Published by The Guardian (20th May, 2015) The appointment of Michael Gove as justice secretary was among the more interesting appointments in David Cameron’s first all-Conservative cabinet. Attention […]
Crime / Policy
Politicians in thrall to mentality of the mob
Published by The Independent (12th January, 2015) Just over four years ago in the United States there was a firestorm of protest over the suggestion a prominent quarterback […]
Crime / Policy
Ched Evans has been punished. Let him return to his job
Published by The Guardian (17th October, 2014) Let us start with the most important fact. Ched Evans is a rapist, a footballer found guilty of predatory assault on a […]
Crime / Policy / Politics
One step forward on probation, then one giant step back on jails
Published in The Guardian (January 11th, 2013) According to the latest figures there are 83,632 locked up in English and Welsh prisons. This is an obscenely large number […]
Police / Policy / Politics
Polls, policing and a poor public service
Published in The Independent (October 24th, 2012) Are you excited over the prospect of voting next month for your local police chief? I suspect not; you may not even […]
Crime / Policy / United States / World
The tough-on-crime Texan judge closing down jails
Published in The Observer (September 30th, 2012) The motley gaggle of miscreants shuffles into the court, lining up silently in three rows on the benches. There are some […]
Crime / Policy / Politics
Could Chris Grayling be the ultimate Tory moderniser?
Published in The Independent (September 22nd, 2012) So here we go again: an apparently hardline new justice minister throwing red meat to the baying wolves. Chris Grayling, having […]
Crime / Policy
Don’t mock ‘hug a hoodie’. It was, and still is, the right message
Published in The Guardian (June 1st, 2012) Like so many famous political phrases, David Cameron never actually said that anyone should ‘hug a hoodie’. No matter. For it became a […]
Disability
Disabled are at the mercy of ministers and media
Published in the London Evening Standard (February 7th, 2012) What would you think if you heard the Home Office was colluding with newspapers to fuel hatred against gay […]
Crime / Policy / United States / World
Oddly, Texas can teach the UK a thing or two on criminal justice
Published in The Guardian (November 21st, 2011) Hang ’em high Texas is not the first place you might look for lessons in criminal justice. The lone star state […]
Politics
Why Cameron is inviting a Viking invasion
Published in The Times (January 19th, 2011) For decades the British Left was held captive by Stockholm syndrome. It looked at Sweden and saw paradise on Earth — […]