There’s an effort underway to redefine Britishness. It involves weird, invented history and it would be laughable were it not so sinister. www.google.com/search?q=the...
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David Shipley
@shipleywrites.bsky.social
Did corporate finance, produced a film, committed a fraud. Served my time. Horrified by the prison system. I write and talk and try to change it. Words in Inside Time, The Spectator, the i, amongst others. david@david-shipley.com
By a margin of two to one, the British public think that citizenship is a privilege which should be revocable by politicians in certain circumstances. ✍️ David Shipley spectator.com/article/the-...
The public are right: citizenship is a privilege, not a right
Keir Starmer is, in many ways, a remarkable prime minister. His is remarkably uncharismatic and remarkably unable to discern the mood of the nation he governs. He is remarkable in his unpopularity,…
spectator.com
Hey @sundersays I'm writing an article for the Spectator about how 'removing citizenship is the mainstream position' based on this polling / linking in to the discussions around El Fattah etc. Would you like to provide a comment?
Dame Ann Limb, who is due to become a Labour peer and heads the board of trustees for King Charles’s charity, called herself a doctor ⬇️
Chair of King’s Foundation lied about having a PhD
Dame Ann Limb, who is due to become a Labour peer and heads the board of trustees for King Charles’s charity, called herself a doctor
thetimes.com
The POA chief is far more progressive than I expected www.spectator.co.uk/article/head...
Head of the prison officers’ union: we should halve the prison population
The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) and its national chair Mark Fairhurst have a reputation for always wanting prisons to be more secure and more punitive. So it was a surprise when Fairhurst told ...
spectator.co.uk
England now has a blasphemy law www.spectator.co.uk/article/engl...
England now has a blasphemy law
Officially, blasphemy was abolished by New Labour in the 2008 Criminal Justice Act. But today, with the conviction of Hamit Coskun, blasphemy laws now exist in England. This law has been created by t...
spectator.co.uk
Beards are laden with meaning. What does Tommy Robinson’s tell us? www.spectator.co.uk/article/tomm...
Tommy Robinson and the truth about jail beards
Beards have long been associated with wisdom. Perhaps Robinson wanted to show the world a visible sign of all he had endured.
spectator.co.uk
www.spectator.co.uk/article/decr...
Decriminalising cannabis would be bad for black Londoners
Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor, has called for the possession of cannabis to be decriminalised, because he believes that the police disproportionately target black Londoners when policing drug possession....
spectator.co.uk
What does the Sentencing Review mean for victims of domestic violence? www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...
Sentencing reforms will benefit domestic abusers, says victim
A woman whose neck was fractured in an attack by her partner claims the prison overhaul means violent men will not fear serious punishment
thetimes.com
So in all the noise and bluster, what’s the key takeaway from the sentencing review and gov’s reforms? There’s a lot to like in the proposals — but the gov risks shooting itself in the foot through key omissions to look ‘tough on crime’ 🧵 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/sent...
Key omissions risk undermining the government’s bold sentencing goals | Institute for Government
Not all of David Gauke's recommendations have been taken on by the government.
instituteforgovernment.org.uk
🚨SPECIAL EPISODE🚨 Does equality before the law mean treating everyone the same? Sonya Ruparel & @shipleywrites.bsky.social discuss the fiery debate between the Lord Chancellor & Sentencing Council over how judges should consider cases involving minoritized communities 🎧Listen now: pod.fo/e/2c65b4
I'm writing a piece about DBS / criminal records reform - I would love to speak with anyone who has missed out on a job because of an old / irrelevant conviction which showed up on a DBS.
This weekend @thetimes.com is free to read, so why not check out mine and @mattdathan.bsky.social’s investigation into the suspension and subsequent sacking of the Deputy Governor of Wandsworth prison. www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...
Governor who moved gangster to open prison faced no investigation
The treatment of Bobby Cunningham, nicknamed ‘Nepotism Bob’ by staff at HMP Wandsworth, has fuelled fears of a cover-up
thetimes.com
I was a prisoner at Wandsworth. At this point I was coping. I’d got a job in the library, had a reasonable amount of time out of my cell and was optimistic about moving to an open prison soon.
Naomi Alderman@naomialderman.bsky.social · last yr.I would really really love to hear other people's notes/strong memories about the specifics of this. I feel like we were all in such trauma that the memories have vanished fast, leaving a blanket of "oh god yuck awful" which isn't helpful for understanding how it's affected us. #fiveyearson
Sorry guys it’s over for me. I heard someone describe instagram as “old people TikTok today”
Every time the satnav says “bear left” or “bear right” I say “oh! Look out for a bear” even if I’m the only one in the car
Stephen Bush@stephenkb.bsky.social · last yr.What's the worst joke you're committed to? Mine is to say 'thank god you're charging more for that. Every year, thousands die drilling those little holes' whenever website tries to upsell me more memory on some form of device. A joke that a) isn't funny b) no-one but me can hear.
I wrote about the government's interest in the 'Texas model' shipleywrites.substack.com/p/the-texas-...
The Texas model
Can we really learn from the Lone Star State?
shipleywrites.substack.com
I would love to write a piece about why Ged’s journey in A Wizard of Earthsea is like my prison journey.
Any lawyers able to speak to me about harassment law? For a piece I’m writing today.
A very distressing C4 report tonight on pregnant women prisoners being handcuffed during childbirth, despite it being against MoJ policy. Those policies aren’t worth the paper they’re written on — the only way to keep pregnant women safe is to stop sending them to prison.
Channel 4 News@channel4news.bsky.social · last yr.‘Prison will never be a safe place to be pregnant’ – campaigner www.channel4.com/news/prison-...
Is another prison capacity crisis round the corner? There are actually reasons to be hopeful. www.spectator.co.uk/article/labo...
Labour has until Easter to stop prisons running out of space
Prisons minister James Timpson and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood could not have been dealt a worse hand.
spectator.co.uk
I’ve noticed that when my AirPods are on noise cancelling mode the space I’m in feels smaller, while the opposite is true on transparency mode. I presume there’s some subconscious process of echolocation going on?
I made a grave error on The Other Place. Posted something about having a crap time at school (I went to an especially unpleasant and ‘traditional’ prep school) and somehow I’ve awakened a lot of Americans arguing about homeschooling.
I’ve given myself a ‘court week’ ahead. Attending an inquest into the death of a Wandsworth prisoner tomorrow, and then supporting a friend at his sentencing on Tuesday. Haven’t been inside a court since my own sentencing, so it’ll be interesting to see what it brings up.
