December 2008 Archives

I'm sure that cyclist Chris Hoy is a very decent bloke. He is certainly very adept at riding a bike.

And if you accept that the BBC Sports Personality of the Year can be a representative of a sport that is of no interest at all to 99.9 per cent of the population then he was, no doubt, a worthy winner of that accolade.

But the suggestion that Mr. Hoy, winner of three gold medals in Beijing, should become Sir Chris in the New Year's Honours is plain daft.

Just as barmy, in fact, as the decision to make Kelly Holmes a Dame for winning a couple of races in the previous Games.

Merry Christmas!

That's not just a sincerely meant greeting. It also happens to be a prime example of why the Royal Mail is in such deep trouble.

We just don't need the postman like we used to.

And not just because being able to send electronic messages means we posted five million less letters last year.

Nobody who wants to transmit information that is either important or urgent would even dream of putting it in the post.

MPs on the House of Commons Children's Committee were shocked to be told that more than three children die each week because of abuse and neglect.

After being given the grim facts, chairman Barry Sheerman declared them to be "the most horrific figures I've ever seen brought into the public domain".

But why were he and his colleagues so shocked?

These appalling figures are well-known to the rest of us. Three weeks ago, in fact, they were reported in detail in the George Tyndale column.

Double murderer Peter Tobin will probably spend the rest of his life in prison. But that's only because he is already 62.

Tobin was already serving a life sentence for the rape and bludgeoning to death of Polish student Angelika Kluk in Glasgow in 2006.

He has now also been found guilty of killing and dismembering the body of schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton seventeen years ago and burying her body in the back garden of a house in Margate, Kent.

On top of this the odd job man had a long history of sexual and violent crimes including sexual attacks on two fourteen year old girls.

Yet despite describing what Tobin had done as "among the most evil and horrific acts that any human could commit" the judge in the latest hearing sentenced him to just 30 years.

Given that Tobin is now condemned to a daily life of centrally heated idleness--at a cost to you and me of around £40,000 a year--it is quite feasible that he could yet totter of out of jail and enjoy the end of his worthless life on benefits.

A man as depraved and loathsome as this should not be given even the slightest glimmer of hope that one day he will be able to walk free.
So just how bestial you have to be to get a real life sentence in this country?

Two men have been give a whole life sentence this year--Steve Wright who murdered five prostitutes in Ipswich and Levi Bellfield, 39, the West London bouncer who was found guilty of two murders and remains the chief suspect in the disappearance of schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

But even counting those two the number of prisoners condemned to actually die behind bars stands at just 37.

As many as ten life sentences are handed down every week in our courts. On average "life" turns out to be just over 10 years.

Now look across the Atlantic. Compared with our three dozen whole lifers the Americans have 30,000.

It was one thing to walk away from the death penalty. Ever since we have been walking away from any real penalty at all.