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2023

a christmas tree made of books

Rock Around the Christmas Tree with These Spine Tingling Reads

Yes, folks, it’s that time of year. Again. And for this final post of the year, I thought I would do things differently. Nicking an episode from my Christmas Past crime podcast, I would like to share the following. Book Reviews. Review of a fist-full of crime novels, with crime…

man wearing red, holdin package and ringing doorbell

Ring My Bell? Oh No, You Don’t!

Recently I experienced a persistent and (I considered) aggressive ringing of my doorbell. I didn’t answer it. If you are going to ring my bell (of any description) do it nicely. After what seemed an age, the ringing ceased. Then I looked out of the window to see if I…

three broken eggs

The Curious Case of the Eggs Throw-Down: Criminal or What?

Some years ago, while adjudicating on the magisterial bench, a case came before me which left me quite perplexed. The defendant was charged with some dubious breach of the peace offence. Top and bottom of this story: a man was going along his merry way, singing his merry little song,…

a man hiding a box of sweets under his jacket

Shoplifting as a Middle Class Sport…?

Can you Adam and Eve it? The middle-class shoplift for fun? What? They’ve given up the fun and frolics of Verbier and Saint Moritz? When was shoplifting ever fun? And when did it become a sport? It’s one thing if you are poor and in need and you walk out of a…

man working at laptop

Putting WFH on Probation

WTH! Probation officers WFH? How does that work? AFAIK*, probation officers are supposed to see their ‘clients’ face-to-face. Once convicted of an offence which is not imprisonable or the sentence is a combination of community payback and suspended custodial sentence, criminals are supposed to report to their probation officer at…

a firefighter standing in front of a wall of flames

The Fire Service: When Wokeness Equals Danger

The fire service is in the firing line – if you’ll pardon the pun, but very much intended. Between you, me, and the Martians, we’d think their job is to rescue us from danger, especially of the burning kind. Whether we are black, white, man, woman, fat, slim, tall, or…

handcuffs

Nothing To See Here…

Okay, everybody, calm down. Just take a breath and simmer down. A Black woman has been handcuffed and arrested by the Metropolitan Police, amid distressing scenes in front of her young son. Video taken of this incident almost brought down Twitter (although it probably doesn’t take much these days to…

white youth holding knife in threatening way

Knives in Schools: When Will Lessons be Learned?

In November 2014, 16-year-old schoolboy William Cornick was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing his teacher, Ann Maguire in their Leeds Catholic school. He was sentenced to serve a minimum term of 20 years. William Cornick had a grudge against Mrs Maguire, and he had made it known that he…