The world as I knew it has suddenly turned a bit weird. A Justice Secretary with a downer on prisons, a Probation Inspector who thinks the odd murder is acceptable and now - at last - a policy making community which wants to get shot of the Life sentence for murder.
This is not the type of stuff we are used to hearing. It has been so surprising that I haven't known where to begin in writing about it all. The usual frames of reference have vanished.
This also seems to have been the effect on the media. Not even the Daily Mail has gone ballistic in the face of these pronouncements, as though so strangulated by outrage that they are, literally, bereft of words.
The atmosphere has a touch of the Woolf about it. After the 1990 riots and the seminal Woolf Report, all sorts of change in prison seemed to be possible. And the general tone is the same today. The fact that national bankruptcy is the motivator doesn’t bother me a jot, sorry!
But apologies, then, for my delayed response. Being faced with a coherent body of sensible policy debates emanating from our masters is a shock that I'm just recovering from.
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Dare I allow myself to believe that we're entering a new Age of Enlightenment? Well, I'll allow myself to do that just for a few moments :).
ReplyDeleteHopefully the entire staff of the Daily Fail have choked on their own bile and will never be heard from again.