Monday, March 03, 2008
Herbert Scores Triumph in Prisons Policy Announcement
Now THIS is the sort of policy announcement every Conservative can get behind. Well thought out, properly costed and an initiative which actually does something to address the problem. Nick Herbert has played a blinder today, totally outfoxing Jack Straw. Indeed, so desperate was the Justice Secretary to scupper the Tory announcement that he got his Special Adviser to try to set up a spoiling exercise over the weekend. The only trouble was, the poor little SpAd couldn't quite pull it off. So when that didn't work they resorted to the tried and tested tactic of saying the Tories were copying Labour's plans, and then followed it up by accusing them of proposing uncosted policies - which was a bit of a tactical error, in that if they were copying government proposals how could they possibly be uncosted? Oh dear. Herbert 3 Straw 0.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
16 comments:
It's a curious criticism: 'They are copying our policies.' Why not say, 'Good, here's something we can agree on.'
You talk as though an idea that is "well thought out, properly costed and .... does something to address the problem" is not only unusual, it is actually quite brilliant.
If the Tories are ever to get elected, this must be routine, not cause for wild celebration.
Well, whatever shadowboxing game was played here... it's a bit too enigmatic a schoolyard bully ritual for me to dig. However, I see a number of basic logical flaws in that scheme and so, both the gentlemen in question are simply spouting hot air.
What if the prisoner refuses to work?
Cameron's idea about min-max means in effect that he'll need to double the prison places (...)
As for people refusing to stop taking drugs, well, most of them are in jail for taking drugs. Like it matters to them, and in any case, there is little difficulty of getting a-hold of drugs inside jail (prolly easier than outside). This messianic fascist BS about healthy living is getting on my nerves, especially when I end up getting robbed to pay for this stupid idea, by both, the taxman AND the junkie plus financing Al-Quaeda&Co at the same time.
Legalise drugs, leave people free to kill themselves if they chose to do so, I really can't be asked to keep financing jail or prohibition induced poisonings.
Cameron simply disappoints here, the UK doesn't need a dreamer, but a leader who will do stuff that works.
But then again, in a few weeks time, MPs will be relegated to being mere actors on lavish pay, and the real power will like in the EU. So it does not come as a huge surprise that the honourable(?) gentlemen talk rubbish they have no way or intention of implementing.
And where will this 'cheaper land' be, exactly, on which to re-site the prisons?
A Guardian Columnist um...ah yes it was Jackie Ashley said yesterday that the Conservatives were so nimble in countering the Government that she thought they had to have a mole.
Is that plausible I wonder or is she just apologising for the fact the Government are actually countering the Conservative Party. They do seem very quick to me. The while Auschwitz thing , for example , was alarmingly cynical . Mathew Parris convincingly revealed it as a out up Labour job and nothing to do with the Jewish community in the Spec . It is my impression that the Conservatives are making the running and it appears at times they are almost running the country from behind the throne . Have you noticed that the Press report their Policies increasingly like Government Policy ?
And if all else fails get the Vice Chair of the Party,Ms Butler, to complain to the BBC that they are not questioning David Cameron robustly enough on his plans and accuse them of bias towards the Conservatives.
I glanced at the proposals and they seem very sound to me: reform of what goes on inside prison, more spaces and more predictable sentencing. I think even "liberals" could support a lot of that.
Perhaps Labour should have avoided seeking to argue why the policy would not work and have simply dismissed it as 'fantasy politics' that no 'serious politician' would consider.
And well done David Cameron. Whilst being interviewed on this topic on Radio Five Live he revealled that he thinks parents should be told what they should and should not let their children wear to avoid them "growing up too soon".
Nanny State with Tory Knobs on anyone?
Newmania said..." It is my impression that the Conservatives are making the running and it appears at times they are almost running the country from behind the throne . Have you noticed that the Press report their Policies increasingly like Government Policy ?"
Unfortunately, they do the same in relation to LibDem policies. Now that is a joke.
March 04, 2008 7:22 AM
Talking of Labour stealing Tory clothes I see in the DT today there is a whisper that they will follow Cameron`s idea for Education vouchers on the Swedish model of a market .( The Speccie had along article about it ...most interesting )
As she says,( Rachel Sylvester) Brown is now desperately trying to out Blair Blair whilst putting into effect everything he fought against. Co-opting Freud into the Government after he was attacked so vehemntly is evidence of a dramatic volte face .
She is wrong on Academies though , while the programme has ben accelerated the detail of their autonomy have been removed .They are now Academies in name only really and Adonis , if he had any honour would have resigned .
This is the sort of subterfuge to expect , things that appear Blairy but have the ability to morph inbto full blown Brown socialism when the awkwardness of GE is negotiated.
Conservatives have to concerntrate on his personal record on the left of the Party.
More prison places? How does that reconcile with your post yesterday about growing state power?
The amazing part of the BBC story is that you had to read three-quarters of the way down to get to Jack straw's rebuttal. Normally they'd put it in the headline.
Newmania [9.17 am] Rachel Sylvester surmises that Brown refused to consider policies on their merits when Blair was at number ten. It was all very simple. If Blair was for it, Brown was agin it. Only now can he bring himself to look at these ideas, or some of them, on their merits.
The Tory prison proposals have some sensible features but it is not true that they are a coherent package.
Most notably, if the abolition of automatic release halfway through sentences is to mean anything (rather than just being a cosmetic repackaging) it will increase average sentence lengths significantly. The 5k extra places are not enough to allow this to happen and keep enough space in the system for the other key policy aim: more rehab work.
This is a fundamental contradiction.
You can increase capacity within the existing system, but the Tories have set themselves a moving target.
Jack "the last" Straw.
Post a Comment