Gavin’s Gaily Gigest

Moralising prig and sometime Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is at it* again. Not content with wanting to criminalise those who have no intention of breaking the law, but do want to pay for sex, she now wants to make it harder** for socially awkward men and women to see naked members of the opposite or [...]

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Patrick O’Flynn of the Daily Express:
“To be frank, I would like to see any adult convicted of a serious offence of child cruelty sterilised – perhaps we could knock a year off their prison term in return for their agreeing for this to be done.”
He then didn’t go on to say:
“And whilst I’m on the [...]

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Alan West yesterday, hurriedly throwing his toys out of the pram following the government’s defeat in the Lords on 42 days detention, on the current terrorism threat facing the UK:
Some of the measures that we have put into place in the past 15 months have made us safer, but that does not mean that we [...]

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Tip of the hat to the inimitable Beau Bo D’Or.

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Cannabis will be upgraded from a Class C to a Class B drug, in a shock reversal of Tony Blair’s reclassification just four years ago.
The move comes shortly after a concerted campaign by the Government’s drugs advisory board, Associated Newspapers, to upgrade the substance. The board were concerned about the mental health of its readers, [...]

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Childrens’ Secretary Ed Balls (yes him) is today going to announce a major expansion of “Family Intervention Projects” under which children as young as ten are asked to sign “good behaviour contracts” and their progress is monitored by an “assertive and persistent key worker”. It is expected around 1,000 will be asked to sign these [...]

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Via the BBC:
“People should be fined £100 for being drunk in public, even if they do not cause a nuisance, a leading medic says. … Police should carry breathalysers and fine those three times over the drink-drive limit [even if they're not driving].”

This suggestion comes from um… plastic surgeon Peter Mahaffey, whose only experience with [...]

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The trial of Wang Yam for the murder of author Allan Chappelow has begun, and, because of an earlier order by the judge, it will be heard partially in secret. The following juicy snippets emerged from the public session yesterday, however, courtesy of his defence counsel:
"This is not a normal case, far from it. [...]

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Via BBC News:

Metal detectors are to be installed at hundreds of schools in England as part of a drive to reduce knife crime.

How could a teenager evade this complex piece of machinery and carry a knife in to school? My suggestion is wear braces and they’ll expect you to set the alarm off.

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A depressing day for the criminal justice system yesterday, when Mr Justice Ousley agreed to a CPS request to hold a murder trial in secret (or in camera, the use the legal parlance) on the grounds of national security. I’ve already asked the obvious question: Has the Government committed murder, and if not, what reason [...]

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