Is it not the case that almost anything we negotiate, however legally watertight it may appear, can be overruled by the ECJ due to its "purposive" construction of the law?
The Court of Justice derives its jurisdiction from the treaties. There is no way it could attack a treaty amendment agreed under the ordinary revision procedure, provided it was suitably worded. It could attack a treaty amendment agreed under the simplified revision procedure on the basis it should have been agreed under the ordinary revision procedure, but on no other basis. Anything other than a treaty amendment is worthless if the Court of Justice doesn't like it.
The Court's basic approach to construction is always to read the general principle in a broad and purposive fashion, and to construe any derogation in the most narrow, literal manner possible. The trick with treaty amendments is to draft them clearly, which unfortunately the FCO rarely does. For example, the Court effectively annulled protocol (no. 30), which was our supposed opt out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights, in Regina (NS) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2013] QB 102. Protocol 30 was badly drafted and the court made mincemeat of it. It has since made a modest attack on protocol 20, our opt out from Schengen, in R (McCarthy) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] 3 WLR 61. That said, some of the better drafted derogations, such as protocol (no 15) on the euro, and protocol (no 21) on the UK's participation in the "area of freedom, justice and security" do seem to have withstood the test of time.
Why gamble on the Court of Justice, however, when you can leave its jurisdiction altogether?
I have to say provided it is clear that the agreement entered into with Cameron is to be respected and that the EFSM is moribund I personally would not have any problem with a short term bilateral loan from the UK to Greece, repayable out of the refinancing loan when that is available.
Their government has behaved like complete idiots and done their best to destroy their country but the hardship suffered by the people of Greece is very real and, bluntly, tens of thousands, minimum, are going to try to come here if everything falls apart.
That is a completely different cauldron of octopus, Mr. L.. If Cameron wants to propose taking £850m from the DfID budget and GIVING it to Greece, you would not hear me complain. It would certainly be better used doing that than in most of the DfID projects.
£850m would make too much of a hole in their existing programs and budgets but yes, supplying £200m of medical aid (ideally on pharma produced in the UK) would be an excellent idea.
That 33 year old would be 39 now and while its possible that two different men with the same name, age (over time) and city should be tried for very similar offences I suspect strongly that this was not a first time offender and that this was in fact the same man.
The point I was trying to make clear, unsuccessfully it appears, was Mr Llama talking about first time offenders was are we talking about just one offence or a first conviction with multiple offences.
No, Mr. Eagles, it won't do. The question was:
"Do first time offenders of low grade crimes go to prison?"
To which you said
"Yes"
To which I said, I am tempted to cry testicles but am willing to be proved wrong. I am still willing to be proved wrong. If you have the data showing people on first conviction going to prison for non-serious offences then do let me have it.
"Adults who served sentences of less than 12 months, re-offended at a rate of 57.7% compared to 34.4% for those who served sentences of 12 months or more."
I'm looking at non custodial vs custodial reoffending rates.
The realisation that a custodial sentence isn’t necessarily the best sentencing option is long overdue. The Howard League for Penal Reform claims that 61% of those sentenced to less than one year in prison will be reconvicted within two years of release, whereas the re-offending rate for community orders stands at 37%. Such statistics prove that, in many cases, imprisonment is pointless. This does not mean that anyone is advocating putting the public at risk but that prison should be reserved (at least initially) for the most serious cases.
"... good to see you on a certain game's forums. I read a post and thought: "It can't be!"
Aye, that was me, and in no small measure the cause of my absence from this site for the past few months.
What were you doing on there? Could it be that this child care is not as full time as it is cracked out to be? E.g. Nipper goes down for afternoon nap, Daddy leaps into his 'ship for a couple of hours? That sort of thing, mmm? Mummy comes home in evening and takes over allowing Daddy to relax on the computer for a couple of hours, perhaps.
A couple of hours would be luxury,
Alas, I seem to spend more time reading the forums, which I can do on a tablet whilst looking after him without going up to my playroomstudy.
My parents are visiting atm, so I'm doing a rares trading run towards Zeessze in my type-6.
Never mind, one day you will be old and retired and can spend as long as you like on your games (subject to Herself's needs and commands, of course). My mind boggles at what sort of games you will be playing if the advances we have seen in the past thirty years continues - I remember playing the original back in 1984 and thinking it stunning.
One thing about the game is how it has remodeled my playroom and gaming habits. I now have a HOTAS, use voice commands, a head tracker and am currently setting up a user defined keyboard using an old Galaxy Note and the German Roccat software. The game has become a hobby in its own right. I just have to convince herself that replacing my current 32 inch monitor with three new ones would be sensible - could be tricky.
That sounds a brilliant setup. I've got a HOTAS, but I'm avoiding buying anything else until the extensions are out. It's too sad seeing it all get dusty if I can't play for a month.
Glad you're enjoying it - it really is what I've been dreaming of for thirty years ...
On topic, I'm drifting over to Jowell after considering Khan (and Wolmar), and think that's fairly typical of undecided members - that was a good campaign video. I don't think Lammy has a serious shot at it, though Cruddas is championing him.
That 33 year old would be 39 now and while its possible that two different men with the same name, age (over time) and city should be tried for very similar offences I suspect strongly that this was not a first time offender and that this was in fact the same man.
The point I was trying to make clear, unsuccessfully it appears, was Mr Llama talking about first time offenders was are we talking about just one offence or a first conviction with multiple offences.
No, Mr. Eagles, it won't do. The question was:
"Do first time offenders of low grade crimes go to prison?"
To which you said
"Yes"
To which I said, I am tempted to cry testicles but am willing to be proved wrong. I am still willing to be proved wrong. If you have the data showing people on first conviction going to prison for non-serious offences then do let me have it.
And I'll email you the supporting information sometime tomorrow.
Looking at the prison numbers on the ONS and Gov. UK websites, about 64,000 out of 84,000 prisoners (as at 31.12.14) were serving sentences of 12 months or more. About 43,000 were serving sentences of four years or more. 27% were in prison for violence against the person, and 16% for sexual offences. The UK jails more rapists than any other European country. These can all be regarded as pretty serious offenders, IMO. Taking them out of circulation is a good thing.
Whether prison is appropriate for the other 20,000 is more questionable. They're divided fairly evenly between prisoners being held on remand, and those serving short sentences (and c.100 fine defaulters).
The real problem is people cycling in and out of prison. If you only go in for a few weeks, it isn't long enough for the convict to think about what they've done, and becomes a badge of honour among your wannabe gangsters. And exposing them to prison in a gradual build-up means they get used to it without shock value - it just becomes a way of life that they get used to, meeting up with mates again when they go back in.
I hadn't appreciated the technicalities of Art 122(2) so usefully explained by Life_in_a_market_town below. But it looks like we haven't got a leg to stand on if we aren't able to block it, and another abject humiliation would have befallen the UK, Dave and George.
Looks like the Germans have got Cameron out of jail.
Not really that's an over-simplification. To look at everything that could happen if you imagine it and twist things accordingly isn't the same as to look at what is happening.
The reality is that five years ago Cameron got an agreement that the EFSM fund would not be used for bailouts and despite some calls for it to be done so now that agreement is still being honoured. If our international partners tried to reneg on an agreement made then it'd be upto Cameron to act in response accordingly but that's not to say it has happened or will happen.
That is putting a rather generous spin on it. The President of the European Union, the chief executive of the European Union, responsible for enacting the treaties, is trying to weasel out of a clear and unanimous agreement by telling us that is wasn't legally binding. It may or may not have been Cameron and Osborne finest moment at the negotiating table, but it tells us in loud clear terms how much these agreements are valued by the EU Commission, and it is under the auspices of this body we are attempting to a renegotiation. Not withstanding the abject failure of the EU to come good on our last deal (Rebate/restructuring CAP) and their dishonesty in their dealing over the WTD which suddenly became a piece of Health & Safety Law rather than Social Law as soon as we tried to use our Social Chapter opt out. Some how despite all this people seem to believe this organisation is the future of our country.
I'm looking at non custodial vs custodial reoffending rates.
The realisation that a custodial sentence isn’t necessarily the best sentencing option is long overdue. The Howard League for Penal Reform claims that 61% of those sentenced to less than one year in prison will be reconvicted within two years of release, whereas the re-offending rate for community orders stands at 37%. Such statistics prove that, in many cases, imprisonment is pointless. This does not mean that anyone is advocating putting the public at risk but that prison should be reserved (at least initially) for the most serious cases.
That argument cuts both ways. It may suggest some people who are currently in prison should not be. It suggests in equal measure, however, that offending and re-offending could be reduced by sentencing those currently sentenced to a term of imprisonment of fewer than twelve months to terms in excess of a year.
I am totally at a loss to understand why a suitable charity is not asking for donations to help ordinary Greek people in their very real hardships. Or have I missed it?
The message has a political flavour and it's a campaign rather than a registered charity (not too surprising as the crisis has only recently become acute), but the appeal is for medical assistance.
Thank you, Nick. I will need to give that organisation some careful thought. Not sure I wish to be 'supporting' a political campaign as well as giving a bit of money to help out.
"Adults who served sentences of less than 12 months, re-offended at a rate of 57.7% compared to 34.4% for those who served sentences of 12 months or more."
I'm looking at non custodial vs custodial reoffending rates.
The realisation that a custodial sentence isn’t necessarily the best sentencing option is long overdue. The Howard League for Penal Reform claims that 61% of those sentenced to less than one year in prison will be reconvicted within two years of release, whereas the re-offending rate for community orders stands at 37%. Such statistics prove that, in many cases, imprisonment is pointless. This does not mean that anyone is advocating putting the public at risk but that prison should be reserved (at least initially) for the most serious cases.
These statistics are highly suspect TSE. There might be a reason that the first category were given jail and the second category were given community sentences like the first category being really bad people as opposed to the usual incompetents. In short it is spurious to argue like is being compared with like when considering their reoffending.
What is clear is that prison for relatively short periods just does not work. No serious rehabilitation work is done, tenancies are lost, even worse people associated with, drugs are consumed, employment prospects reduced and family units disrupted. I have long been of the view that sentences which involve actually serving less than 6 months (so currently less than a year) should be banned.
"Adults who served sentences of less than 12 months, re-offended at a rate of 57.7% compared to 34.4% for those who served sentences of 12 months or more."
I'm looking at non custodial vs custodial reoffending rates.
The realisation that a custodial sentence isn’t necessarily the best sentencing option is long overdue. The Howard League for Penal Reform claims that 61% of those sentenced to less than one year in prison will be reconvicted within two years of release, whereas the re-offending rate for community orders stands at 37%. Such statistics prove that, in many cases, imprisonment is pointless. This does not mean that anyone is advocating putting the public at risk but that prison should be reserved (at least initially) for the most serious cases.
Yet it's an even bigger drop in re-offending to put people away for more than one year, in addition to the fact that they can't commit any crimes to the general public when they are actually behind bars, nor can they act as negative role models to impressionable youth in their area.
I'm looking at non custodial vs custodial reoffending rates.
The realisation that a custodial sentence isn’t necessarily the best sentencing option is long overdue. The Howard League for Penal Reform claims that 61% of those sentenced to less than one year in prison will be reconvicted within two years of release, whereas the re-offending rate for community orders stands at 37%. Such statistics prove that, in many cases, imprisonment is pointless. This does not mean that anyone is advocating putting the public at risk but that prison should be reserved (at least initially) for the most serious cases.
That argument cuts both ways. It may suggest some people who are currently in prison should not be. It suggests in equal measure, however, that offending and re-offending could be reduced by sentencing those currently sentenced to a term of imprisonment of fewer than twelve months to a term in excess of a year.
One of the things I would look at changing the default position of concurrent sentencing and go for consecutive sentencing on the more severe offences.
That 33 year old would be 39 now and while its possible that two different men with the same name, age (over time) and city should be tried for very similar offences I suspect strongly that this was not a first time offender and that this was in fact the same man.
The point I was trying to make clear, unsuccessfully it appears, was Mr Llama talking about first time offenders was are we talking about just one offence or a first conviction with multiple offences.
No, Mr. Eagles, it won't do. The question was:
"Do first time offenders of low grade crimes go to prison?"
To which you said
"Yes"
To which I said, I am tempted to cry testicles but am willing to be proved wrong. I am still willing to be proved wrong. If you have the data showing people on first conviction going to prison for non-serious offences then do let me have it.
And I'll email you the supporting information sometime tomorrow.
Ps good to see you posting again
Come on you have had enough time to find examples without having to delay it further
Do first time offenders of low grade crimes go to prison?
If so, what are the offences that come into your definition of the category
"Adults who served sentences of less than 12 months, re-offended at a rate of 57.7% compared to 34.4% for those who served sentences of 12 months or more."
I'm looking at non custodial vs custodial reoffending rates.
The realisation that a custodial sentence isn’t necessarily the best sentencing option is long overdue. The Howard League for Penal Reform claims that 61% of those sentenced to less than one year in prison will be reconvicted within two years of release, whereas the re-offending rate for community orders stands at 37%. Such statistics prove that, in many cases, imprisonment is pointless. This does not mean that anyone is advocating putting the public at risk but that prison should be reserved (at least initially) for the most serious cases.
It's hard to take seriously an argument that "street fighting, domestic violence, and sexual offences should not result in a prison sentence, at least at first."
There may well be reasons why a prison sentence would not be appropriate in individual cases (the degree of harm that the perpetrator has inflicted may be minor, there may be mitigating factors) but it would seem to be that imprisonment has to be appropriate in many such cases.
"... good to see you on a certain game's forums. I read a post and thought: "It can't be!"
Aye, that was me, and in no small measure the cause of my absence from this site for the past few months.
What were you doing on there? Could it be that this child care is not as full time as it is cracked out to be? E.g. Nipper goes down for afternoon nap, Daddy leaps into his 'ship for a couple of hours? That sort of thing, mmm? Mummy comes home in evening and takes over allowing Daddy to relax on the computer for a couple of hours, perhaps.
A couple of hours would be luxury,
Alas, I seem to spend more time reading the forums, which I can do on a tablet whilst looking after him without going up to my playroomstudy.
My parents are visiting atm, so I'm doing a rares trading run towards Zeessze in my type-6.
Never mind, one day you will be old and retired and can spend as long as you like on your games (subject to Herself's needs and commands, of course). My mind boggles at what sort of games you will be playing if the advances we have seen in the past thirty years continues - I remember playing the original back in 1984 and thinking it stunning.
One thing about the game is how it has remodeled my playroom and gaming habits. I now have a HOTAS, use voice commands, a head tracker and am currently setting up a user defined keyboard using an old Galaxy Note and the German Roccat software. The game has become a hobby in its own right. I just have to convince herself that replacing my current 32 inch monitor with three new ones would be sensible - could be tricky.
That sounds a brilliant setup. I've got a HOTAS, but I'm avoiding buying anything else until the extensions are out. It's too sad seeing it all get dusty if I can't play for a month.
Glad you're enjoying it - it really is what I've been dreaming of for thirty years ...
Mr. Jessop, I really, really do recommend getting a head tracker. It makes a huge difference to the game and it need not be expensive. I bought a Delan Clip for £23.99 and use it with the freeware OpenTrack and it is as good as my mates £169 TrackIR 5 (and you get the chance to do business with the magnificent Thomasz, a truly great guy - do mention my name).
For the voice stuff I use Voice Attack, great bit of kit for a mere six quid from a bunch of Septics. Works a treat on any game, just takes time to set up.
And I guess that is your problem - time. Perhaps you could get Mrs. J. to take a few days leave ....
One of the things I would look at changing the default position of concurrent sentencing and go for consecutive sentencing on the more severe offences.
Agreed, the "principle of totality" is something that is justifiable in principle, but has been used excessively to discount consecutive sentences. The basic problem in this area is that politicians want sentences which, if executed in full, would lead to a prison population of 200,000, on a budget and infrastructure for a third of that number. They also aren't willing to get rid of JPs' ability to pass custodial sentences, which, as @DavidL observes, is generally counter-productive. Then there is the mad legacy of the IPP-program, one of David Blunkett's finest achievements.
The point I think I've not explained very well current sentencing doesn't work as well as it should.
We need to make it better, that means some people shouldn't go to prison and some should be in for longer than they are currently are in for.
What are the low grade offences that first time offenders currently go to prison for? I take it these are those ones you think should not get a custodial sentence, those that prompted your "yes" to my original question
With regard to prison (or other sentences): The statistics which are being quoted (less than versus more than 12 months, prison versus non-prison) are comparing two different populations in each case, so re-offending rates are likely to be different, irrespective of the effects (or not) of prison. A randomised trial would be the way to sort this out... pick some middling offences and randomise convicts to either a suitable prison sentence or a suitable community sentence.
More realistically, I agree that there are plenty of people who shouldn't be in prison and plenty who should be in for longer. Jailing people for the correct length of time and building the jails to match that, rather than tailoring jail sentences to prison spaces would be a start. Similarly finding some way of avoiding the nonsense of jailing people for X years and then immediately announcing that they'll automatically be released in 1/2 X years would be good.
The point I think I've not explained very well current sentencing doesn't work as well as it should.
We need to make it better, that means some people shouldn't go to prison and some should be in for longer than they are currently are in for.
What are the low grade offences that first time offenders currently go to prison for? I take it these are those ones you think should not get a custodial sentence, those that prompted your "yes" to my original question
I'm thinking of fraud and theft, particularly in relation to white collar crime.
I'm thinking of fraud and theft, particularly in relation to white collar crime.
The starting point for a first time offender convicted after trial of theft of less than £2,000 is a community order. Where a first time offender defrauds someone of less than £12,500 and his culpability is low, the starting point is a community order.
I'm shocked, shocked... Secret IMF report reveals EU numbers on Greece don’t add up... the Greeks will have debts of 200% of GDP over next couple of years. Wowser.
Porte and Thomas are going to have a fun couple of days now having to close down attacks.
I've got a long term bet on Froome to win 5 or more TdFs.
USADA looking the most likely to bust it at this point.
I think it will be Brailsford who will be the one to bust it as he will almost certainly give Thomas a turn in the Oxygen Tent in 2017 (or possibly next year if he persuades Froome to go Giro/Vuelta).
Sky rode great today but I think it was a mistake to have Thomas pull before Porte given their respective standings in the GC after Thomas proved himself climbing in the Tour de Suisse. I hope they reverse that order for the next big summit finishes.
If there is a criticism of Brailsford it's that he doesn't focus on secondary targets at all. Any other DS would be focusing more on getting Thomas on the podium but I doubt that Brailsford will give that more than passing consideration.
Mr. Jessop, I really, really do recommend getting a head tracker. It makes a huge difference to the game and it need not be expensive. I bought a Delan Clip for £23.99 and use it with the freeware OpenTrack and it is as good as my mates £169 TrackIR 5 (and you get the chance to do business with the magnificent Thomasz, a truly great guy - do mention my name).
For the voice stuff I use Voice Attack, great bit of kit for a mere six quid from a bunch of Septics. Works a treat on any game, just takes time to set up.
And I guess that is your problem - time. Perhaps you could get Mrs. J. to take a few days leave ....
Ah, thanks for the recommendations. I hadn't heard of Delan, so I'll have a looksee.
Time is the biggest problem, but I might have a week or two off soon. The only problem is I've got three weeks worth of work to do on the house and I'm too much of a skinflint to pay someone to do it ...
The point I think I've not explained very well current sentencing doesn't work as well as it should.
We need to make it better, that means some people shouldn't go to prison and some should be in for longer than they are currently are in for.
What are the low grade offences that first time offenders currently go to prison for? I take it these are those ones you think should not get a custodial sentence, those that prompted your "yes" to my original question
I'm thinking of fraud and theft, particularly in relation to white collar crime.
Right... and people that go to prison for those offences first time of asking are incarcerated in the kind of places where they were, as you quoted;
"...murdered, killed themselves, self-harmed and were victims of assaults"
So... what's the state of play with Greece, then? IMF saying the figures are fictional, us and the Germans don't want the bridging loan, the Greeks run out of money tomorrow, yes?
I'm shocked, shocked... Secret IMF report reveals EU numbers on Greece don’t add up... the Greeks will have debts of 200% of GDP over next couple of years. Wowser.
The analysis warned Europe leaders would have to breach the treaties of the European Union and forgive a large portion of the debt, or concede to extending repayment maturities by an additional 30 years.
I'm shocked, shocked... Secret IMF report reveals EU numbers on Greece don’t add up... the Greeks will have debts of 200% of GDP over next couple of years. Wowser.
The analysis warned Europe leaders would have to breach the treaties of the European Union and forgive a large portion of the debt, or concede to extending repayment maturities by an additional 30 years.
Hells bells....
HL: You’ve said creditors objected to you because “I try and talk economics in the Eurogroup, which nobody does.” What happened when you did?
YV: It’s not that it didn’t go down well – it’s that there was point blank refusal to engage in economic arguments. Point blank. … You put forward an argument that you’ve really worked on – to make sure it’s logically coherent – and you’re just faced with blank stares. It is as if you haven’t spoken. What you say is independent of what they say. You might as well have sung the Swedish national anthem – you’d have got the same reply. And that’s startling, for somebody who’s used to academic debate. … The other side always engages. Well there was no engagement at all. It was not even annoyance, it was as if one had not spoken.
Most criminals in my experience get their first taste of jail for non payment of fines or compensation payments. And many of these are indeed first offenders. A power to deduct fines from benefits etc seems an obvious solution.
Is it not possible to deduct fines from benefits in Scotland?
Deduction from benefits is standard practice here in England, although the maximum rate is £5 per week, and such deductions cannot be made from the likes of sickness or disability benefits.
On the subject of prison vs community sentences, it is my observation as a magistrate that offenders seldom embrace community sentences as a way of paying society back for their crimes. It is usually the fear of going to prison that makes them conform.
I suspect that community sentences produce lower re-offending rates, not because of their punitive element, but as a consequence of the various drink, drugs, thinking skills, and anger management courses that are usually attached to such orders, upon probation's advice. Short prison sentences do not provide opportunity for such training.
I am usually pretty disappointed when it becomes necessary to imprison somebody, but in many cases this usually means that we have exhausted all of our other options.
There is currently quite a push for probation to collect people upon their release from prison, in order to get them into housing and signed up for benefits, because it is recognised that this in itself will remove some of the incentives to immediately re-offend.
Most criminals in my experience get their first taste of jail for non payment of fines or compensation payments. And many of these are indeed first offenders. A power to deduct fines from benefits etc seems an obvious solution.
Is it not possible to deduct fines from benefits in Scotland?
Deduction from benefits is standard practice here in England, although the maximum rate is £5 per week, and such deductions cannot be made from the likes of sickness or disability benefits.
On the subject of prison vs community sentences, it is my observation as a magistrate that offenders seldom embrace community sentences as a way of paying society back for their crimes. It is usually the fear of going to prison that makes them conform.
I suspect that community sentences produce lower re-offending rates, not because of their punitive element, but as a consequence of the various drink, drugs, thinking skills, and anger management courses that are usually attached to such orders, upon probation's advice. Short prison sentences do not provide opportunity for such training.
I am usually pretty disappointed when it becomes necessary to imprison somebody, but in many cases this usually means that we have exhausted all of our other options.
There is currently quite a push for probation to collect people upon their release from prison, in order to get them into housing and signed up for benefits, because it is recognised that this in itself will remove some of the incentives to immediately re-offend.
So... what's the state of play with Greece, then? IMF saying the figures are fictional, us and the Germans don't want the bridging loan, the Greeks run out of money tomorrow, yes?
You know the other day the papers were full of how a deal had been cobbled together at the last minute? Well, that deal wasn't really a deal or at least not one that actually addressed the problems.
Each time the Eurozone try and kick the can down the road the period between the "deal" being announced and it falling apart gets shorter. The first attempt lasted for a couple of years before it became blindingly obvious even to the Eurozone fanatics that it wasn't going to work. This latest one has lasted less than a couple of days. Maybe the next will be declared hopelessly flawed before it has even been signed.
"... good to see you on a certain game's forums. I read a post and thought: "It can't be!"
Aye, that was me, and in no small measure the cause of my absence from this site for the past few months.
What were you doing on there? Could it be that this child care is not as full time as it is cracked out to be? E.g. Nipper goes down for afternoon nap, Daddy leaps into his 'ship for a couple of hours? That sort of thing, mmm? Mummy comes home in evening and takes over allowing Daddy to relax on the computer for a couple of hours, perhaps.
A couple of hours would be luxury,
Alas, I seem to spend more time reading the forums, which I can do on a tablet whilst looking after him without going up to my playroomstudy.
My parents are visiting atm, so I'm doing a rares trading run towards Zeessze in my type-6.
Never mind, one day you will be old and retired and can spend as long as you like on your games (subject to Herself's needs and commands, of course). My mind boggles at what sort of games you will be playing if the advances we have seen in the past thirty years continues - I remember playing the original back in 1984 and thinking it stunning.
One thing about the game is how it has remodeled my playroom and gaming habits. I now have a HOTAS, use voice commands, a head tracker and am currently setting up a user defined keyboard using an old Galaxy Note and the German Roccat software. The game has become a hobby in its own right. I just have to convince herself that replacing my current 32 inch monitor with three new ones would be sensible - could be tricky.
That sounds a brilliant setup. I've got a HOTAS, but I'm avoiding buying anything else until the extensions are out. It's too sad seeing it all get dusty if I can't play for a month.
Glad you're enjoying it - it really is what I've been dreaming of for thirty years ...
Can I ask what game this is? I'm thinking of getting a HOTAS and am looking for a game to go with it.
It's demented (as is the notion we could be forced by bloody foreigners to hurl almost a billion quid into the abyss of their idiocy, but that's another point).
I'm shocked, shocked... Secret IMF report reveals EU numbers on Greece don’t add up... the Greeks will have debts of 200% of GDP over next couple of years. Wowser.
The point I think I've not explained very well current sentencing doesn't work as well as it should.
We need to make it better, that means some people shouldn't go to prison and some should be in for longer than they are currently are in for.
I think we have developed a populist hang 'em and flog 'em culture, where victims of crime look for the criminal to be personally destroyed as well as punished, and are willing to denounce courts that "get it wrong".
Through:
Victim impact statements before sentencing. Appeals aganist sentences. Politicians responding to campaigns. A move away from innocent until proven guilty - eg punishment by media demonisation first, and police trolling for such. Compensation claims against defendants. A rhetopric that without jail sentences everything is a slap on the wrist.
In particular, some Lib Left have become more Daily Mail than the Daily Mail, joining those on the right.
There's also plenty of inconsistent practice in there - eg sentencing guidelines men vs women.
"... good to see you on a certain game's forums. I read a post and thought: "It can't be!"
Aye, that was me, and in no small measure the cause of my absence from this site for the past few months.
What were you doing on there? Could it be that this child care is not as full time as it is cracked out to be? E.g. Nipper goes down for afternoon nap, Daddy leaps into his 'ship for a couple of hours? That sort of thing, mmm? Mummy comes home in evening and takes over allowing Daddy to relax on the computer for a couple of hours, perhaps.
A couple of hours would be luxury,
Alas, I seem to spend more time reading the forums, which I can do on a tablet whilst looking after him without going up to my playroomstudy.
My parents are visiting atm, so I'm doing a rares trading run towards Zeessze in my type-6.
Never mind, one day you will be old and retired and can spend as long as you like on your games (subject to Herself's needs and commands, of course). My mind boggles at what sort of games you will be playing if the advances we have seen in the past thirty years continues - I remember playing the original back in 1984 and thinking it stunning.
One thing about the game is how it has remodeled my playroom and gaming habits. I now have a HOTAS, use voice commands, a head tracker and am currently setting up a user defined keyboard using an old Galaxy Note and the German Roccat software. The game has become a hobby in its own right. I just have to convince herself that replacing my current 32 inch monitor with three new ones would be sensible - could be tricky.
That sounds a brilliant setup. I've got a HOTAS, but I'm avoiding buying anything else until the extensions are out. It's too sad seeing it all get dusty if I can't play for a month.
Glad you're enjoying it - it really is what I've been dreaming of for thirty years ...
Can I ask what game this is? I'm thinking of getting a HOTAS and am looking for a game to go with it.
Elite Dangerous, Mr. Thompson, what else. Mind you if you want a game that demands a HOTAS and head tracking and is stunningly good fun despite being pretty hard core then may I recommend Rise of Flight (a WWI flight sim), or if you fancy something a little more modern then go for Cliffs of Dover.
More realistically, I agree that there are plenty of people who shouldn't be in prison and plenty who should be in for longer. Jailing people for the correct length of time and building the jails to match that, rather than tailoring jail sentences to prison spaces would be a start.
There's a good website for people to try out the sentencing considerations for different types of offence and compare what they think should be awarded to the actual average:
I am totally at a loss to understand why a suitable charity is not asking for donations to help ordinary Greek people in their very real hardships. Or have I missed it?
The message has a political flavour and it's a campaign rather than a registered charity (not too surprising as the crisis has only recently become acute), but the appeal is for medical assistance.
Thank you, Nick. I will need to give that organisation some careful thought. Not sure I wish to be 'supporting' a political campaign as well as giving a bit of money to help out.
One option would be to send them a donation but say that you don't necessarily agree with their politicised comments, and would not like your donation used for political statements ("We have raised £120,000 from people outraged at the treatment of the Greek people", that sort of thing). You'd achieve a double effect - both the actual help and a constraint on them misusing the funds they get. No doubt many donors will in fact share their views, but it would be improper if they said all did. Or you could ask the Greek organisation who have appealed for the medical aid - they're on info@solidarity4all.gr .
Elite Dangerous, Mr. Thompson, what else. Mind you if you want a game that demands a HOTAS and head tracking and is stunningly good fun despite being pretty hard core then may I recommend Rise of Flight (a WWI flight sim), or if you fancy something a little more modern then go for Cliffs of Dover.
I'm normally more interested in the trade and economy side than just battles, eg currently playing X3: Albion Prelude (still 100x better than its sequel flop X Rebirth). Torn between Elite and Star Citizen. Is the economic side good in Elite?
So... what's the state of play with Greece, then? IMF saying the figures are fictional, us and the Germans don't want the bridging loan, the Greeks run out of money tomorrow, yes?
You know the other day the papers were full of how a deal had been cobbled together at the last minute? Well, that deal wasn't really a deal or at least not one that actually addressed the problems.
Each time the Eurozone try and kick the can down the road the period between the "deal" being announced and it falling apart gets shorter. The first attempt lasted for a couple of years before it became blindingly obvious even to the Eurozone fanatics that it wasn't going to work. This latest one has lasted less than a couple of days. Maybe the next will be declared hopelessly flawed before it has even been signed.
Mr L I see we are thinking along similar lines, just GIVE the Greeks the money. Does anyone seriously imagine the loan will ever be repaid ?
Then invite the rest of Europe to match us.
Schauble's head might just explode at this point, making the £850m value for money.
Hilarious. Did the guy not realise he was on telly? :-)
Angry, aggressive, shouty, man.
That clip be will be played over and over again in the run up to the next GE if he's elected leader.
I tend to disagree - thought the interviewer was vastly over-aggressive and somewhat bullying. If skilful questions are asked quietly and the response listened to and digested, it is quite easy for the person interviewed to say the wrong thing.
Increasing the prison population does work - though blind racism and failed drugs policies don't. We keep hearing about the recidivism rate of people after release from prison or after a community service sentence, but what's not discussed is the recidivism rate while inside prison. Recidivism from inside prison is inevitably much lower.
Its not prison sentences that don't work, its releasing people from prison that doesn't work.
Elite Dangerous, Mr. Thompson, what else. Mind you if you want a game that demands a HOTAS and head tracking and is stunningly good fun despite being pretty hard core then may I recommend Rise of Flight (a WWI flight sim), or if you fancy something a little more modern then go for Cliffs of Dover.
I'm normally more interested in the trade and economy side than just battles, eg currently playing X3: Albion Prelude (still 100x better than its sequel flop X Rebirth). Torn between Elite and Star Citizen. Is the economic side good in Elite?
Elite Dangerous, Mr. Thompson, what else. Mind you if you want a game that demands a HOTAS and head tracking and is stunningly good fun despite being pretty hard core then may I recommend Rise of Flight (a WWI flight sim), or if you fancy something a little more modern then go for Cliffs of Dover.
I'm normally more interested in the trade and economy side than just battles, eg currently playing X3: Albion Prelude (still 100x better than its sequel flop X Rebirth). Torn between Elite and Star Citizen. Is the economic side good in Elite?
I wouldn't actually say good, Mr. Thompson, but it is there and it does work as does the politics. However, Elite has one very big advantage over Star Citizen - it actually exists and can be purchased and played.
So... what's the state of play with Greece, then? IMF saying the figures are fictional, us and the Germans don't want the bridging loan, the Greeks run out of money tomorrow, yes?
You know the other day the papers were full of how a deal had been cobbled together at the last minute? Well, that deal wasn't really a deal or at least not one that actually addressed the problems.
Each time the Eurozone try and kick the can down the road the period between the "deal" being announced and it falling apart gets shorter. The first attempt lasted for a couple of years before it became blindingly obvious even to the Eurozone fanatics that it wasn't going to work. This latest one has lasted less than a couple of days. Maybe the next will be declared hopelessly flawed before it has even been signed.
The first one was never intended to help Greece, whatever may have been said. It was intended to help the banks (many of them German) who had lent money to Greece. It worked brilliantly from that perspective.
I wonder why the IMF has chosen today to "leak" its secret report.
Screaming Eagles posts saying that first time offenders for white collar theft and fraud are being imprisoned in jails where they are murdered, commit suicide and self harm has really opened my eyes
I thought they would be in open prisons. This isn't on
I might start a change.org petition on the back of it.. any press reports of such instances would be welcome, please share, I am sure you will all sign
So... what's the state of play with Greece, then? IMF saying the figures are fictional, us and the Germans don't want the bridging loan, the Greeks run out of money tomorrow, yes?
You know the other day the papers were full of how a deal had been cobbled together at the last minute? Well, that deal wasn't really a deal or at least not one that actually addressed the problems.
Each time the Eurozone try and kick the can down the road the period between the "deal" being announced and it falling apart gets shorter. The first attempt lasted for a couple of years before it became blindingly obvious even to the Eurozone fanatics that it wasn't going to work. This latest one has lasted less than a couple of days. Maybe the next will be declared hopelessly flawed before it has even been signed.
Mr L I see we are thinking along similar lines, just GIVE the Greeks the money. Does anyone seriously imagine the loan will ever be repaid ?
Then invite the rest of Europe to match us.
Schauble's head might just explode at this point, making the £850m value for money.
Spot on, Mr B.. The Greeks are terminally screwed and there is no point in pretending that they will ever repay the money they owe already so "lending" them more is never going to be a solution.
By putting the DfID's damn fool projects on promoting "Wimmin's issues" in Gujarat and the like on hold the UK could probably stump up the best part of £10bn without increasing our own debt and without doing any damage to anyone save some professional parasites.
"Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has warned of "potentially high numbers of pupils" disappearing from school registers in Birmingham and Tower Hamlets in east London.
Sir Michael said this "serious safeguarding issue" emerged as inspectors made follow-up visits after the so-called Trojan Horse inquiries.
The chief inspector said it was unclear where some pupils had gone next.
The Department for Education said it would take "immediate steps"."
Labour leadership frontrunner Andy Burnham has vowed to 'mobilise' protests against Tory plans to make it harder for trade unions to call strikes.
Mr Burnham said the Government's proposals were part of a 'campaign of demonisation' against unions and pledged to personally lead a campaign against them if he is elected Labour leader.
It comes as ministers prepare to unveil proposals tomorrow which would force unions to achieve a turnout in strike ballots of at least 50 per cent for staging a walkout.
That's a lot people within, I would assume, the margin of error. A bit embarrassing to those who won't even get to the debates if the average of polls is similar
That's a lot people within, I would assume, the margin of error. A bit embarrassing to those who won't even get to the debates if the average of polls is similar
Indeed, based on this poll, only the top 10 make the cut so Christie and below are touch and go and Fiorina and below certainly will miss it
Elite Dangerous, Mr. Thompson, what else. Mind you if you want a game that demands a HOTAS and head tracking and is stunningly good fun despite being pretty hard core then may I recommend Rise of Flight (a WWI flight sim), or if you fancy something a little more modern then go for Cliffs of Dover.
I'm normally more interested in the trade and economy side than just battles, eg currently playing X3: Albion Prelude (still 100x better than its sequel flop X Rebirth). Torn between Elite and Star Citizen. Is the economic side good in Elite?
Elite Dangerous, Mr. Thompson, what else. Mind you if you want a game that demands a HOTAS and head tracking and is stunningly good fun despite being pretty hard core then may I recommend Rise of Flight (a WWI flight sim), or if you fancy something a little more modern then go for Cliffs of Dover.
I'm normally more interested in the trade and economy side than just battles, eg currently playing X3: Albion Prelude (still 100x better than its sequel flop X Rebirth). Torn between Elite and Star Citizen. Is the economic side good in Elite?
I wouldn't actually say good, Mr. Thompson, but it is there and it does work as does the politics. However, Elite has one very big advantage over Star Citizen - it actually exists and can be purchased and played.
Ah the Elite series continues it's unbroken record of "don't worry about good, it's there and it works. Kinda."
Labour leadership frontrunner Andy Burnham has vowed to 'mobilise' protests against Tory plans to make it harder for trade unions to call strikes.
Mr Burnham said the Government's proposals were part of a 'campaign of demonisation' against unions and pledged to personally lead a campaign against them if he is elected Labour leader.
It comes as ministers prepare to unveil proposals tomorrow which would force unions to achieve a turnout in strike ballots of at least 50 per cent for staging a walkout.
That's a lot people within, I would assume, the margin of error. A bit embarrassing to those who won't even get to the debates if the average of polls is similar
Indeed, based on this poll, only the top 10 make the cut so Christie and below are touch and go and Fiorina and below certainly will miss it
Disappointing to see Jindal on only 2% whilst the likes of Cruz and Rubio are happy to flood the US jobs market with hundreds of thousands of H1B visa holders. This is whilst big IT companies such as IBM and Microsoft are laying off tens of thousands of employees each.
A very politically incorrect and unfashionable view is that there are probably too many men in jail and too few women since most judges are older men who take pity on the mostly young women who come before them for sentencing. At the same time they often have no problem sending young men to jail for relatively minor crimes since crime is what young men "do", they're the usual suspects.
"Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has warned of "potentially high numbers of pupils" disappearing from school registers in Birmingham and Tower Hamlets in east London.
Sir Michael said this "serious safeguarding issue" emerged as inspectors made follow-up visits after the so-called Trojan Horse inquiries.
The chief inspector said it was unclear where some pupils had gone next.
The Department for Education said it would take "immediate steps"."
'Screaming Eagles posts saying that first time offenders for white collar theft and fraud are being imprisoned in jails where they are murdered, commit suicide and self harm'
Will if that is true you might think it would have some deterrent effect. And in any case there is a simple solution - these offenders should not commit imprisonable offences,
Labour leadership frontrunner Andy Burnham has vowed to 'mobilise' protests against Tory plans to make it harder for trade unions to call strikes.
Mr Burnham said the Government's proposals were part of a 'campaign of demonisation' against unions and pledged to personally lead a campaign against them if he is elected Labour leader.
It comes as ministers prepare to unveil proposals tomorrow which would force unions to achieve a turnout in strike ballots of at least 50 per cent for staging a walkout.
At the way labour are going they may end up with fewer seats than the lib dems!!
Farron will be a pretty leftwing leader of the LDs, while Burnham has said he will oppose the plans in the Commons he is not quite as 'rabble rousing' as the Mail points out
That's a lot people within, I would assume, the margin of error. A bit embarrassing to those who won't even get to the debates if the average of polls is similar
Indeed, based on this poll, only the top 10 make the cut so Christie and below are touch and go and Fiorina and below certainly will miss it
Disappointing to see Jindal on only 2% whilst the likes of Cruz and Rubio are happy to flood the US jobs market with hundreds of thousands of H1B visa holders. This is whilst big IT companies such as IBM and Microsoft are laying off tens of thousands of employees each.
Well you will be pleased to see Trump in second then given his recent anti immigration rhetoric
I quite agree. I've given evidence twice against female defendants - one got community service for her part in organising theft from her employer of £25k of mobile phones. The other got off after 10 instances of threatening behaviour and ABH.
On another occasion I reported £12500 in employee theft to the police, gave chapter and verse and they didn't bother to even arrest her.
A very politically incorrect and unfashionable view is that there are probably too many men in jail and too few women since most judges are older men who take pity on the mostly young women who come before them for sentencing. At the same time they often have no compunction in sending young men to jail for relatively minor crimes.
'Screaming Eagles posts saying that first time offenders for white collar theft and fraud are being imprisoned in jails where they are murdered, commit suicide and self harm'
Will if that is true you might think it would have some deterrent effect. And in any case there is a simple solution - these offenders should not commit imprisonable offences,
Perhaps too few people realise that they are risking capital punishment if they stick their fingers in the till.
One option would be to send them a donation but say that you don't necessarily agree with their politicised comments, and would not like your donation used for political statements ("We have raised £120,000 from people outraged at the treatment of the Greek people", that sort of thing). You'd achieve a double effect - both the actual help and a constraint on them misusing the funds they get. No doubt many donors will in fact share their views, but it would be improper if they said all did. Or you could ask the Greek organisation who have appealed for the medical aid - they're on info@solidarity4all.gr .
Thank you once again, Nick, two valuable tips (non-betting sense!).
"Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has warned of "potentially high numbers of pupils" disappearing from school registers in Birmingham and Tower Hamlets in east London.
Sir Michael said this "serious safeguarding issue" emerged as inspectors made follow-up visits after the so-called Trojan Horse inquiries.
The chief inspector said it was unclear where some pupils had gone next.
The Department for Education said it would take "immediate steps"."
If they are under the school-leaving age, the parents have a responsibility to ensure that they either attend schooling or otherwise get appropriate home schooling. So the obvious thing to do is to ask the parents where the child is and not be content with woolly answers, such as "gone away to grandparents" or such-like.
Ask for specifics: address / contact details etc and then speak to the child concerned, preferably in an environment away from any pressure.
And if the family cannot or won't give specifics then prosecute. Take steps to safeguard the other children e.g. by making them wards of court, for instance.
This stuff happens beause - in addition to whatever cultural pressures there may be - there is no downside for the parents. Dealing with the former will take time. But we can - and should - do something about the latter.
The risk is not just radicalisation but forced marriage etc and we have an obligation to those children - our children, British citizens, dammit - to protect them. The Alibhai Brown article I referred to earlier shows what happens when we do nothing.
Most criminals in my experience get their first taste of jail for non payment of fines or compensation payments. And many of these are indeed first offenders. A power to deduct fines from benefits etc seems an obvious solution.
Is it not possible to deduct fines from benefits in Scotland?
Deduction from benefits is standard practice here in England, although the maximum rate is £5 per week, and such deductions cannot be made from the likes of sickness or disability benefits.
On the subject of prison vs community sentences, it is my observation as a magistrate that offenders seldom embrace community sentences as a way of paying society back for their crimes. It is usually the fear of going to prison that makes them conform.
I suspect that community sentences produce lower re-offending rates, not because of their punitive element, but as a consequence of the various drink, drugs, thinking skills, and anger management courses that are usually attached to such orders, upon probation's advice. Short prison sentences do not provide opportunity for such training.
I am usually pretty disappointed when it becomes necessary to imprison somebody, but in many cases this usually means that we have exhausted all of our other options.
There is currently quite a push for probation to collect people upon their release from prison, in order to get them into housing and signed up for benefits, because it is recognised that this in itself will remove some of the incentives to immediately re-offend.
Sorry, getting distracted by work. A fines enforcement Officer can apply for a deduction from benefits order if someone is in default of a fine but such an order can only be made against JSA, IS and Pension Credit. So someone on disability, for example, is not covered.
As you describe in England that allows deduction at £5 a week (technically £9 I think but always £5).
They just couldn’t help themselves. After a couple of weeks of creeping around the corridors of Westminster, the Nationalists from Scotland fell flat on their faces at the first hurdle. Such is their bigotry that the temptation to fall in line with Labour – sworn enemy north of the border - and give a bloody nose to those they erroneously believe to be English toffs was just too much for them to resist.
But have they fallen for the sucker punch? Perhaps they should have stopped to think: “Why are the Tories introducing something that is so far down their list of priorities so early in this Government?”
Might it be that such an obviously English [and Welsh] Bill was the perfect trap to expose the SNP’s true colours? And the truth is now out in the open: the SNP will be happy to stick their oar into all things English and Welsh, however trivial they may be, whenever they feel like it. They will be happy to hover like opportunistic hyenas waiting for the slightest split amongst the Tories.
So... what's the state of play with Greece, then? IMF saying the figures are fictional, us and the Germans don't want the bridging loan, the Greeks run out of money tomorrow, yes?
You know the other day the papers were full of how a deal had been cobbled together at the last minute? Well, that deal wasn't really a deal or at least not one that actually addressed the problems.
Each time the Eurozone try and kick the can down the road the period between the "deal" being announced and it falling apart gets shorter. The first attempt lasted for a couple of years before it became blindingly obvious even to the Eurozone fanatics that it wasn't going to work. This latest one has lasted less than a couple of days. Maybe the next will be declared hopelessly flawed before it has even been signed.
Mr L I see we are thinking along similar lines, just GIVE the Greeks the money. Does anyone seriously imagine the loan will ever be repaid ?
Then invite the rest of Europe to match us.
Schauble's head might just explode at this point, making the £850m value for money.
We could give them some money to help with bridging but their debts are well beyond our capacity to help with.
There is going to have to be a massive write down of the debt, not the pretendy one there was a couple of years ago. To put it into perspective a 30% reduction, like the IMF is talking about, will roughly get the debt/GDP ratio back to what it was then. And it has been demonstrated already that that was no use at all.
I quite agree. I've given evidence twice against female defendants - one got community service for her part in organising theft from her employer of £25k of mobile phones. The other got off after 10 instances of threatening behaviour and ABH.
On another occasion I reported £12500 in employee theft to the police, gave chapter and verse and they didn't bother to even arrest her.
A very politically incorrect and unfashionable view is that there are probably too many men in jail and too few women since most judges are older men who take pity on the mostly young women who come before them for sentencing. At the same time they often have no compunction in sending young men to jail for relatively minor crimes.
An employee stole stock worth £100 000 over a period of years from an uncle of mine, and falsified the stocktaking. She got a suspended sentence, and my uncle never got the money or stock back and had to sell the shop to keep his business viable.
That's a lot people within, I would assume, the margin of error. A bit embarrassing to those who won't even get to the debates if the average of polls is similar
Indeed, based on this poll, only the top 10 make the cut so Christie and below are touch and go and Fiorina and below certainly will miss it
Disappointing to see Jindal on only 2% whilst the likes of Cruz and Rubio are happy to flood the US jobs market with hundreds of thousands of H1B visa holders. This is whilst big IT companies such as IBM and Microsoft are laying off tens of thousands of employees each.
Well you will be pleased to see Trump in second then given his recent anti immigration rhetoric
Not quite sure how you can draw that conclusion.
Being opposed to the abuse of H1B visas = In favour of Trump and his opposition to illegal immigration from Mexico. Two very very different things.
'An employee stole stock worth £100 000 over a period of years from an uncle of mine, and falsified the stocktaking. She got a suspended sentence, and my uncle never got the money or stock back and had to sell the shop to keep his business viable.'
That is of course why serious thefts e.g. of horses etc. used to be hanging offences. The victims of such crimes could lose their livelihoods as a result.
I quite agree. I've given evidence twice against female defendants - one got community service for her part in organising theft from her employer of £25k of mobile phones. The other got off after 10 instances of threatening behaviour and ABH.
On another occasion I reported £12500 in employee theft to the police, gave chapter and verse and they didn't bother to even arrest her.
A very politically incorrect and unfashionable view is that there are probably too many men in jail and too few women since most judges are older men who take pity on the mostly young women who come before them for sentencing. At the same time they often have no compunction in sending young men to jail for relatively minor crimes.
An employee stole stock worth £100 000 over a period of years from an uncle of mine, and falsified the stocktaking. She got a suspended sentence, and my uncle never got the money or stock back and had to sell the shop to keep his business viable.
I had a bizarre case a lot of years ago now where someone was stealing from a garage. He hid his theft by issuing invoices. When they became payable he had to issue more invoices to balance the books. Things rapidly spun out of control and he found himself paying some of the fictitious invoices to cover his tracks. By the time he was arrested he was weeping with relief at getting caught and there was a strong suspicion he had actually paid his employer more than he ever stole.
So... what's the state of play with Greece, then? IMF saying the figures are fictional, us and the Germans don't want the bridging loan, the Greeks run out of money tomorrow, yes?
You know the other day the papers were full of how a deal had been cobbled together at the last minute? Well, that deal wasn't really a deal or at least not one that actually addressed the problems.
Each time the Eurozone try and kick the can down the road the period between the "deal" being announced and it falling apart gets shorter. The first attempt lasted for a couple of years before it became blindingly obvious even to the Eurozone fanatics that it wasn't going to work. This latest one has lasted less than a couple of days. Maybe the next will be declared hopelessly flawed before it has even been signed.
Mr L I see we are thinking along similar lines, just GIVE the Greeks the money. Does anyone seriously imagine the loan will ever be repaid ?
Then invite the rest of Europe to match us.
Schauble's head might just explode at this point, making the £850m value for money.
We could give them some money to help with bridging but their debts are well beyond our capacity to help with.
There is going to have to be a massive write down of the debt, not the pretendy one there was a couple of years ago. To put it into perspective a 30% reduction, like the IMF is talking about, will roughly get the debt/GDP ratio back to what it was then. And it has been demonstrated already that that was no use at all.
But surely, not a write-down up front. After promises, promises, keep coming to nothing, it's time to regard the possibility of a write-down as something to be 'earned' by an attempt to keep the promises?
The Futile 56 have sacrificed any pretence of principles
@JeanHenretty: BBC Question time 19/2/2015 55 minutes - Nicola Sturgeons SNP "would not vote on English fox hunting laws". Oh yes they will. #hypocrites
to sabotage a vote, that, er, isn't happening, right now...
That reminds me of another female employee who did just that by falsifying sales invoices for placing people in jobs - it was about £50k. Obviously when they didn't start working with the client, she kept making excuses, hiding invoices in her briefcase and reissuing them under other names.
As it often happens - she was on holiday when the music stopped. She never came back/reportedly turned up 200 miles away. The stress she was under couldn't possibly have made the £5k in commission she *earned* worthwhile.
I quite agree. I've given evidence twice against female defendants - one got community service for her part in organising theft from her employer of £25k of mobile phones. The other got off after 10 instances of threatening behaviour and ABH.
On another occasion I reported £12500 in employee theft to the police, gave chapter and verse and they didn't bother to even arrest her.
A very politically incorrect and unfashionable view is that there are probably too many men in jail and too few women since most judges are older men who take pity on the mostly young women who come before them for sentencing. At the same time they often have no compunction in sending young men to jail for relatively minor crimes.
An employee stole stock worth £100 000 over a period of years from an uncle of mine, and falsified the stocktaking. She got a suspended sentence, and my uncle never got the money or stock back and had to sell the shop to keep his business viable.
I had a bizarre case a lot of years ago now where someone was stealing from a garage. He hid his theft by issuing invoices. When they became payable he had to issue more invoices to balance the books. Things rapidly spun out of control and he found himself paying some of the fictitious invoices to cover his tracks. By the time he was arrested he was weeping with relief at getting caught and there was a strong suspicion he had actually paid his employer more than he ever stole.
I think we should spend money replacing all the Victorian prisons with modern ones, although it would have to be done at the start of a parliament to avoid a backlash from the public who are never going to be happy with it.
Gambon, 74, who played Hogwarts headmaster Professor Albus Dumbledore in six of the Harry Potter films, admitted jumping the red light in his grey Audi in Shepherd’s Bush, west London, on February 13...
The summons, which was dealt with yesterday, stated the red light was illuminated for 12.7 seconds.
Under the Single Justice Scheme, cases are not dealt with in open public court, but administratively when defendants are happy to admit the offence and not appear.
The court revealed Sir Michael was fined £135, with £85 costs and ordered to pay a £20 victim surcharge. His driving licence was endorsed with three penalty points.
The new pilot is the first time details of cases are not being read out in an open court, and there is no bench made up of three magistrates, no lawyers, no defendant and no access for the press or public.
The introduction of the Single Justice Procedure (SJP) by the Ministry of Justice is the result of a little-noticed provision in a law passed earlier this year.
That reminds me of another female employee who did just that by falsifying sales invoices for placing people in jobs - it was about £50k. Obviously when they didn't start working with the client, she kept making excuses, hiding invoices in her briefcase and reissuing them under other names.
As it often happens - she was on holiday when the music stopped. She never came back/reportedly turned up 200 miles away. The stress she was under couldn't possibly have made the £5k in commission she *earned* worthwhile.
I quite agree. I've given evidence twice against female defendants - one got community service for her part in organising theft from her employer of £25k of mobile phones. The other got off after 10 instances of threatening behaviour and ABH.
On another occasion I reported £12500 in employee theft to the police, gave chapter and verse and they didn't bother to even arrest her.
A very politically incorrect and unfashionable view is that there are probably too many men in jail and too few women since most judges are older men who take pity on the mostly young women who come before them for sentencing. At the same time they often have no compunction in sending young men to jail for relatively minor crimes.
An employee stole stock worth £100 000 over a period of years from an uncle of mine, and falsified the stocktaking. She got a suspended sentence, and my uncle never got the money or stock back and had to sell the shop to keep his business viable.
I had a bizarre case a lot of years ago now where someone was stealing from a garage. He hid his theft by issuing invoices. When they became payable he had to issue more invoices to balance the books. Things rapidly spun out of control and he found himself paying some of the fictitious invoices to cover his tracks. By the time he was arrested he was weeping with relief at getting caught and there was a strong suspicion he had actually paid his employer more than he ever stole.
My uncles employee had a partner with a shop where my uncle was sure the stock was sold. She went to work there after her conviction. After that my uncle shrank his business to two shops so that he could do all the stocktaking and invoicing personally.
Just because a crime is non-violent does not mean no-one gets hurt. Ask any burglary victim about how they feel about someone being in their house and how they sleep.
Ha Ha Ha , the Tories don't like it up em as jonesy used to say
The Tories are in utter disarray.
When they completely bottled it and actually cancelled the vote because the SNP outplayed them so well, they exposed how weak their position was and possibly re-invigorated Labour to start laying into them.
Wasn't just Chris Froome with a devastating performance today.
So... what's the state of play with Greece, then? IMF saying the figures are fictional, us and the Germans don't want the bridging loan, the Greeks run out of money tomorrow, yes?
You know the other day the papers were full of how a deal had been cobbled together at the last minute? Well, that deal wasn't really a deal or at least not one that actually addressed the problems.
Each time the Eurozone try and kick the can down the road the period between the "deal" being announced and it falling apart gets shorter. The first attempt lasted for a couple of years before it became blindingly obvious even to the Eurozone fanatics that it wasn't going to work. This latest one has lasted less than a couple of days. Maybe the next will be declared hopelessly flawed before it has even been signed.
Mr L I see we are thinking along similar lines, just GIVE the Greeks the money. Does anyone seriously imagine the loan will ever be repaid ?
Then invite the rest of Europe to match us.
Schauble's head might just explode at this point, making the £850m value for money.
We could give them some money to help with bridging but their debts are well beyond our capacity to help with.
There is going to have to be a massive write down of the debt, not the pretendy one there was a couple of years ago. To put it into perspective a 30% reduction, like the IMF is talking about, will roughly get the debt/GDP ratio back to what it was then. And it has been demonstrated already that that was no use at all.
But surely, not a write-down up front. After promises, promises, keep coming to nothing, it's time to regard the possibility of a write-down as something to be 'earned' by an attempt to keep the promises?
In effect that is what the Germans have suggested, by an interest free period and extending bond maturity dates provided the Greek structural reforms go ahead as discussed.
Ha Ha Ha , the Tories don't like it up em as jonesy used to say
To be sucker punched you need to actually bee punched.
The Tories didn't just pull the punch, they ended up petrified to even throw it.
It may not have been wise. Scotland (independent or not) would not want an unfriendly neighbour.
The SNP abstaining would have set up an issue that would have discredited the Tories in many peoples eyes, and possibly had quite a significant backbench rebellion.
The lady who got off re threatening behaviour stalked my young male neighbour for months - he was so scared of her that he hid in the dark.
She gave him a black eye, accused him of raping her/had him arrested and he's now left his home empty and gone to live with his mother simply out of fear. He was crushed when the magistrate let her off. And because she was acquitted - he couldn't get a restraining order to keep her away. She had 4 previous for ASB, the police just gave in at the end.
I quite agree. I've given evidence twice against female defendants - one got community service for her part in organising theft from her employer of £25k of mobile phones. The other got off after 10 instances of threatening behaviour and ABH.
On another occasion I reported £12500 in employee theft to the police, gave chapter and verse and they didn't bother to even arrest her.
A very politically incorrect and unfashionable view is that there are probably too many men in jail and too few women since most judges are older men who take pity on the mostly young women who come before them for sentencing. At the same time they often have no compunction in sending young men to jail for relatively minor crimes.
An employee stole stock worth £100 000 over a period of years from an uncle of mine, and falsified the stocktaking. She got a suspended sentence, and my uncle never got the money or stock back and had to sell the shop to keep his business viable.
I had a bizarre case a lot of years ago now where someone was stealing from a garage. He hid his theft by issuing invoices. When they became payable he had to issue more invoices to balance the books. Things rapidly spun out of control and he found himself paying some of the fictitious invoices to cover his tracks. By the time he was arrested he was weeping with relief at getting caught and there was a strong suspicion he had actually paid his employer more than he ever stole.
My uncles employee had a partner with a shop where my uncle was sure the stock was sold. She went to work there after her conviction. After that my uncle shrank his business to two shops so that he could do all the stocktaking and invoicing personally.
Just because a crime is non-violent does not mean no-one gets hurt. Ask any burglary victim about how they feel about someone being in their house and how they sleep.
The Tories dug a great big hole, with a sign over it, saying "Shameless, opportunistic hypocrites only, who lied to their electorate in print and on TV less than 6 months ago"
The lady who got off re threatening behaviour stalked my young male neighbour for months - he was so scared of her that he hid in the dark.
She gave him a black eye, accused him of raping her/had him arrested and he's now left his home empty and gone to live with his mother simply out of fear. He was crushed when the magistrate let her off. And because she was acquitted - he couldn't get a restraining order to keep her away. She had 4 previous for ASB, the police just gave in at the end.
I quite agree. I've given evidence twice against female defendants - one got community service for her part in organising theft from her employer of £25k of mobile phones. The other got off after 10 instances of threatening behaviour and ABH.
On another occasion I reported £12500 in employee theft to the police, gave chapter and verse and they didn't bother to even arrest her.
A very politically incorrect and unfashionable view is that there are probably too many men in jail and too few women since most judges are older men who take pity on the mostly young women who come before them for sentencing. At the same time they often have no compunction in sending young men to jail for relatively minor crimes.
An employee stole stock worth £100 000 over a period of years from an uncle of mine, and falsified the stocktaking. She got a suspended sentence, and my uncle never got the money or stock back and had to sell the shop to keep his business viable.
I had a bizarre case a lot of years ago now where someone was stealing from a garage. He hid his theft by issuing invoices. When they became payable he had to issue more invoices to balance the books. Things rapidly spun out of control and he found himself paying some of the fictitious invoices to cover his tracks. By the time he was arrested he was weeping with relief at getting caught and there was a strong suspicion he had actually paid his employer more than he ever stole.
My uncles employee had a partner with a shop where my uncle was sure the stock was sold. She went to work there after her conviction. After that my uncle shrank his business to two shops so that he could do all the stocktaking and invoicing personally.
Just because a crime is non-violent does not mean no-one gets hurt. Ask any burglary victim about how they feel about someone being in their house and how they sleep.
What's amazing is how women like Vickie Pryce claim there should be even fewer women in jail, because apparently men are to blame for their crimes.
Tbh I don't really understand why the Tories didn't go ahead with the vote tonight. So it might have been lost. Who cares? It would have been better to have this nonsense out of the way and the SNP nowhere else to hide.
Cameron clearly doesn't care or there would have been a vote in the last Parliament.
Labour leadership frontrunner Andy Burnham has vowed to 'mobilise' protests against Tory plans to make it harder for trade unions to call strikes.
Mr Burnham said the Government's proposals were part of a 'campaign of demonisation' against unions and pledged to personally lead a campaign against them if he is elected Labour leader.
It comes as ministers prepare to unveil proposals tomorrow which would force unions to achieve a turnout in strike ballots of at least 50 per cent for staging a walkout.
At the way labour are going they may end up with fewer seats than the lib dems!!
Farron will be a pretty leftwing leader of the LDs, while Burnham has said he will oppose the plans in the Commons he is not quite as 'rabble rousing' as the Mail points out Farron is an extremely good constituency MP , he is very popular locally, and he works hard at it, in an area that was Con, and is a natural con area. I think in this case the constituents vote for the man, not the party , or the politics. I do not think the local appeal will necessarily translate across to a national leader. Meanwhile across the border Morecambe and Lunesdale, Lennox Boyd was OK, but got swept away in the labour landslide, Geraldine Smith got swept in, did her best, and got chucked out in 2010, David Morris is a no body,got re elected, actually with an increase, but does not have anything like the local prescence of Farron. Farron will win, but may cost him locally.
Japanese archaeologists have discovered 24 new geoglyphs on the Nazca Plateau in Peru that were created two centuries earlier that the giant images that the region is famous for.
Archaeologists from the University of Yamagata in Japan made the discovery a mile north of the city of Nazca, in central Peru.
The shapes are mostly geometrical, including a figure resembling a flame, along with what appears to be a llama, with the largest being 20m long.
Comments
The Court's basic approach to construction is always to read the general principle in a broad and purposive fashion, and to construe any derogation in the most narrow, literal manner possible. The trick with treaty amendments is to draft them clearly, which unfortunately the FCO rarely does. For example, the Court effectively annulled protocol (no. 30), which was our supposed opt out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights, in Regina (NS) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2013] QB 102. Protocol 30 was badly drafted and the court made mincemeat of it. It has since made a modest attack on protocol 20, our opt out from Schengen, in R (McCarthy) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] 3 WLR 61. That said, some of the better drafted derogations, such as protocol (no 15) on the euro, and protocol (no 21) on the UK's participation in the "area of freedom, justice and security" do seem to have withstood the test of time.
Why gamble on the Court of Justice, however, when you can leave its jurisdiction altogether?
"Do first time offenders of low grade crimes go to prison?"
To which you said
"Yes"
To which I said, I am tempted to cry testicles but am willing to be proved wrong. I am still willing to be proved wrong. If you have the data showing people on first conviction going to prison for non-serious offences then do let me have it.
The realisation that a custodial sentence isn’t necessarily the best sentencing option is long overdue. The Howard League for Penal Reform claims that 61% of those sentenced to less than one year in prison will be reconvicted within two years of release, whereas the re-offending rate for community orders stands at 37%. Such statistics prove that, in many cases, imprisonment is pointless. This does not mean that anyone is advocating putting the public at risk but that prison should be reserved (at least initially) for the most serious cases.
http://www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk/prison-is-not-working-its-time-for-a-rehabilitation-revolution/
http://www.howardleague.org/fileadmin/howard_league/user/pdf/Consultations/Response_to_Breaking_the_Cycle.pdf
Glad you're enjoying it - it really is what I've been dreaming of for thirty years ...
Ps good to see you posting again
What is clear is that prison for relatively short periods just does not work. No serious rehabilitation work is done, tenancies are lost, even worse people associated with, drugs are consumed, employment prospects reduced and family units disrupted. I have long been of the view that sentences which involve actually serving less than 6 months (so currently less than a year) should be banned.
Do first time offenders of low grade crimes go to prison?
If so, what are the offences that come into your definition of the category
There may well be reasons why a prison sentence would not be appropriate in individual cases (the degree of harm that the perpetrator has inflicted may be minor, there may be mitigating factors) but it would seem to be that imprisonment has to be appropriate in many such cases.
We need to make it better, that means some people shouldn't go to prison and some should be in for longer than they are currently are in for.
Delan Engineering:
http://www.delanengineering.com/
For the voice stuff I use Voice Attack, great bit of kit for a mere six quid from a bunch of Septics. Works a treat on any game, just takes time to set up.
And I guess that is your problem - time. Perhaps you could get Mrs. J. to take a few days leave ....
More realistically, I agree that there are plenty of people who shouldn't be in prison and plenty who should be in for longer. Jailing people for the correct length of time and building the jails to match that, rather than tailoring jail sentences to prison spaces would be a start. Similarly finding some way of avoiding the nonsense of jailing people for X years and then immediately announcing that they'll automatically be released in 1/2 X years would be good.
That clip be will be played over and over again in the run up to the next GE if he's elected leader.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article4497609.ece
Sky rode great today but I think it was a mistake to have Thomas pull before Porte given their respective standings in the GC after Thomas proved himself climbing in the Tour de Suisse. I hope they reverse that order for the next big summit finishes.
If there is a criticism of Brailsford it's that he doesn't focus on secondary targets at all. Any other DS would be focusing more on getting Thomas on the podium but I doubt that Brailsford will give that more than passing consideration.
Time is the biggest problem, but I might have a week or two off soon. The only problem is I've got three weeks worth of work to do on the house and I'm too much of a skinflint to pay someone to do it ...
"...murdered, killed themselves, self-harmed and were victims of assaults"
That does sound bad
So... what's the state of play with Greece, then? IMF saying the figures are fictional, us and the Germans don't want the bridging loan, the Greeks run out of money tomorrow, yes?
HL: You’ve said creditors objected to you because “I try and talk economics in the Eurogroup, which nobody does.” What happened when you did?
YV: It’s not that it didn’t go down well – it’s that there was point blank refusal to engage in economic arguments. Point blank. … You put forward an argument that you’ve really worked on – to make sure it’s logically coherent – and you’re just faced with blank stares. It is as if you haven’t spoken. What you say is independent of what they say. You might as well have sung the Swedish national anthem – you’d have got the same reply. And that’s startling, for somebody who’s used to academic debate. … The other side always engages. Well there was no engagement at all. It was not even annoyance, it was as if one had not spoken.
http://www.newstatesman.com/world-affairs/2015/07/yanis-varoufakis-full-transcript-our-battle-save-greece
Deduction from benefits is standard practice here in England, although the maximum rate is £5 per week, and such deductions cannot be made from the likes of sickness or disability benefits.
On the subject of prison vs community sentences, it is my observation as a magistrate that offenders seldom embrace community sentences as a way of paying society back for their crimes. It is usually the fear of going to prison that makes them conform.
I suspect that community sentences produce lower re-offending rates, not because of their punitive element, but as a consequence of the various drink, drugs, thinking skills, and anger management courses that are usually attached to such orders, upon probation's advice. Short prison sentences do not provide opportunity for such training.
I am usually pretty disappointed when it becomes necessary to imprison somebody, but in many cases this usually means that we have exhausted all of our other options.
There is currently quite a push for probation to collect people upon their release from prison, in order to get them into housing and signed up for benefits, because it is recognised that this in itself will remove some of the incentives to immediately re-offend.
Each time the Eurozone try and kick the can down the road the period between the "deal" being announced and it falling apart gets shorter. The first attempt lasted for a couple of years before it became blindingly obvious even to the Eurozone fanatics that it wasn't going to work. This latest one has lasted less than a couple of days. Maybe the next will be declared hopelessly flawed before it has even been signed.
It's demented (as is the notion we could be forced by bloody foreigners to hurl almost a billion quid into the abyss of their idiocy, but that's another point).
Through:
Victim impact statements before sentencing.
Appeals aganist sentences.
Politicians responding to campaigns.
A move away from innocent until proven guilty - eg punishment by media demonisation first, and police trolling for such.
Compensation claims against defendants.
A rhetopric that without jail sentences everything is a slap on the wrist.
In particular, some Lib Left have become more Daily Mail than the Daily Mail, joining those on the right.
There's also plenty of inconsistent practice in there - eg sentencing guidelines men vs women.
Increasing the prison population does not work. Reform needed, or we may go the USA Way - 1 in 20 black men are in prison in USA (2009). Did it work?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistics_of_incarcerated_African-American_males
http://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/about-sentencing/you-be-the-judge/
I use it a lot in the seminars that I do for foreign delegations.
One option would be to send them a donation but say that you don't necessarily agree with their politicised comments, and would not like your donation used for political statements ("We have raised £120,000 from people outraged at the treatment of the Greek people", that sort of thing). You'd achieve a double effect - both the actual help and a constraint on them misusing the funds they get. No doubt many donors will in fact share their views, but it would be improper if they said all did. Or you could ask the Greek organisation who have appealed for the medical aid - they're on info@solidarity4all.gr .
Then invite the rest of Europe to match us.
Schauble's head might just explode at this point, making the £850m value for money.
Wendoline Morton, Tory MP for Aldridge-Brownhills.
Its not prison sentences that don't work, its releasing people from prison that doesn't work.
I wonder why the IMF has chosen today to "leak" its secret report.
I thought they would be in open prisons. This isn't on
I might start a change.org petition on the back of it.. any press reports of such instances would be welcome, please share, I am sure you will all sign
By putting the DfID's damn fool projects on promoting "Wimmin's issues" in Gujarat and the like on hold the UK could probably stump up the best part of £10bn without increasing our own debt and without doing any damage to anyone save some professional parasites.
Bush – 15% (9)
Trump – 13% (2)
Cruz – 9% (5)
Huckabee – 7% (8)
Walker– 7% (10)
Carson – 6% (11)
Paul – 6% (6)
Rubio – 6% (9)
Christie – 2% (4)
Jindal – 2% (1)
Perry – 2% (4)
Santorum – 2% (3)
Fiorina – 1% (2)
Kasich – 1% (1)
Graham – * (2)
Pataki – * (*)
Undecided – 18% (20)
http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/Donald-Trump-surge-polls-tea-party/2015/07/13/id/654791/
Sir Michael said this "serious safeguarding issue" emerged as inspectors made follow-up visits after the so-called Trojan Horse inquiries.
The chief inspector said it was unclear where some pupils had gone next.
The Department for Education said it would take "immediate steps"."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33520643
Plus ca change.
Will if that is true you might think it would have some deterrent effect. And in any case there is a simple solution - these offenders should not commit imprisonable offences,
Farron will be a pretty leftwing leader of the LDs, while Burnham has said he will oppose the plans in the Commons he is not quite as 'rabble rousing' as the Mail points out
On another occasion I reported £12500 in employee theft to the police, gave chapter and verse and they didn't bother to even arrest her.
I really wonder why I bothered.
Ask for specifics: address / contact details etc and then speak to the child concerned, preferably in an environment away from any pressure.
And if the family cannot or won't give specifics then prosecute. Take steps to safeguard the other children e.g. by making them wards of court, for instance.
This stuff happens beause - in addition to whatever cultural pressures there may be - there is no downside for the parents. Dealing with the former will take time. But we can - and should - do something about the latter.
The risk is not just radicalisation but forced marriage etc and we have an obligation to those children - our children, British citizens, dammit - to protect them. The Alibhai Brown article I referred to earlier shows what happens when we do nothing.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2015/jul/14/greek-crisis-tsipras-political-backlash-bailout-osborne-uk-live#block-55a5103ae4b0710add7752f4
What a farce.
As you describe in England that allows deduction at £5 a week (technically £9 I think but always £5).
There is going to have to be a massive write down of the debt, not the pretendy one there was a couple of years ago. To put it into perspective a 30% reduction, like the IMF is talking about, will roughly get the debt/GDP ratio back to what it was then. And it has been demonstrated already that that was no use at all.
Being opposed to the abuse of H1B visas = In favour of Trump and his opposition to illegal immigration from Mexico. Two very very different things.
http://www.howardleague.org/weekly-prison-watch/
'Ha Ha Ha , the Tories don't like it up em as jonesy used to say'
But they like the 56 useful idiots that reinforce the case for EVEL.
That is of course why serious thefts e.g. of horses etc. used to be hanging offences. The victims of such crimes could lose their livelihoods as a result.
Just an awesome days work. Buckies all round.
As it often happens - she was on holiday when the music stopped. She never came back/reportedly turned up 200 miles away. The stress she was under couldn't possibly have made the £5k in commission she *earned* worthwhile.
Just because a crime is non-violent does not mean no-one gets hurt. Ask any burglary victim about how they feel about someone being in their house and how they sleep.
When they completely bottled it and actually cancelled the vote because the SNP outplayed them so well, they exposed how weak their position was and possibly re-invigorated Labour to start laying into them.
Wasn't just Chris Froome with a devastating performance today.
The Tories didn't just pull the punch, they ended up petrified to even throw it.
The SNP abstaining would have set up an issue that would have discredited the Tories in many peoples eyes, and possibly had quite a significant backbench rebellion.
She gave him a black eye, accused him of raping her/had him arrested and he's now left his home empty and gone to live with his mother simply out of fear. He was crushed when the magistrate let her off. And because she was acquitted - he couldn't get a restraining order to keep her away. She had 4 previous for ASB, the police just gave in at the end.
And the futile 56 jumped in with both feet.
Slick...
Cameron clearly doesn't care or there would have been a vote in the last Parliament.
They already got the win from the SNP they were aiming for
Farron is an extremely good constituency MP , he is very popular locally, and he works hard at it, in an area that was Con, and is a natural con area.
I think in this case the constituents vote for the man, not the party , or the politics.
I do not think the local appeal will necessarily translate across to a national leader.
Meanwhile across the border Morecambe and Lunesdale, Lennox Boyd was OK, but got swept away in the labour landslide, Geraldine Smith got swept in, did her best, and got chucked out in 2010, David Morris is a no body,got re elected, actually with an increase, but does not have anything like the local prescence of Farron.
Farron will win, but may cost him locally.