PRISONS are not the pleasure domes that you might think; apparently they are really nasty places, says the former Director-General of the Prison Service. Martin Narey believes that some prisons are filthy, racist and even “deeply violent and evil places”, for prisoners as well as staff, reports The Times (Feb 9). So why would anyone want to work there? Mr Narey says that he took the job only because no one else wanted it.
Still, at least prisoners are making the Home Office a nicer place to work. The Times (Feb 12) reports that officials at the department have bought 77 works of art by offenders, including nine murderers and six rapists, as part of a £1 million decoration project. Clearly hanging is good enough for some prisoners.
If you detect something of the Olivier hamminess in the voice of the next copper you speak to, then it could be the influence of the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner. The Sunday Express (Feb 13) reports that Sir Ian Blair is something of a frustrated actor, who spent his time at Oxford appearing in and directing plays. Critics praised his “camped-up characters” in particular. Sir Ian doesn’t reveal his favourite plays, but An Inspector Calls has to be up there.
School inspectors now face attack from scissors-wielding head teachers, reports The Sun (Feb 12). An Ofsted inspector was rather surprised when attending an assembly in Blackpool that the head should stop mid-talk and snip the end off his tie, and then do it several times more. Apparently it was to illustrate a point about morality. It must have, though, put the wind up the inspector.
Ken Livingstone is also keen on wind. The Mayor of London wants to plan a forest of wind turbines to cool the city and turn the capital into the world’s greenest city, reports The Sunday Times (Feb 13). Oddly he wants to place the wind farms near the river’s estuary, rather than outside Westminster where there are also large amounts of hot air.