Proving that I am not just a moaning minnie when it comes to our Beloved Leader, the speech today was good. He said a lot of good stuff, including damning Ed Milispoons for his desperate gambit in calling for an inquiry of judges to harrumph for a year before publishing a 900 page report which no one will read. Instead the government proposal involves people affected by the rioting, which sounds like a great plan.
He also made clear than those convicted will be made to repair damage in the communities they attacked and that prisoners will be 'met at the prison gate' by people to support them into work. This is all good stuff, squarely in the Lib Dem ball park of actually doing something for once instead of simply locking people away for a few months, only to let them out to re-offend.
Contrast this approach with calls for the army or boot camps (Boris came out with that one) or water cannon. And of course there's the old saw about 'prison working', an interesting comment in the light of the revelation that fully 60% of the people being prosecuted over the violence were previous offenders. Oh yes, prison works a treat...
Prison doesn't work but restorative justice might. Getting people to clear up the mess they made, to repay debts to those they stole from and to speak to their victims is a lot more useful than putting someone in a cell for 23 hours a day to do nothing.
So well done Nickers and let's hope we hear more of the same from the Lib Dems in government.
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