GrumbleSmiles

Weeds are the criminals in my garden. They appear where they are not wanted and take up space that could be used for flowers. They also divert my time and effort into pulling them up.

How does that relate to crime in our society ? Well, there is too much of it and it’s growing. We need more flowers, but the ground is not fertile and just encourages more weeds. Our justice system is not fit for purpose , nor delivered in a timely way.

Prisons are full and fail to prevent reoffending. Around 25% reoffend, which costs an estimated £18 billion a year. That doesn’t include the ones who don’t get caught!

The answer is not to build more prisons; nor to effectively decriminalise shoplifting; drug-taking; burglary and car theft; nor to shorten sentences; nor to release criminals early. It is to find new ways of helping prisoners back into society with the skill and outlook to lead an honest life.

Easy to say / difficult to do !

Gardening can be hard work and take time and patience. But it is also rewarding 🤡. So let’s get our prisoners outside digging up weeds; growing flowers and planting fruit and vegetables🪴🪴🪴And trees —- lots of trees. 🌳🌳🌲🌳🌲🌲

Later they can move onto housebuilding. More homes for everyone, including them, when they are released. We will build a new skilled workforce of gardeners and construction workers.

As I write this, it all sounds too utopian and unrealistic. But it doesn’t have to be a soft option. Initially the gardening will be done in the prison grounds. Outside prison grounds, high risk prisoners will be fitted with a ball and chain. Later this can be changed to a tracker, but abscond and you will be back in the ball and chain.

After a year of gardening and construction work, prisoners can opt to switch to other work or full time education. All designed to give them a better opportunity when they complete their sentence. They will also be given a release bounty, equivalent to the minimum wage for the period of their incarceration. 50% of the bounty must be used to compensate any victims of their crime.

My Last Laugh Looney Party blogs await the judgement of the electorate on July 4th. The wisdom of the voters might finally tell the politicians what to do with themselves🤡

Meanwhile my garden lays out a host of steps before me. Which one to take first ? —- the economy; NHS waiting lists; education; defence; crime; nett zero; immigration —- as many choices as there are tasks in my garden.

All with no money🤡

We need to mobilise the nation to lift us out of this era of gloom.

So let’s start with EDUCATION and let a thousand flowers bloom. Teachers and children need more support so ask every teacher to recruit one volunteer for a year. Somebody known to them, so that they can dispense with all the Department of Education vetting processes.

Oh and for a year we will suspend all the “ work” in the county education offices and the Department of Education and second them to do some real work experience in the schools that Ofsted has rated poor. 8,000 people work in the DoE and 3,000 in Ofsted. Thousands more work in the county back office teams, no doubt they will gain valuable experience being on the front line for a year.

The volunteers will wear a flower to show they are completing a year of National Service.

THAT’S A START.

Then the following year, hopefully some of them will wish to stay on and remain as volunteers. Others may wish to train to become teachers.

The back office staff will not be able to go back to “working from home” and will have to justify why they are needed at all, if the education world didn’t fall apart over their year of National Service 🤡