The end of summer?

On Saturday the Monk and Mausi witnessed an annual event in our little village. For some reason the roof of our home (we are the last house in our street and on the uppermost edge of the village) is the chosen assembly point for the swallows. At one point the roof was covered in these beautiful birds, hunkered down and their wings slightly spread as they soaked up the sun. Those not on the tiles were wheeling overhead in a swarming cloud and others perched on our satellite dish and TV aerial. It was an amazing sight.

Then, as if someone had fired a starting gun, the whole flock took to the air, wheeled a few times and then departed in a south westerly direction. Since then we have not seen a single swallow anywhere. Our neighbours tell me this is early for the migration, and I'll confess I have the impression they were much later leaving last year.

I wonder if they know something we don't?

Great News

The Monk is delighted at the news his youngest daughter, Alli to family and friends, is engaged to her longterm partner. Jim did the romantic thing, proposing to her on a bridge in the South of France. The Monk is doubly pleased as Jim is a great guy, one the Monk thinks very highly of and knows will take good care of a very special lady.

Burglary ...

As ever, Josephus is able to provide a wealth of information on the way in which "justice" has come to the low pass it has. Part of the problem, as I see it is the fact that successive "liberal" attempts to soften the law on crimes against property have resulted in a situation where a crime in which no one is physically threatened or injured - is not regarded as "serious." It therefore does not attract much attention from either the police or the Crown Prosecution Service, and it attracts even less attention, in terms of punitive response, from the courts.

While I acknowledge the point Josephus makes concerning the fact that prisons tend to be sinkholes of drug dealing, bullying, abuse and a training ground for further criminal activity, I do not think that not sending someone to jail solves either problem. Surely, if the jails are in this state, it is time to overhaul them? If some reports are to be believed (and I hasten to add that I take a lot of the sensational press reporting with a shovelfull of salt) prison inmates now enjoy a range of 'rights' that many on the outside would envy. I also fail to see a 'suspended' sentence as a punishment. It is all too easy to play the system to the point the sentence lapses and then simply revert to type. I would have more faith in this system if the condition included a daily attendance at a detox clinic designated by the court and proof that the addict has been 'clean' and gainfully employed for a much longer period before being released from the threat of a suspended sentence.

Statistics published by Crime Watch a couple of years ago suggested that most people awarded suspended sentences broke the conditions with impunity and were never subjected to the sentence imposed simply because there was noone monitoring it. Several studies recently report that drug addicts rarely succeed in staying clean unless they can be removed entirely from their former circle of friends, the environment they were in and placed in one where they can be kept away from contact with the addictive substance. As that is almost impossible to achieve, it suggests that those driven to crime by their addiction are unlikely to be 'saveable.'

I do not advocate a return to Old Testament 'justice.' As Josephus says, it is not appropriate in the 21st Century, though the Sharia system (first codified according to my sources in the 17th Century) demands the full 'life for a life' treatment for crime and I don't think that is a good direction either. That said, we have a situation where the criminal seldom is seen to 'pay' for his or her crime and the victim doesn't get considered at all. As someone whose home was burgled (many years ago) I can say that it is the most devastating experience to have one's home violated by some scumbag ransacking it for valuables. I think the excuse that "he/she was 'driven' to it by their addiction" should be given far less weight than it is. At least one magistrate I know says he hears this offered far to often and wishes he could impose a really harsh regime - but can't.

It seems to me that if the prisons are awash with drugs, then it is high time the system was overhauled and tightened. How about the imposition of an automatic extension of sentence if found in possession of drugs? Better, how about an automatic doubling of sentence for supplying them inside one of HMs Prisons? How about an automatic five years inside for anyone caught actually smuggling them in in the first place? If the prison authorities are 'content' to allow heroin to be available inside because, as Josephus says, this keeps the inmates 'chilled' and amenable, perhaps it is time to take a long hard look at the management of the prison system.

The Howard League and other "prisoners friends" argue that prison is not about "punishment" but about "reforming" the prisoner. From all the evidence, I would say this concept has failed spectacularly. Prison neither "punishes" nor "reforms" at present. Again the statistics published by various bodies monitoring this suggest that 80% of inmates reoffend within months of release. Does this suggest we should refrain from locking up those who commit crimes? According to some, (and the judge at the centre of this storm seems to be one) the answer is 'yes,' but this is a 'soft' option. It doesn't guarantee reform and it certainly doesn't punish. It seems that the reform of the obviously failed prison and judicial punishment system is 'too hard' and therefore not to be considered.

Perhaps, however, if this latest display of judicial idiocy does nothing else, it will compel someone to consider what is going on in the prisons and who actually runs them. The drug dealing, manipulative offenders and their supporters in the Howard League and Human Rights groups - or the Prison Service and the Judiciary? If, as Josephus suggests, you could fill stadia to witness public hangings or corporal punishment, it would apear that the public at large is sick and tired of criminals not being punished for the misery they inflict on the rest of us.

It may well be time for the Whitehall and Westminster denizens to stop uttering platitudes and tinkering around the edges of the problem and take note of the victims of people like this "brave" burglar.

Burglars are brave?

The remarks recently by a senior judge, that "burglary requires considerable bravery" as he let a burglar off in his court, shows just how out of touch the judiciary has become in the UK. Calling a common thief "brave" is an insult to the armed services, fire fighters, police and people like the volunteers who man the RNLI's lifeboats. A burglar is a self-serving thief. They are not motivated by feelings of self-sacrifice, service or duty. Their motivation is purely their own profit. Bravery doesn't enter into it.

Since this is now before the Judicial Complaints commissioners, one can hope that they will remove this idiot from office. Sadly, I rather think they will do their usual back-flips, headstands and contortions to keep him in office and present his statement as having been "misrepresented" or "taken out of context."

The truth is that as long as this sort of mindset is allowed to preside over our courts "justice" will not be served. It will not be seen to be done, nor will the punishment fit the crimes. To those who say "justice" must be about "reforming" or "helping" the criminal I say this. You have never had your hard earned property stolen by some lazy scumbag. You have never had your home violated and your hardearned possessions stolen. You have never been threatened and beaten in your home when you disturbed some common thief helping himself to your possessions.

No, you live in high value homes, in well protected properties remote from the realities of the criminals you support and defend.

This judge and any others like him should be removed immediately from his post and the "guidelines" issued by the Department of Justice should be torn up. Burglars should be jailed. Thieves should be jailed. The defence that someone was "desperate" for his next drug fix and this drove him to commit the crime should be rammed down the lawyers throat - and the lawyer arguing it put in jail alongside his junkie client.

Justice is not served by these morons. Justice is NOT being done by such men and women. It is time it was changed.

Managers versus Workers ...

Our recent trip to the UK was a bit challenging thanks to a strike by the Flight Attendants on our chosen airline. The strike began at 05.00 in the morning and ended at 13.00, but the impact across the entire operation of the Frankfurt Airport was massive. We'd checked in online, so could go straight to the Baggage Drop and 'do-it-ourselves' at the electronic baggage check - except that the queue to do so was a little over 50 metres in length. And that wasn't the longest queue by any manner of means. Our return flight, by comparison, was a dream. No waiting, no strike and we arrived on schedule to a normally functioning airport.

So why the strike? It comes down to the fact that Lufthansa's management is looking to cut costs. Their proposal is to use 'agency' staff as Flight Attendants as this means they save on the 'employer's costs' by not hiring directly. In effect, the Agency carries the cost of things like Health Insurance contributions, pensions, annual and sick leave and so on. Understandably, the current employees are not keen on this idea at all, and I have to say I'm in full agreement with them on it. The Union has fought tooth and nail against it, and now the management have come up with a lulu of a solution.

The offer on the table can be summarised as; 'We won't use the Agency Staffing idea if your members agree to work longer hours at the same pay.' It sounds reasonable, except that it is, in effect, saying the staff can have their current terms and conditions - but take a 20 - 30% cut in pay.

Lufthansa has, until recently, been managed by a CEO who came up through the ranks and understood the airline business. The current CEO, has an engineering degree and has worked on the original team that turned Lufthansa into the success it is today. He then moved to Deutsche Bahn (the German National Rail company) before returning briefly to Lufthansa and then to Swiss Air as CEO. His articles suggest he is driven by the maxim that profits must be maximised by cutting costs - in this case, wages. But, as is usual with senior managers proclaiming staff must 'work harder for the same pay' he is not proposing a similar cut in 'costs' at Board level.

As a friend who works for Lufthansa remarked recently, 'The CEO and Board, unlike the Cabin Attendants, can work anywhere. We wish they would.'

Having worked until very recently under this kind of management, I have to say I agree. In recent years I have not met a single 'senior manager' of this 'school' who fully understood what the 'coal face' staff actually did, or how demanding it was. Nor have I ever encountered one who was prepared to make the sacrifices they routinely demand of their 'staff.'

Perhaps it is time to demand that they work the same hours they demand of their staff, take the same pain in the pocket and face the same working conditions. Oh, I forgot, they're 'strategists' its down to 'Middle Management' to work out the 'tactical' and 'task' issues ...

A Double Anniversary ...

The Monk today celebrates his son's birthday. Once again he is shocked at how the time has flown by since the morning he first saw him in the Universitas Hospital in Bloemfontein shortly after his arrival. The intervening years have been a roller coaster ride in many ways, but full of fun and laughter along the way. The Monk and Mausi wish him a great day, and a fabulous year to come.

The Monk was also somewhat shocked to realise that today also marks the date, fifty years ago, that he was confirmed in the Church of England by the Bishop of Grahamstown. A double celebration then.

Anniversaries ...

Today is the Monk's youngest daughters birthday, tomorrow is his son's and suddenly he's reminded of the passage of the years. All three of his children are now adults and doing very well for themselves. He and Mausi spent the weekend in London visiting his family and attending youngest daughters something-th birthday. It was great to meet so many of her friends and to meet her partner's family as well.

The Monk and Mausi would like to wish Allison a great year, ahead, hoping that there are many more to come and that each simply gets better and better for her.