Party Vibe

i think there’s some mileage in the theory that if you remove the really simple ways to kills people, then the majority of people might smack someone, but will lack the imagination to come up with a murder weapon in the split second it takes to pull a gun (or pick up a sword)

if it’s pre-meditated then i agree, lock em up. but the reality is that life is more complex thatn that and as a society we have ethics that are more complex

i have a mate who was 18, on a fuck load of acid in the 1960’s (before i was born BTW). A gay guy came onto him, and not in friendly way, but being really predatory

he punched the guy hard and the guy fell backwards and hit his head on the kerb an died.

my friend served 18 years and then escaped from jail and got to france, where he worked hard and eventually bought a cafe. he ran it for about 20 years, but eventually it wasn’t doing too well and he was struggling for money. he wanted to come home to england to see his surviving family, but a tabloid somehow got wind of this ‘escaped convict’ and got in touch. at first he avoided them, but his money worries got worse and eventually he was broke. the hack offered him cash for his story and he accepted, only he never got the cash, just interpol, who deported him to england, where he is still in jail 7 years later, in his late 60’s, for a crime of accidental manslaughter (or self defence) committed more than 40 years ago, by a gentle person who, when i met him, was the picture of a positive member of the community

i don’t think increasing prison sentences would stop the kind of crime you mentioned. if you don’t intend to kill someone, then a life sentence for murder won’t cross your mind

i think the big issue is how commonly violence is used

there’s a massive need for early intervention with children in families who are failing to address their children’s behaviour. this doesn’t have to be by punishing people, but i think where people don’t take part and their children are committing real crimes, particularly violence, then punitive action should be used against families.

waiting until someone gets killed to lock someone away for ever is never going to reduce the murder rate. that approach is an obvious non-sequiteur… it actually defies logic.

the local paper has been running a campaign to have them banned ever since