In politics, as in other walks of life, what we tolerate tends to become the norm

The current norm in relation to prisons, and criminal justice more generally, is terrible

Perhaps it’s time for us to work for a new one

And while we should always have high expectations of our political leaders, I wonder whether we should also be better at making our expectations of them clearer

We should not be self-censoring in our criticism for fear of being consigned to the naughty step

But he didn’t. And there lies the problem

If senior politicians are not prepared to say what needs to be said, loud and clear, in public, should we be surprised that systems change in our prisons and wider criminal justice system is so difficult to achieve?

I feel uncomfortable writing this

Lord Timpson is someone who appears to care about prisons and prisoners

Had he said what he thought, rather than what the government message grid demanded, he would probably have given a better speech

After that, his speech degenerated into the kind of routine Ministry of Justice talking points familiar to anyone who has had to sit through a ministerial address

It was a missed opportunity

The prisons minister, Lord Timpson, gave the keynote address

His speech fell some distance short of what the occasion demanded

He started well enough, talking about the awfulness of Zahid Mubarek’s murder and praising the impressive work of the Trust set up in his memory

Sobering because, 25 years on from Zahid Mubarek’s murder in Feltham by a racist cell mate, racism remains an ever-present stain and reality in the prison system

Uplifting because the passion and commitment, including from some impressive young activists, is strong

Earlier this week I attended an event marking the 25th anniversary of the murder of Zahid Mubarek

Organised by the Zahid Mubarek Trust, set up by family members to honour his memory, it was an excellent event

It was both uplifting and sobering

If the government doesn’t ensure “a systematic look at what’s gone wrong”, and act on recommendations, “then I suspect it won’t be long before we have another of these kinds of incidents”

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Yep

I wrote ‘detailed line-by-line scrutiny’ in the last post, but I’ve since learned that the plan is for the Committee Stage to all be done in one single day tomorrow

So, you know, not so much

“... This is particularly urgent considering the spread of misinformation and misleading information on the law following the Supreme Court judgment which continues to circulate widely”

www.equalityhumanrights.com/our-work/adv...

From @houseofcommons.parliament.uk Library, an overview of knives, weapons and serious violence: what the law is, enforcement powers and government proposals to tackle serious violence

commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...

From @houseoflords.parliament.uk Library, an overview of police use of technology over time: from fingerprints and DNA to facial recognition, drones and AI

lordslibrary.parliament.uk/technology-i...