So, it's common knowlage that the prison systems are in havoc due to the amount of criminals and the lack of space. One of the goverments quick fix solutions are the increased use of electronic tags and injunctions. This is fine in some situations and can work; but, obviously, not all cases can be so simply solved.
An example of this in the recent news (and there are many, it's becoing less and less uncommon) is that of heroin addict, David Summers, aged 23, and his victim; mother of 3, Diane Edwards, aged 53. The couple had a non-commital relationship which lasted only a few monts before Edwards ended it in January 2006. After ignoing her instantsies that the relationship was over, Summers was handedand injunction which he promptly broke. Surely this should have rung alarm bells? This man was obviously disconcerned with the consiquences he would face from the law; the polices concerns should not have been "punshing" him with a suspended sentence, bu t the safety of Diane who was being constantly harrassed and terrorise by this man! It did not take a lot for Summers to remove his electronic tag and pay one last visit to the home of Diane Edwards.
After the savage killing, MAPPA (the multi-agency management scheme for violent offenders) published a reveiw stating that "Summers had no regard for the law". It's fair enough to say it now, but surely this was obvious long before Edwards was killed; before 3 children were left5 without a mother. MAPPA have now said to be tightening up its policies. Did it really take another event such as this one for things to be improved? no!
Friday, 5 September 2008
Raising the school leaving age
Children starting year 7 will be the first to be legally required to stay in education until they are 17. It is the first stage of a two-part reform, which will see the school leaving age raised to 18 for pupils now aged nine and starting Year Five. I see why this could be a good idea because it will get more people educated at a higher level, and more people may then end up getting better jobs and more money. However I think at the age of 16 pupils are old enough to make their own choices on what they want to do.
Secondly if someone does not want to stay on in education after 16 but they are made to they may just not bother trying, and may have an "anti-school" behaviour and disrupt others from learning. This will mean those who don't want to learn probably won't do very well, and will be wasting the teachers time for trying to help them. Also they will be wasting their own time in which they could be finding jobs for themselves and earning money. Another problem is sixth forms and colleges will end up being overcrowded so less attention will be spent on the individuals.
Also we still need people in lower skilled jobs, and as people will be carrying on education to a higher age more people may aim for higher skilled jobs so there will be too much competition for those type of jobs and not enough people for lower skilled jobs. Therefore I think this is not a good idea and will not work out very well.
Secondly if someone does not want to stay on in education after 16 but they are made to they may just not bother trying, and may have an "anti-school" behaviour and disrupt others from learning. This will mean those who don't want to learn probably won't do very well, and will be wasting the teachers time for trying to help them. Also they will be wasting their own time in which they could be finding jobs for themselves and earning money. Another problem is sixth forms and colleges will end up being overcrowded so less attention will be spent on the individuals.
Also we still need people in lower skilled jobs, and as people will be carrying on education to a higher age more people may aim for higher skilled jobs so there will be too much competition for those type of jobs and not enough people for lower skilled jobs. Therefore I think this is not a good idea and will not work out very well.
Hotel forced to apologise after it refused wounded British soldier a hotel room 'because he was in the Army'
I found this article on the daily mail website, detailing how the metro hotel in Woking refused a British solidier a room. The wounded Soldier who had recently served OUR COUNTRY in Afghanistan, was told that it "was not company policy to allow Armed Forces personnel to stay at the hotel." I feel, this clearly shows how little respect we have for soldiers who serve our country, risking their lives to protect us and their families. People who serve our country should be treated as 'royalty' and should gain the respect of our society that they deserve. It seems that Britain feel no need to treat our soldiers like 'heroes' because they are to 'stuck up' to do so. However, in America each soldier is labelled as a hero, get applauded wherever they go, maybe Britain should 'take notes' and actually realise what they go through to save our country.
As stated in the article i read, if the hotel was turning down muslim or mixed raced people, it would immidiatley be labelled as 'discrimnation' and this will be where the law would take action. Whereas, a soldier getting turned down for a hotel room get the mere "forced apology."
Stacey
As stated in the article i read, if the hotel was turning down muslim or mixed raced people, it would immidiatley be labelled as 'discrimnation' and this will be where the law would take action. Whereas, a soldier getting turned down for a hotel room get the mere "forced apology."
Stacey
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Can I just a rant?
Well, I had already written part of this, but i've had to start again because the computer died, ( je suis not happy)
Anyway, I was reading one of the posts about how crime rates have gone up, and i was really annoyed and, well, i'd like to say suprised but i really wasn't. The government have recently introduced a new scheme of funding inmates who are being released. I'll explain it to you. Basically, inmates who have been granted shortened sentences, or are just due to be realeased because its the end of their sentence anyway, all of whom are also in the low level petty crime catogory (including buglary, antisocial behaviour, and drunk and disorderly charges) are being released at the end of their sentances with £1000 grants for rehabilitation, (living costs and so on) though the thing that baffles me is, what impression is this really giving to the inmates, a lot of whom are cronic reoffenders, and a considerable percentage usually only commiting the crime to fund a habit anyway. So what? Give them £1000 to waste on drugs or drink for a week or two, until they have to start stealing again to get more money, and end up back in prison.
Gahhh! Its a shambles!!
(rant one over =)
and this isnt really a rant, but the case on the news of the mansion that got burnt down. I know they found out it was the Dad (I think thats right?) but i still find it really hard to wrap my head around it. My imediate reaction when the case was released to the news was mainly just... well i jsut thought the family were on holiday, and someone had set teh house alight purposly, but then obviously there where the other out-buildings that were burnt too, so I realised it was very well planned. Until i then heard that the daughter had been talking to her friends something like 4 hours before the fire started, which then made me look it up more, obviously reavealing there was more to the story, i.e the debt side of things, and then obviously we found out who did it. But still, it makes it hard to believe, and in mind you kind of go throught he scenarios like, why didnt he just sell the house or animals, as that was where the money was, but still, you never know a persons situation, its jsut a sad story that one.
(that wasnt such a rant, more of a ramble, anywho, thats over now =)
ah, but oh my goodness! Boris Johnson at the olympics ceremonies! ARGH! What can I say? We seemed to just fail from teh start with the olympics. They brought out the video, and logo for it, and it gave people seizures or something, FAIL! So then after all that had died down, we went and did Beijing, and did really well, and then it gets to Boris Johnson. China are greeted at the handover ceremony, by and over grown school boy, who borrowed his big brothers suite with extra big pockets, great for burrying hands in, and acidently fell head first into a bucket of bleach, (is that hair real) personally, i was not impressed with dear Boris, who didnt seem to know what he was doing and was more excited about waving to his grandmother, or whoever it was he couldnt possible give a tasteful wave too. Well yes, after that embarressment, we then go to the bus driving round the stadium, and there was me thinking, hmm, it seems to be going quite well... until some kind of golden zebedee/leona lewis thing started to potrude from top of it, shortly followed by an old bloke, oh golly my mistake, Jimmy Page who enjoys screwing up his face and playing the guitar for a living, (its a good job he can actually play well otherwise i would of had to write at least another paragraph) and personally, wasnt loving their version of the Led Zep song. So yes, my theory is, the London olympics may very well FAIL. But lets hope not :)
Yeah, so i think I'm pretty much done now. Oh apart from: Gutted DJ Grooverider who got caught for carrying drugs and imprisioned in Dubai. Hugs not Drugs right! :)
All done now
Anyway, I was reading one of the posts about how crime rates have gone up, and i was really annoyed and, well, i'd like to say suprised but i really wasn't. The government have recently introduced a new scheme of funding inmates who are being released. I'll explain it to you. Basically, inmates who have been granted shortened sentences, or are just due to be realeased because its the end of their sentence anyway, all of whom are also in the low level petty crime catogory (including buglary, antisocial behaviour, and drunk and disorderly charges) are being released at the end of their sentances with £1000 grants for rehabilitation, (living costs and so on) though the thing that baffles me is, what impression is this really giving to the inmates, a lot of whom are cronic reoffenders, and a considerable percentage usually only commiting the crime to fund a habit anyway. So what? Give them £1000 to waste on drugs or drink for a week or two, until they have to start stealing again to get more money, and end up back in prison.
Gahhh! Its a shambles!!
(rant one over =)
and this isnt really a rant, but the case on the news of the mansion that got burnt down. I know they found out it was the Dad (I think thats right?) but i still find it really hard to wrap my head around it. My imediate reaction when the case was released to the news was mainly just... well i jsut thought the family were on holiday, and someone had set teh house alight purposly, but then obviously there where the other out-buildings that were burnt too, so I realised it was very well planned. Until i then heard that the daughter had been talking to her friends something like 4 hours before the fire started, which then made me look it up more, obviously reavealing there was more to the story, i.e the debt side of things, and then obviously we found out who did it. But still, it makes it hard to believe, and in mind you kind of go throught he scenarios like, why didnt he just sell the house or animals, as that was where the money was, but still, you never know a persons situation, its jsut a sad story that one.
(that wasnt such a rant, more of a ramble, anywho, thats over now =)
ah, but oh my goodness! Boris Johnson at the olympics ceremonies! ARGH! What can I say? We seemed to just fail from teh start with the olympics. They brought out the video, and logo for it, and it gave people seizures or something, FAIL! So then after all that had died down, we went and did Beijing, and did really well, and then it gets to Boris Johnson. China are greeted at the handover ceremony, by and over grown school boy, who borrowed his big brothers suite with extra big pockets, great for burrying hands in, and acidently fell head first into a bucket of bleach, (is that hair real) personally, i was not impressed with dear Boris, who didnt seem to know what he was doing and was more excited about waving to his grandmother, or whoever it was he couldnt possible give a tasteful wave too. Well yes, after that embarressment, we then go to the bus driving round the stadium, and there was me thinking, hmm, it seems to be going quite well... until some kind of golden zebedee/leona lewis thing started to potrude from top of it, shortly followed by an old bloke, oh golly my mistake, Jimmy Page who enjoys screwing up his face and playing the guitar for a living, (its a good job he can actually play well otherwise i would of had to write at least another paragraph) and personally, wasnt loving their version of the Led Zep song. So yes, my theory is, the London olympics may very well FAIL. But lets hope not :)
Yeah, so i think I'm pretty much done now. Oh apart from: Gutted DJ Grooverider who got caught for carrying drugs and imprisioned in Dubai. Hugs not Drugs right! :)
All done now
Labour has been accused of pushing dangerous criminals back on the street
I found this article about offenders commiting more crimes after being released from jail.
Latest figures show that the number of crimes commited by serial offenders who have just left prison or begun a communtity punishment have lept to more than half a million a year. The proportion of juvenile criminals who were reconvicted rose year by year. The goverment has missed it's target by cutting numbers by 5% from 2000-2006. It has been suggested that this is due to lenient punishment. Therefore I think that criminals may be more likely to re-offend as the punishment is not harsh enough creating more people who think they can get away with commiting crimes. Labour policies were warned by Britain's most senier police officers that it had undermined confidence in the criminal justice system. Mike Fuller, chief constable of Kent police warned criminals were actually avoiding jail or being freed earlier because of the shortage of prison places. This will make more people commit crimes as they think they have less chance of being punished. Consequently this will make criminal offences rise and create more innocent victums.
Latest figures show that the number of crimes commited by serial offenders who have just left prison or begun a communtity punishment have lept to more than half a million a year. The proportion of juvenile criminals who were reconvicted rose year by year. The goverment has missed it's target by cutting numbers by 5% from 2000-2006. It has been suggested that this is due to lenient punishment. Therefore I think that criminals may be more likely to re-offend as the punishment is not harsh enough creating more people who think they can get away with commiting crimes. Labour policies were warned by Britain's most senier police officers that it had undermined confidence in the criminal justice system. Mike Fuller, chief constable of Kent police warned criminals were actually avoiding jail or being freed earlier because of the shortage of prison places. This will make more people commit crimes as they think they have less chance of being punished. Consequently this will make criminal offences rise and create more innocent victums.
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
' I'm Not Okay ' about The Daily Mail
I found an article from The Daily Mail claiming that a teenage girl Hannah Bond, had killed herself after becoming an 'Emo'. The article states that 'Emo' is characterised by depression, self injury and suicide and bands such as My Chemical Romance encourage and glamorise such behaviour. It blames My Chemical Romance by labelling them a 'suicide cult band' when in actual fact My Chemical Romance are against self-harm as front man Gerard Way said in response to these claims 'My Chemical Romance are and always have been vocally anti-violence and anti-suicide.' The Daily Mail suggests 'The Black Parade' was influential in Hannah's death due to its angst filled lyrics and melancholy themes. The Daily Mail has taken this album out of context, the actual themes being hope and courage. My Chemical Romance are just the latest of the medias scapegoat for the problems of younger generations. 'Emo' is not a new evil 'suicide cult' encouraging teenagers to commit horrific violent acts, previously the likes of Marilyn Manson and Ozzy Osbourne were blamed for the same thing. Society should be looking at the real reasons why teenagers are depressed, self harm and commit suicide.
Our UK Forces trained on a Videogame
So, here is something...
Our Troops are being trained by having simulations on a computer. Fair enough, right? They do that with the shooting. However this one is more like a videogame, not a simulation. Of course the MoD want troops to think of War as fun, so they go into war with that mind set... But Videogames are for no-life teenagers who sit there day and night talking to some random 'girl' from Finland. They should create realtime scenarios for these troops like they used to, and get them active. Im not going to start my Army fitness plan if all im going to do is sit there and play a computer game, whats the point?
I can understand that it is a good way to train troops for Iraq or whatever without actually going there, but its just a waste when your expected to be so fit and then your plonked in front of a computer. I think anyone would want to do it on a computer than a scenario, but not everyone is in the army and a computer is not reality. Those troops are going to be facing reality, not that you can get shot a dozen times and just pop back into the game for another try, there is no second chance on the battlefield.
All im saying is, why change the training routine? If the Militarys phrase is Be the Best they obviously dont need to change the training scheme if it was worked in the past. All these computers they want to run will contribute to all this global warming nonsense, and waste energy and such. Throw them back into the forest with paintball guns and proper kit.... Not on a silly machine that lets them get it easy. The Army is far from Easy.
Zack .H.
Our Troops are being trained by having simulations on a computer. Fair enough, right? They do that with the shooting. However this one is more like a videogame, not a simulation. Of course the MoD want troops to think of War as fun, so they go into war with that mind set... But Videogames are for no-life teenagers who sit there day and night talking to some random 'girl' from Finland. They should create realtime scenarios for these troops like they used to, and get them active. Im not going to start my Army fitness plan if all im going to do is sit there and play a computer game, whats the point?
I can understand that it is a good way to train troops for Iraq or whatever without actually going there, but its just a waste when your expected to be so fit and then your plonked in front of a computer. I think anyone would want to do it on a computer than a scenario, but not everyone is in the army and a computer is not reality. Those troops are going to be facing reality, not that you can get shot a dozen times and just pop back into the game for another try, there is no second chance on the battlefield.
All im saying is, why change the training routine? If the Militarys phrase is Be the Best they obviously dont need to change the training scheme if it was worked in the past. All these computers they want to run will contribute to all this global warming nonsense, and waste energy and such. Throw them back into the forest with paintball guns and proper kit.... Not on a silly machine that lets them get it easy. The Army is far from Easy.
Zack .H.
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