Saturday 26 May 2007

Pillaging pensioners and thumb screws...

74-year old Robert Newnham faces the next five years in jail after holiding up a Dorset building society. His justification for attempting to make off with £1,000 was that it was simpler then filling in the relevant documents to claim his state pension. A likely story.

Social security forms are by no means user friendly, though after a short time spent double checking your persoanl history (already on file somewhere anyway) and tracking down those long lost premium bonds, he could have been entitled to a little over £50 a week.

A mere grand, what was the man thinking?

He's hardly setting a good example, our prisons are full of enough opportunists as it is.

Free attraction entry for Asbo holders....any one of of Britain's thousands strong Asbo brigade can now tour the London, York and Edinburgh dungeons, the only charge being a little public humilation. Once admitted they will be identified to other visitors and sentanced to hang....so far so good. Asbo holders get shown a range of torture implements and try a simulation of the gallows...

Meanwhile every other punter has to pay £8.95 per child, £19.95 per adult, for admission.

The scheme is being portrayed as "a punishment", helping criminals to realise the consequences of their behaviour. Um, what consequences are these exactly...?

MPs have rightly protested at the "inappropriate" nature of the scheme. Dungeon spokesman Scott Williamson replied: "The dungeons are essentially educational attractions. I'm suprised that the MP's have taken the time to comment".

So now we're using educational experiences as punishment for ne'er do wells? Great message, whatever it is.

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