International Law

Monkey business

Posted on January 15, 2008
Monkey businessLaw catches up with John Wayne, Cape Town's celebrity baboonBy Ian Evans in Cape TownPublished: 15 January 2008He'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...

Venice to put speed cameras in canals

Posted on January 15, 2008
Venice to put speed cameras in canalsThis sounds like a good idea. We should follow suit and put all our speed cameras in canals!

Vitamins plan 'to cut prison violence'

Posted on January 15, 2008
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...

Policeman who killed in-law 'feared losing kids'

Posted on January 15, 2008
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"...

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Cop out by Lincolnshire Police

Posted on January 14, 2008
Cop out by Lincolnshire PoliceIt 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...

Behind bars: Bragg to bring sound of music to prisons

Posted on January 14, 2008
Behind bars: Bragg to bring sound of music to prisonsAs 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...

Prisoners 'to be chipped like dogs'

Posted on January 14, 2008
Prisoners 'to be chipped like dogs'Hi-tech 'satellite' tagging planned in order to create more space in jailsCivil rights groups and probation officers furious at 'degrading' schemeBy Brian Brady, Whitehall EditorPublished: 13 January 2008Ministers 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...

Bank charges court test to open

Posted on January 14, 2008
Bank charges court test to openBanks 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...

Chill Out Zone

Posted on January 13, 2008
Chill Out ZoneI'm hiding in here today.

Guantánamo Bay: How long must this go on?

Posted on January 12, 2008
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.

Should there be a Royal Commission or a major public inquiry into our prisons?

Posted on January 12, 2008
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...

McCanns claim only they have the right to make money out of the death of Madeleine

Posted on January 11, 2008
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"...

Just another crime statistic

Posted on January 11, 2008
Just another crime statisticWell 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)...

One dog and his companion

Posted on January 10, 2008
One dog and his companionWell 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...

The princess and the frog

Posted on January 10, 2008
The princess and the frogThe 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...

Numbers game

Posted on January 10, 2008
Numbers gameJack 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...

Former Death Row inmate arrives back in Britain

Posted on January 10, 2008
Former Death Row inmate arrives back in BritainKenny 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.

£150m offender-tracking system scrapped

Posted on January 09, 2008
£150m offender-tracking system scrappedBy Philip JohnstonLast Updated: 2:09am GMT 09/01/2008A £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...

Communications

Posted on January 09, 2008
CommunicationsComputer 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...

The benefit of discretion

Posted on January 08, 2008
The benefit of discretionI 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...

It's a dog's life

Posted on January 07, 2008
It's a dog's lifeYesteday 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...

Iain Dale wins hypocrite of the year award for 2008

Posted on January 06, 2008
Iain Dale wins hypocrite of the year award for 2008Bob 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...

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