Lock 'um Up? or Let 'um Out?

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Published in 1931 to promote "The National League of Hikers" and organised by the Daily Herald. Do you remember the Herald? ......I used to deliver it as a paper-boy, 55 years ago!

You can listen to it here.

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So what has been going on this week?

Well I found out that a former Royal Marine, who became notorious for his naked hike from Land's End to John O'Groats in 2003, has spent much of the past seven years in prison for repeatedly appearing nude in public.

The Telegraph reports that:-

"He was yesterday found guilty of breaching the peace when he walked naked from Perth prison in December after finishing a 12 month sentence for the same offence. Mr Gough was warned he will continue to be jailed every time he steps out of prison without any clothes on.

Mr Gough said he accepted he could "potentially" remain in jail forever and added: "This is about individual freedom."

I can't help feeling that if you choose to live in a society like ours, you conform to the rules of that society. And the same goes for newcomers to our country as well.

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But.....locking him up in prison for the rest of his life.

Do you realise he has, so far, cost the long-suffering British taxpayer around £500,000 in legal-aid fees, court expenses, and the costs of keeping him – largely for his own protection – in the isolation wing of a Scottish prison.

A "Sledgehammer to crack a pair of Nuts", don't you think?

Anthropologists disagree on when humans first started wearing clothes – 100,000 years ago seems a reasonable guess – but broadly concur that for 99 per cent of our history, nudity has been the norm, and that dressing for the sake of decency is an almost wholly modern phenomenon.

And then on the same day in the Daily Fail I see they are trying to reduce the number of people being kept in prison!

"The prison population should be slashed by a third - putting 28,000 offenders back on the streets, according to a group of MPs.

The committee's 200-page report today calls for millions of pounds to be diverted from prisons to programmes aimed at rehabilitating offenders.

Prisons Minister Maria Eagle gave the report a lukewarm response. She said: 'Judges must have the option of prison for persistent, serious and violent offenders. Prison places have increased and will continue to do so to ensure there are enough places for violent offenders.'

I'd rather meet that 'hiker' on the street any day,

than just one of the 28,000 !

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