Stop the Nonsense

"Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime"  One of Tony Blairs most famous, and vacuous sound bites  A raft of legislation, initiatives and the like were foisted upon us, as New Labour made to make Britain a safer place.  but how were they going to do it?  The jails were full.  There was enough money for second homes, moat cleaning and porn flicks, but not enough to build prisons.  A couple of weeks ago we had the appalling case of two French students murdered by a fellow who was supposed to be in jail.  So what happened? 

As I sit here looking out the window on yet another wet chilly day, it is good to know that the Department of Health is worrying about my well being.  Somebody somewhere has indicated that there is a possibility of a heat wave this summer.  Of course it is far more likely to bounce it down all through the summer, and the Met Office have said it is far to early to say if it will be hot, but you will be assured to know there is something called the "Heatwave Warning System."  This is triggered if the temperature rises above 32C (90F) in the south, or 30C (86F) in the Grim old North.  Hardly Sub Saharan is it?  It is not even sub Mediterranean.

Since 1997, doesn't that seem a long time ago, the Labour government have banged on how we were all to be treat fairly.  No more privilege for the upper classes.  The United Kingdom was to be a meritocracy, or so we were lead to believe.  But twelve years later, we have the curious Case of Georgia Gould.  For those of you not familiar with the tale of Ms Gould, we shall start at the beginning, with dear old mummy and daddy.  Papa is the one and only Lord Gould, a close friend of one Tony Blair, and an apparent chief architect of the rise to power of New Labour.   He is also claimed to be the instigator of focus group polling, and continues a close friendship, with amongst others, Alistair Campbell.

So far so good.  But just what does a 22 year old graduate of Oxford do with oneself?