Those sterling minds at the Sentencing Advisory Panel are determined Brown won’t be the only one to raise the public’s blood pressure, they want to have a go too, suggesting that ‘criminals sent to prison for less than a year should be let off with a community punishment instead, and that there should be a presumption that thieves, burglars and anyone convicted of dishonesty should not receive a jail term’. Just what the public wants to hear. Great timing…!
Not to be outdone in the ‘who’s more out of touch’ stakes, Ann Owers, Chief Inspector of Prisons, has published a report decrying the ‘use of force’ at Dartmoor Prison (Ed – what are they supposed to use, Annie? Harsh language?) and highlighting ‘evidence of "institutional disrespect" with poorly furnished cells and too many inmates locked up’. I think the public would disagree on that last part…
I think this morning's papers were a ploy to get me to use all my labels in one post!
Still, there is some good news:
Two Fathers 4 Justice campaigners have climbed onto the roof of Labour Party deputy leader Harriet Harman, Scotland Yard said.
It is the second time in little over a month the group has staged a protest at Ms Harman's home in Herne Hill, south London.
Brown now issues an edict to motorists to ‘exchange their petrol-driven cars for electric or hybrid vehicles and learn "eco-driving" techniques to cut CO2 emissions dramatically’.
ReplyDeleteHe can go fuck himself. I will never buy a hybrid vehicle. Did he not read the road test where a standard diesel manual vehicle pissed all over the Prius on the economy stakes? And that completely ignores the environmental impact of manufacture and electricity generation.
As for eco driving - advanced drivers (and riders) call this hazard awareness - we already ride and drive smoothly to make our vehicles last better, to improve wear and tear on brakes, tyres and fuel consumption and to provide a smooth, efficient journey for our passengers.
As usual, Brown is talking from the wrong orifice.
AP
ReplyDeleteI know you've got a plethora of lunacy to choose from but you missed the loony tunes (ie don't teach reading, writing, arithmetic - teach "communication" - that's talking to you and me - instead) pushed out by Labour's .
Sorry - trouble with tags again - the reference is to the Bercow report. Apparently Bercow is a Conservative MP: "Conservative" vis-a-vis Labour in the same way that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office represents foreigners' interests in the UK rather than British interests abroad.
ReplyDeleteOne wonders whether Labour actually think prison should exist at all, such is their desperation to make sure people don't go there.
ReplyDelete"As usual, Brown is talking from the wrong orifice."
ReplyDeleteIt's beginning to look like his speechwriters aren't actually working for him, isn't it....?
"...you missed the loony tunes (ie don't teach reading, writing, arithmetic - teach "communication" - that's talking to you and me - instead)..."
Oh. My. God. !!
Thanks for that link.
And that is why I'm not exactly falling over myself to sing Cameron's praises for his 'responsbility' speech yesterday. He has too many of these types around him for me to think that the Nu Tories are going to be significantly better than Nu Labour.
I think there will come a time when there are cars which use a lot less energy, and a time when energy can be produced sustainably - but it's not today. The idea that if everyone switched to a Prius tomorrow our CO2 emissions would be slashed is just ignorant. Top Gear proved that they are not only inefficient to make but can be inefficient to drive as well.
ReplyDeleteAnd you are right Julia, where does Brown expect us to to get the money to buy new cars all of a sudden? What are we going to do with the perfectly serviceable ones currently on our roads? Landfill them?
Brown is SO out of touch it's hysterical.
I think that "standard diesel manual" was a BMW 5 series - hardly standard - but you're right, longrider - it pissed all over the Prius.
ReplyDeleteAs for electric cars - who the hell is going to buy a car that has a range of a 100 miles at best (as long as you don't use anything like aircon, radio/cd, wipers etc) and then takes hours to refuel?
Better off with a horse - at least you'd have nice roses.
"As for electric cars..."
ReplyDeleteYes, that always puzzles me - do they run on the same electricity we are always being asked not to waste by leaving things on 'standby', and that is produced in the power stations they are always blaming for CO2 output?
Because if so, I can't see how switching to them is going to solve our energy worries.
The BMW 5 series vs. the Prius:
ReplyDeletehttp://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/used_car_reviews/article3552994.ece
If the 5 series can p*ss over the Prius then so can any other diesel car in the market.
Get a green car instead, like a Hummer:
http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/editorial/print_item.asp?NewsID=188
Whoops, try this URL instead:
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/2eq4u3
The point behind electric cars is that electricity can be produced cleanly. Burning fuels always leaves a residue and never be made clean.
ReplyDeleteIt's a dead end, going nowhere (so to speak!) sticking with the nineteenth-century technology that is the infernal combustion engine, and its derivatives such as the Diesel (compression-ignition) method which is essentially much the same.
Also, the electric vehicles do not spread pollution around as they travel, uncontrolled, directly into the atmosphere. At least there is scope for processing, filtering and direction at a (non-mobile) installation such as a power station.
I, of course, looking forward as always, wish for a practical implementation of the widely-accepted Einsteinian E-MC-squared mass-to-energy direct (total) conversion. It would only eliminate all related pollution, it would also solve the landfill issue as waste would be directly and completely converted to energy.
While technology has effectively stagnated in this arena (despite the occasional "new idea" that never goes anywhere) there will be no solution. Electric vehicles are the first step into shaking-off the outdated fossil fuel (and similar) technologies of the last millennium.