Compare And Contrast

In the UK, we send a lot of people to prison. And as a result in the UK we get stories like this

Titan prisons plans 'abandoned'...Instead, Justice Secretary Jack Straw is expected to reveal proposals for five 1,500-place jails, with two set to go ahead immediately...
Shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve said..."Jack Straw needs to urgently explain how he will address the current crisis in the prison population that has resulted in thousands of prisoners being released early".

I particularly like the use of scare quotes around the word abandoned there. Mostly because Titan prisons aren't really being 'abandoned', just scaled down slightly.

Meanwhile, over in The Netherlands;

Netherlands to close prisons for lack of criminals. The Dutch justice ministry has announced it will close eight prisons and cut 1,200 jobs in the prison system. A decline in crime has left many cells empty.
...The overcapacity is a result of the declining crime rate, which the ministry's research department expects to continue for some time.

It's being widely reported that Labour are anticipating a proper fucking up at the polls next week and again (oh please oh please) at the general election next year. That means a lot of Labour MPs are going to be at a loose end. And you know, it really would be a shame to see the Labour party's skill at making every fucking thing illegal go to waste. And I think it's pretty clear that Holland needs a hand filling up it's prisons (I mean, where on earth are the Dutch putting their mentally ill for bum's sake?). It could be a match made in heaven.

A Fair Trial And Hang 'Em

So, the other day I heard Harriet Harman say the following;

"Sir Fred should not be counting on being £650,000 a year better off as a result of this because it's not going to happen. The prime minister has said it's not acceptable and, therefore, it will not be accepted. And it might be enforceable in a court of law, this contract, but it's not enforceable in the court of public opinion and that's where the government steps in."

Which caused me to leap to my feet in a mixture of astonishment and vein-throbbing rage. It also led to me knocking a rather delicious piece of Jamaican ginger cake upon which I'd been nibbling onto the floor. Even accounting for the 5-second rule, the stickiness of the cake meant it quickly picked up a coating of carpet and suspicious-looking hairs rendering it inedible.
Now, I'm not sure that Harman has actually broken any actual laws in making me drop my cake, but in the court of public opinion round my house, she's a cake-destroying bastard who ought to pay for her actions. And as public opinion seems to be on it's way to becoming, ironically enough, legally binding, I shall look forward with interest to her show trial.