THE mass early release of sniggering, champagne-glugging convicts is a grotesque national humiliation.
A scandalous and total breakdown of our justice system.
In fairness, it is not all the new Government’s fault.
Overcrowding in our crumbling, undermanned, squalid, violent jails dates back at least to Tony Blair’s era.
Major new prisons announced by the Tories were either shelved or repeatedly delayed by an archaic planning system and absurdly excessive environmental red tape. Badgers halted one.
But Labour cannot pass the buck for yesterday’s grim scenes as the initial horde of 1,700 prisoners waltzed free.
Keir Starmer’s Prisons Minister James Timpson believes only a third of lags should be behind bars at all.
And when presented with a gift-wrapped solution to this crisis — Nato ally Estonia offering to rent us its many empty cells — Labour chose to let criminals loose instead.
A “roll the dice” moment, in the chilling view of the Chief Inspector of Probation. A gamble with the lives of the law-abiding public.
Labour made the final call. They own the consequences. And given how many lags emerged yesterday unrehabilitated and unrepentant (and gleefully grateful to Labour), consequences there will be.
Reoffending is inevitable. Some domestic abuse survivors are already terrified as their attackers roam free.
It is a truly horrific fiasco.
HOW callously Labour MPs trooped through the voting lobby yesterday to leave skint pensioners shivering in their homes.
Nearly 350 opted to strip old folk like Jim O’Dwyer, a World War Two hero who flew 31 missions in a Lancaster bomber, of their winter fuel payments.
Jim, 99, is very far from a “millionaire”, as supporters of this cruel cut foolishly now caricature our pensioners. He has a small private pension, enough to disqualify him under the new rules.
Labour claim this “saving” is crucial for the economy. Except Jim’s money will be handed instead to Aslef’s militant £69,000-a-year train drivers as a bribe to stop them striking.
Britain voted for change. It has certainly arrived for Jim and millions like him.
IF nothing is “more important than public trust in the BBC”, as its chairman says, he and other top brass should be terrified.
It was plummeting already, long before Huw Edwards was convicted over child abuse images.
And long before an independent report found the BBC breached its own editorial guidelines 1,500 times after October 7 due to its left-wing anti-Israel bias.
Ex-Beeb executive Danny Cohen calls it an “institutional crisis”.
He can say that again.
