Richard Mascall's Weblog

Listening to Jack Straw

I went to London today to hear Jack Straw speak. It was the AGM of the Howard League, which I have been a member of for well over a quarter of a century. There are still too many people imprisoned in this country (the highest rate in Western Europe), so the need for a group like the Howard League is as necessary as ever.

Of course Jack Straw probably agrees but cannot explicitly say so because of the Daily Mail. Instead, he spoke of the need not to become like the United States, where there imprison five times our rate, something that he could rely on his audience's agreement with.

I shared the lift up to the conference room with one other chap, with a rather familiar face. It turned out to be Lord Carlile.

GPS in FT

Perhaps one shouldn't take amusement from the current hostage situation, and perhaps I shouldn't break copyright laws by reproducing this cartoon from the FT, but all the same .... (click to enlarge)

My Road Blocked

There was drama today when the violent winds brought my neighbour's tree
crashing down through her fence and onto the road, completely blocking it including the pavements. I rang the police on their non-emergency number to report it and obviously found myself in a queue, given the high number of similar incidents that must be happening all over Surrey in today's weather. So I was pleasantly surprised to get through in under 15 minutes. Meanwhile another neighbour contacted Surrey Highways. It's a bus route so hopefully it will be cleared a little sooner than it otherwise might be.

I hope it's not tempting fate to note that the fierce winds seem to be easing now so perhaps our similarly sized oak will survive.

It seems the problems are quite widespread.