respond to rehabilitation, but a kid who lashes out with a knife through fear may well be ready to be a productive member of society after ten years or so of prison, given the correct guidance.
Those for whom hope is slim or none should at least be given something meaningful to do for their life term - not the worst jobs, but something according to their capabilities.
Some murderers are best dealt with in secure psychiatric units - Broadmoor (the most notorious unit in Britain) is just a few miles from me, and I have had the privilege to know some of the staff there, and their job is scary to say the least.
Your example of a prostitute is more difficult for me - I am in favour of criminalising the client rather than the prostitute, as I see the prostitute as the victim rather than the criminal.
Free education for prostitutes is a good idea, but naming and shaming the clients in their local community would be my preferred option.
As to reading - I read almost anything, though my preferred genres are crime (Iain Banks' Inspector Rebus novels are superb) and old sci-fi - Stanislaw Lem is the master.
Thanks for the discussion - and by the way, Quakers didn't just make porrige, they started Cadbury's, Fry's, Rowntree's, Lloyd's and Barclay's banks, and the Stockton and Darlington railway (the first steam railway in the world).
Truly a good religion, if ever there was one - I'm a non-practising Methodist myself.
I sort of agree with you - with the proviso that much more must be done for first time minor offenders.
There are crimes (or combinations of a crime and a criminal) that should require lengthy incarceration, but the legal and correctional framework to allow for minor offenders to get the help they usually need because of failures in their upbringing while ensuring that dangerous or repeat offenders are kept separate from the rest of us just isn't there.
Quakers have done an enormous amount to reform prisons both in the US and the UK - William Penn in the US and Elizabeth Fry in the UK are prime examples.
Perhaps Obama needs a Quaker advisor on prison reform?
I was trying to imply that the mindset that 'prison is for punishment' belongs, if not to the medieval period, then to a time long, long ago.
If you do think that way, then you're obviously a benighted backwoods brutalist who has never been exposed to enlightened thought (damn - I love alliteration, don't you?), but then again I think you and I are unlikely ever to agree, so the point is moot.
As a UK citizen for the last 44 years, I can tell you that we do not have anywhere near the level of political freedom that we had 10 years ago - 'terrorism' legislation has been routinely used against legitimate protests, and one clause in the legislation is currently being misused to justify 'stop and search' against youths, in an uncanny echo of the SUS laws that contributed so much towards the inner-city riots of the early 1980s.
British civil liberties are at such a low ebb that even establishment figures such as the Information Commissioner are starting to speak out against the egregious excesses of the New Labour fearmongers.
But then again, that's just my perspective.
I've never been to Malaysia or Singapore, so can't comment on their systems, but I can testify to the erosion of British civil liberties by the current government, driven by the tabloid press.
Well, speeding causes more deaths in the UK every year than terrorism has in the last decade - roughly 6-12% (depending on the source) of fatal accidents are related to excessive speed, and at around 3000 per year, that gives between 180 and 360 deaths per year.
Even the lower limit is roughly 3 times the number of people killed in terror attacks in the UK in the last 10 years, including the 'Real IRA' Armargh bombing.
And don't get me started on those bastard litterbugs...
Unfortunately, I live in Britain, and have seen our civil liberties under attack from the idiocracy that is New Labour ever since before 11/9/01.
The 28 days was an increase over the (IIRC) 14 days that was voted on every year in Parliament, and was seen as adequate for fighting IRA terrorism - there is no sensible argument for more than the original 14 days, but the fear-mongering plays well with the press, so New Labour assiduously pursue extensions to the detention period.
One day, we (the British people) will have had enough - I hope it's not already too late.
Apart from Malaysia, Britain's probably the worst - luckily the Neues Arbeit administration was stopped from extending detention to 42 days from 28, but guess what?
The very next day, Wacqui Jacqui Schmidt (our truly imbecilic Home Secretary) tabled legislation that would allow 42 days to be voted for by the House of Commons, "in an emergency".
Even places like Turkey restrict detention without charge or trial to 7 days - why is my country different?
If there's a framework for document transformation, summary, indexing, etc. that works for an open document format, Microsoft are going to have to do a lot of catching up.
Not all bosses are PHBs - and with the credit crisis in full swing, open formats and the savings that they can bring will soon be flavour of the month.
Sorry mate - there's my reply to you below with 'Pocaluj mnie w tylek' up the top.
But I grew up in Manchester, had quite few Polish friends at school (well, their dads were Polish - there was a huge community around Salford / Prestwich / Eccles after the war), and have a few buddies that I drink with where I live now, so the "Polish == dumb" thing annoys me.
My favourite teacher at school was old Ziggy (Zbignew) Kepchik (apologies for the spelling - it was 30 years ago) who taught me metalwork and silversmithing. He had come over during the war and worked as a mechanic for the RAF, despite being qualified as a metallurgist - much as we in the UK are mistreating qualified immigrants by ignoring their skills now.
You never indicated you were Polish, and I apologise for the 'kiss my arse' reply.
Even 25 years ago, the students would have been up in arms.
We blockaded Westminster Bridge over student grants, ffs!
As an aside, a certain Neues Arbeit immigration minister was president of the NUS at the time, but spent the majority of the demo on top of a bus shelter with the police camera crew, pointing out likely trouble causers.
Yes, the grass was Phil Woolas, and I was the one that started the blockade, because the alternative was to allow the SWP wankers from Glasgow to start a ruck with the Met.
Someone should ask him where he was that day - I bet he'll claim to have been on the front line.
As I pointed out above, Wacqui Jacqui is just misinterpreting the sardonic shouts of "Papieren, bitte" that follow her through the mean streets of Sarf Landon on her nocturnal expeditions.
In a speech earlier this week, Jacqui Smith claimed that people were generally enthusiastic about ID cards and that people were coming up to her in the street asking when they could have one of those lovely new cards...
What actually happened was that people kept shouting "Papieren, bitte" at her, and she misinterpreted it, like the thick cow she is.
Morwenstow is only for satellite comms - there are physical taps at the various LINX installations (TeleCity et al), but these are usually only used under warrant.
You're right about the scope creep, though - otherwise why would Wacqui Jacqui have explicitly said that the system would only be used for terrorism and organised crime?
Slashdot Mirror
Damn - now I've got Little Fluffy Clouds buzzing round my tiny brain.
Haven't listened to that track in years.
Still, at least I'll go to sleep in a good frame of mind...
Sort of like 'Bowling for Columbia'?
Personally, I think Louis Theroux or Morgan Spurlock would do a great job - both of them are miles better than Mr Porky with his leaden delivery and jerky camerawork.
It's difficult to make hard and fast rules about these things, but murder is one of the crimes I had in mind when saying that some combinations of crime and criminal require a long period of incarceration.
Even then, there are circumstances in which I would prefer to see the offender rehabilitated - as an example, where the perpetrator is young, and the crime is motivated by something other than greed (I'm thinking vengeance, fear, or other circumstances here).
Someone who is prepared to take a human life while carrying out a robbery is obviously not likely to respond to rehabilitation, but a kid who lashes out with a knife through fear may well be ready to be a productive member of society after ten years or so of prison, given the correct guidance.
Those for whom hope is slim or none should at least be given something meaningful to do for their life term - not the worst jobs, but something according to their capabilities.
Some murderers are best dealt with in secure psychiatric units - Broadmoor (the most notorious unit in Britain) is just a few miles from me, and I have had the privilege to know some of the staff there, and their job is scary to say the least.
Your example of a prostitute is more difficult for me - I am in favour of criminalising the client rather than the prostitute, as I see the prostitute as the victim rather than the criminal.
Free education for prostitutes is a good idea, but naming and shaming the clients in their local community would be my preferred option.
As to reading - I read almost anything, though my preferred genres are crime (Iain Banks' Inspector Rebus novels are superb) and old sci-fi - Stanislaw Lem is the master.
Thanks for the discussion - and by the way, Quakers didn't just make porrige, they started Cadbury's, Fry's, Rowntree's, Lloyd's and Barclay's banks, and the Stockton and Darlington railway (the first steam railway in the world).
Truly a good religion, if ever there was one - I'm a non-practising Methodist myself.
Sorry, that second sentence is annoyingly long. I should have previewed and edited it properly :o)
I sort of agree with you - with the proviso that much more must be done for first time minor offenders.
There are crimes (or combinations of a crime and a criminal) that should require lengthy incarceration, but the legal and correctional framework to allow for minor offenders to get the help they usually need because of failures in their upbringing while ensuring that dangerous or repeat offenders are kept separate from the rest of us just isn't there.
Quakers have done an enormous amount to reform prisons both in the US and the UK - William Penn in the US and Elizabeth Fry in the UK are prime examples.
Perhaps Obama needs a Quaker advisor on prison reform?
I was trying to imply that the mindset that 'prison is for punishment' belongs, if not to the medieval period, then to a time long, long ago.
If you do think that way, then you're obviously a benighted backwoods brutalist who has never been exposed to enlightened thought (damn - I love alliteration, don't you?), but then again I think you and I are unlikely ever to agree, so the point is moot.
Bitter, are you?
Please crawl back under your rock, and await the second coming of the medieval messiah you so obviously worship.
FWIW, I haven't got cable either, but I don't bitch about it.
Based on this story, some inmates at least would welcome some more advanced material.
Aren't the MPAA and the RIAA 'thick as thieves', though?
As a UK citizen for the last 44 years, I can tell you that we do not have anywhere near the level of political freedom that we had 10 years ago - 'terrorism' legislation has been routinely used against legitimate protests, and one clause in the legislation is currently being misused to justify 'stop and search' against youths, in an uncanny echo of the SUS laws that contributed so much towards the inner-city riots of the early 1980s.
British civil liberties are at such a low ebb that even establishment figures such as the Information Commissioner are starting to speak out against the egregious excesses of the New Labour fearmongers.
But then again, that's just my perspective.
I've never been to Malaysia or Singapore, so can't comment on their systems, but I can testify to the erosion of British civil liberties by the current government, driven by the tabloid press.
Well, speeding causes more deaths in the UK every year than terrorism has in the last decade - roughly 6-12% (depending on the source) of fatal accidents are related to excessive speed, and at around 3000 per year, that gives between 180 and 360 deaths per year.
Even the lower limit is roughly 3 times the number of people killed in terror attacks in the UK in the last 10 years, including the 'Real IRA' Armargh bombing.
And don't get me started on those bastard litterbugs...
Unfortunately, I live in Britain, and have seen our civil liberties under attack from the idiocracy that is New Labour ever since before 11/9/01.
The 28 days was an increase over the (IIRC) 14 days that was voted on every year in Parliament, and was seen as adequate for fighting IRA terrorism - there is no sensible argument for more than the original 14 days, but the fear-mongering plays well with the press, so New Labour assiduously pursue extensions to the detention period.
One day, we (the British people) will have had enough - I hope it's not already too late.
Nope - even for terrorism charges in Turkey, it's still 7 days.
Apart from Malaysia, Britain's probably the worst - luckily the Neues Arbeit administration was stopped from extending detention to 42 days from 28, but guess what?
The very next day, Wacqui Jacqui Schmidt (our truly imbecilic Home Secretary) tabled legislation that would allow 42 days to be voted for by the House of Commons, "in an emergency".
Even places like Turkey restrict detention without charge or trial to 7 days - why is my country different?
Long answer - yes.
If there's a framework for document transformation, summary, indexing, etc. that works for an open document format, Microsoft are going to have to do a lot of catching up.
Not all bosses are PHBs - and with the credit crisis in full swing, open formats and the savings that they can bring will soon be flavour of the month.
Fuck'em.
When they invent a way of turning diamonds into tequila, wake me up.
Sorry mate - there's my reply to you below with 'Pocaluj mnie w tylek' up the top.
But I grew up in Manchester, had quite few Polish friends at school (well, their dads were Polish - there was a huge community around Salford / Prestwich / Eccles after the war), and have a few buddies that I drink with where I live now, so the "Polish == dumb" thing annoys me.
My favourite teacher at school was old Ziggy (Zbignew) Kepchik (apologies for the spelling - it was 30 years ago) who taught me metalwork and silversmithing. He had come over during the war and worked as a mechanic for the RAF, despite being qualified as a metallurgist - much as we in the UK are mistreating qualified immigrants by ignoring their skills now.
You never indicated you were Polish, and I apologise for the 'kiss my arse' reply.
Please tell me more, and add some proof of your assertions.
Why?
Do you know something I don't?
I started on punch cards, you insensitive clod!
Even 25 years ago, the students would have been up in arms.
We blockaded Westminster Bridge over student grants, ffs!
As an aside, a certain Neues Arbeit immigration minister was president of the NUS at the time, but spent the majority of the demo on top of a bus shelter with the police camera crew, pointing out likely trouble causers.
Yes, the grass was Phil Woolas, and I was the one that started the blockade, because the alternative was to allow the SWP wankers from Glasgow to start a ruck with the Met.
Someone should ask him where he was that day - I bet he'll claim to have been on the front line.
But then she is a bear of very little brain...
What actually happened was that people kept shouting "Papieren, bitte" at her, and she misinterpreted it, like the thick cow she is.
Pocaluj mnie w tylek.
I've got quite a few Polish drinking buddies, and most of them are better educated than the Neues Arbeit cabinet.
You're right about the scope creep, though - otherwise why would Wacqui Jacqui have explicitly said that the system would only be used for terrorism and organised crime?