(no subject)

[chess]

First, a practical thing: does anyone know much about chiropody in Cambridge? I appear to have ingrowing toenails which keep being ingrowing again after I attack them viciously with toenail-cutting implements, and I'd like to find someone competent to work out what's gone wrong, but I don't really know how to go about this without it costing lots of money.

Second, http://www.politicalsurvey2005.com/ is a very good website, and reminds me why I am distinctly puzzled how otherwise perfectly nice people can vote Tory, given their vast preference for the 'hanging/flogging' and 'free market' end of the scale. The free market is not very nice (it promotes inequality which makes people resentful, it means some people starve whilst others live in luxury, it is *not very nice*) and punishing criminals rather than trying to rehabilitate them is also not very nice. I probably have more cogent arguements why each is a bad idea, but fundamentally I object to them because they are Not Very Nice.

Thirdly, it's springtime and sunny, but everything still feels and tastes like dust and ashes to me. I just walked out of church this morning and went home because I felt I was harming the important things that were going on there (lots of prayer for the summer mission and some people going out to do primary healthcare stuff in rural India) just by being there. I'm not really sure what's wrong; I just have that big cloak of cobwebs back.

Comments

[lockymclean.livejournal.com]

People vote Conservative for all sorts of reasons. I used to be much further to the right on the political survey 2005 map because I was raised in an environment where I "had to struggle against the odds to get where I was and no damned fool was going to get what I had despite being a lazy arse" - so I even had a big problem with privately educated students when I first arrived at Cambridge, as I had an overpowering perception that they had had it all handed to them on a plate and it wasn't fair that I had to graft for seven years to get good A-levels. Similarly regarding criminals - "my family lived on a tight budget and I was bullied at school but I didn't turn to crime as a way out."

University and church moderated my views substantially, partly because I now understand the complexities of each situation. This makes me quite pragmatic in practice. However, I still have some slightly-right-of-centre leanings, for example I am massively in favour of rehabilitation, and I even cried when I read a Big Issue article reporting on a successful pilot scheme for restorative justice which told how a victim of a violent crime forgave her attacker and he met her to say how sorry he was. Nevertheless, I know that rehab doesn't always work, and when it doesn't you have to resort to the next best alternative, which is to make the punishment fit the crime. Even God punishes those who don't repent/accept Jesus.

Economically I think private sector is usually best at running the show at a low level, and the only problem is the prats who ruin it for the rest by being incompetent at a high level and being paid a fortune for it. I would be far happier if employment law were relaxed so that idiot managing directors of large companies and utilities could be dismissed more easily. Heh, who'd have thought that woolly worker protectionism would help the fat cats?!

I am well aware that state benefits are an absolute pittance, but I know as well that you have to be careful about how you tax people if you want to make minimum incomes a bit more comfortable. If you're too mean to the people who have moveable assets (who tend to be wealthier) then they will just take them somewhere else. And then we're all screwed.

To be honest I think that what we need are much more personal solutions. Too many people think that the solution to poverty is just to throw money at it. What they don't realise is that first you have to plug up all the holes which perpetuate poverty like debt, gambling, drink, drugs and low self-esteem. Otherwise you're just throwing good money after bad because people will spend more to accommodate their increased income. Yes, it doesn't apply to everyone but it applies to the people who need help most and I know this because I have seen them walk through the door of the Citizens Advice Bureau week after week. The solution isn't easy but if it can be found then it'd be much more effective. A kind of socio-emotional rehabilitation, if you like.

What do you think of them apples?

[atreic.livejournal.com]

However, I still have some slightly-right-of-centre leanings, for example I am massively in favour of rehabilitation,

This is confusing me. Rehabilitation (as opposed to punishment or deterrent) is IMO a very left-of-centre policy. It definitly seems to be no part of the tories plans if they win this election. Was that a typo, or do you really think rehabilitation is a right wing idea?

[ilanin.livejournal.com]

Well, it was Micheal Howard's second favourite word when he was Home Secretary.

[lockymclean.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I thought that it might come out wrong because the sentence was too long for the structure to work properly. The important bit is:

"I still have some slightly-right-of-centre leanings, for example I am massively in favour of rehabilitation ... Nevertheless, I know that rehab doesn't always work, and when it doesn't you have to resort to the next best alternative, which is to make the punishment fit the crime."