Author: Samuel Hooper

Monday Morning Poetry

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Christina Rossetti

 

This morning I was catching up on Andrew Sullivan’s weekend blogging (yes, I’m a Dishhead), and unusually I actually recognised the poem selected for his “A Poem For Sunday” segment.

This rarely happens; poetry has never really been my thing, but since I studied this particular poet at school I enjoyed her writing.

I thought I would reproduce this one in full on my blog, as a tonic from the caustic observations and dissents that I seem to have been producing a lot of recently. I don’t want to develop a reputation as a total grouch.

“Remember”, by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more, day by day,
You tell me of our future that you planned;
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve;
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

I found this much more understatedly moving and memorable than “Goblin Market“, which we also studied. But then unlike my own writing, in poetry I have always favoured brevity.

Music For The Day

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A performance of Samuel Barber’s evocative, nostalgic “Knoxville: Summer of 1915”, performed here by the gifted soprano Dawn Upshaw, accompanied by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s with David Zinman conducting.

 

I heard this piece for the first time at a London Symphony Orchestra concert in 2007 and foolishly allowed it to slip from my mind until I recently stumbled upon it once again.

Well worth purchasing this particular recording if you are a Samuel Barber fan.

Music For The Day

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A fine performance of the piece “Melancolie” by Francois Poulenc, played and uploaded by a YouTube user:

 

Happy Sunday everyone.

Get Out Of Jail Free (If You Are A Girl)

Samuel Hooper4 Comments

Claire Perry, Conservative MP for Devizes, thinks that boys who commit crimes should go to prison, but not girls.

You would think that such a striking and illiberal proposal would be backed up by some powerful facts or hitherto-unseen observations, right? But no. Instead, she gives us this:

Generally speaking, girls are much better behaved than boys. That isn’t some ludicrous Victorian stereotype, but a fact drawn out by crime statistics. Of 1,744 young people in custody, just 95 are girls. Just 22 per cent of offences committed by children are committed by girls. Moreover, of the few girls that do end up in court, the majority have committed low level, non-violent offences such as shop theft or criminal damage.

Okay, Claire Perry. I’m waiting to see how you twist this observation into the idea that those girls who do commit violent or high-level offences should receive different punishments their male counterparts. Oh wait, that part never comes.

Using inappropriate and unnecessary criminal justice interventions for girls’ low level behaviour is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

It’s fine for boys though. Go to town with that sledgehammer.

The Howard League for Penal Reform has conducted research on children in the penal system and legally represented children in custody.  The charity has been supporting the APPG inquiry and found that many of the girls who do end up in court had led chaotic lives, experienced poor parenting, neglect or abuse.  They have grown up in communities blighted by poverty and deprivation.  However, magistrates in the youth court lack the powers to invoke care proceedings, even when it is obvious that the young girl before them is vulnerable and in need.

True. But again, how is this terrible and depressing fact any different in the case of boys?

Failing to address a girl’s underlying welfare issues makes it more likely she will end up in court again.  A criminal conviction can exacerbate problems instead of solving them.  It can make it harder to find employment or a college place in the future.  Rather than criminalising girls for minor misdemeanours we should be ensuring that they and their families have the support they need in order to turn their lives around and make a positive contribution to their communities. We need to intervene early and give girls appropriate support in order to reduce further the small number of girls who end up in the penal system.

Change the word “girl” to “person” in this paragraph and you would have my agreement, Claire.

And she goes out on a strong note:

Prison for girls is not the answer and we should shut down all three prison units for girls immediately.

Wow, you really convinced me with the power and fact-based nature of your argument.

I’m actually not going to discuss the merits and drawbacks of Britain’s existing penal system in this blog post, though it certainly deserves discussion in future. For now I’m just going to marvel at the ridiculous notion of proposing different punishment methods for individuals, based not on the nature of their crime, or their treatment needs, or the danger that they pose to society, but based exclusively on their sex.

How disappointing to hear such discriminatory tosh emanating from the mouth of a Conservative MP.

How Not To Do Tax Policy

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Priti Patel, writing in The Spectator’s Coffee House blog, warns that:

… we should all fear Ed Miliband’s praise for a new socialist French President who plans to raise the top rate of tax to 75 per cent. It is a chilling reminder of Miliband’s own commitment to a permanent 50 per cent income tax rate in this country.

But as he visited the Elysée Palace this week, one of France’s leading newspapers warned that the 75 per cent tax rate threat is already leading to French businesses evacuating senior executives to London. Since François Hollande’s victory on 6 May, this exodus of enterprise has caused the waiting list of the prestigious Charles de Gaulle school in our capital to rocket by over 700 places. We haven’t even rolled out the red carpet yet.

Very true. Let this be a warning to all those who think either that there is a binary choice between “austerity” and “growth”, or that Britain’s (or France’s) finances can be rectified, and the current excessive levels of government spending maintained, simply by turning the screws on the rich a little more.

Unfortunately, Patel’s article also misses out the most crucial actions required to get the British economy moving again – introducing much needed supply side reforms. Note:

Yesterday’s economic news reminds us of the need for the Government to continue to focus relentlessly on getting our economy moving – dealing with the debt crisis, boosting bank lending to the real economy, and ensuring sustainable long-term prosperity through radical economic reform.

Nothing about reducing regulation, either independently or through the European Union. Nothing about tackling the restive trades union that are always a day or so away from striking for spurious reasons.

By all means warn about Labour’s policies on tax, but given the fact that Osborne messed up the Budget and left us with a 45% top rate of tax for the foreseeable future, let’s focus on where the coalition government has the political strength to do the most good to restore economic growth.