This entry was posted on
Thursday, June 15th, 2006 at
1:44 pm and is filed
under Rupert ‘The Evil One’ Murdoch, The War on Stupid.

Guardian – Labour bows to ‘get tough’ prison lobby: The full extent of Labour’s more punitive approach to law and order was revealed yesterday as Tony Blair boasted that more than 1,000 offenders have been locked away in the last 12 months without a fixed release date under the new breed of “public protection sentences”.

And this would be the same Mr Blair who refuses to be hounded/led by the media over Prescott/Loans/Torture/Murder? Here’s Rebekah Wade giving a howl of victory that ends in a call for yet more blood…

The Sun – Blair: I’ll shake up judges: Sweeping changes to the judicial system will be rushed into law by the end of the year, following The Sun’s crusade against lenient judges. Home Secretary John Reid will publish a blueprint by the end of next month. And a Bill will be brought to the Commons by November. Sentencing guidelines will be changed so out-of-touch judges can get it right EVERY time. Killers, paedophiles and rapists will be freed only by a unanimous parole board decision. The prison overcrowding crisis will be addressed. And the shocking release of foreign inmates without deportation will also be dealt with. The moves were ordered by PM Tony Blair, who is under massive pressure to ensure that judges who persistently dish out soft punishments are sacked. But the changes are not a total victory for The Sun’s crusade. Our demands for failing judges to be named and shamed and ultimately dismissed remain in place.

Meanwhile…

Independent – Thai immigrant ‘is a soft target for Home Office’: Because of a minor offence he committed as a teenager four years ago, Mr Makao now faces being deported from the island he has called home for the past 10 years and forced to return to his native Thailand, despite the fact he no longer speaks the language and has no ties there.

Meanwhile…

The Times Saudi ‘torture’ victims lose their right to sue: Four Britons who claim that they were tortured by officials in Saudi Arabia into confessing to a bombing campaign have lost their right to sue through the British courts. The men, who say that their interrogators used rape, beatings, and suspended them from iron bars in order to force false statements, cannot seek compensation after a House of Lords ruling yesterday… Speaking after the ruling by the law lords, Mr Jones said that the Government had backed another nation’s right to torture British citizens.

And here’s a picture, boys and girls.

(Heads-up on the cartoon via Antony. Cheers, fella.)

Related ‘I told you so’ links:
Charles Clarke is an incompetent liar (Part One)
Clarke takes one last desperate gasp of your precious oxygen

UPDATE – A must-read: Chicken Yoghurt – It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business.