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Hooray For Politicians

On 22 May 2011 at 10:14am Paul Newman wrote:

Jeeez ...Ken Clarke gets meeja tortured for suggesting that types of rape might be distinguished from each other. Of course they can, just as we do with murder. That doesn`t make murder or rape a less serious crime.
Then Chris Huhne gets dragged over hot coals for (OMG ! ).. getting his wife to take some points. Big deal , have we nothing better to worry about?
The amount of entirely unjustified personal vitriol aimed at Nick Clegg has been hysterical and unpleasant.
The alternative to politics is the mob and so, on this Sunday morning ,why not find something good to say about the people we elect including Norman Baker .......

On 22 May 2011 at 11:24am jrsussex wrote:

Paul Newman - With Chris Huhne he made a decison to enter public life and in doing that obligated himself to certain standards of behaviour. Conspiring with his wife to commit a criminal act, no matter how inconsequential you personally believe it to be, is not acceptable and he should resign his Government position. That will go a a little way to restoring the faith of the electorate in politicians.
Ken Clarke is a politician that I had great faith in over a period of many years but his time to date as Justice Secretary has severly shaken that faith. Some of his proposals as to punishment for crime are nothing short of alarming, in my opinion, All punishment has to carry a detrimental effect, whether that be as a child doing something wrong or as an adult committing an offence. It must of course suit the level of wrong-doing, but must be detrimental, otherwise it carries no value to the perpetrator ot the victim thereby failing to assist in their rehabilitation into society.

On 22 May 2011 at 11:38am Clifford wrote:

I am surprised at you Mr Newman. Are you the voice of modern Conservatism? I don't agree with all that jrsussex says but there is at least a recognisable morality behind it.

On 23 May 2011 at 8:46am sashimi wrote:

I never thought I'd write in support of Paul Newman. Ken Clark is quite right. Of course there are scales of culpability. How can a sixteen year old having consensual sex with his fifteen year old girlfriend be compared with a masked stranger who jumps out of the bushes and preys on a series of women - just because they are both technically committing the same offence? And if we are looking for government cuts, why not stop warehousing the mentally ill and drug addicts in hugely expensive prisons when less money spent on the health budget might actually prevent them from repeating their antisocial behaviour? Ken Clark is not a soft hearted liberal. He was the hatchet man in the Thatcher government and he wants to take a hatchet to a system that costs a fortune and doesn't deliver.

On 23 May 2011 at 6:45pm Clifford wrote:

Yes, I agree with you on that sashimi. I was thinking of Paul Newman's comments on Huhne. Clarke has the distinction of being able to appear human - as well as having some sensible ideas on incarceration, perhaps because he was (I think) a criminal lawyer and has no illusions.

On 24 May 2011 at 8:18am Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:

I feel a bit sorry for Ken Clarke, if only he'd inserted the word "more" or "most" in front of serious he'd have been on safe ground, but it really did sound as though he thought there was such a thing as non-serious rape.
I also think it's a shame that he's been the focus of so much vitriol when there are so many Tories who deserve it more (Lansley, Fox, May and the odious Osborne, who gives me such an urge to slap his smug face that I have developed a Tourettian tic that occurs when ever I see the smarmy git on tv).
Mind you, I'm biased. I've always thought that if you had to spend an evening in the company of a leading Tory, Clarke would probably be the most fun. Although possibly not as much fun as slapping Osborne.
If the Huhne allegations are true, he's a bloody disgrace. Getting someone else to pretend they're driving so that you don't get doen for an offence you committed is conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, and a pretty serious matter for someone in a position to make the laws he may have broken.