Crime and Punishment

Well, another week and another depressing insight in to the minds of my fellow country men and women.

The recent ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that prisoners cannot be detained for life without any chance whatsoever of release is against their human rights, has been met with the predictable, but depressing reaction by certain sections of the political classes and press. Calls for us to remove ourselves from the ECHR and 'be in control of our own laws' is par for the course whenever anyone dares criticise how we treat those who live within our borders.

Ironically these are often the very first people to criticise foreign governments for any perceived heavy handed treatment of their citizens, a position which only increases the hypocrisy and childishness of their reaction to criticism of this country.

Nigel Lawson's got it backwards

It was interesting to hear that Nigel Lawson's main reason for turning against the EU and wanting out is the vote by the EU parliament to implement the Capital Requirement's Directive, which included limits on bankers bonuses (to a piddling 2 times their salary) amongst other reforms.

Whilst the media over here focused solely on the bonus cap, the whole package contained a lot of very important measures to help prevent the same kind of financial crisis we have recently had from happening again.

The UK has the largest financial sector in Europe, and one of the largest in the world. How it operates affects the lives of millions people, not just across the UK, but across the world and especially within Europe.

Parental leave policy lag

So, Nick Clegg announced today plans to radically overhaul parental leave. It's a good policy, the only question is how we've managed to talk for so long about equality and gender balance without doing something like it. Policy in this case, is lagging seriously behind our expectations from society.

Cash for Rights...

CASH for rights! If you have any rights you don't want or need, or maybe do need but just can't afford to keep, you can now exchange them for CASH! Just sign one contract and you'll receive CASH *

(*disclaimer: cash may not always actually be delivered)