But If They Weren't Held In Custody...

Children are witnessing extreme violence including stabbings while being unnecessarily held in custody awaiting trial or sentencing, the England and Wales watchdog has found.

 ….they might have seen even worse on the internet, and… oh, I’m forgetting, that was yesterday’s moral panic from the lanyard classes.

One child told inspectors he had watched through his window as another child was stabbed and had “found that scary”.

Yes, prison is a scary place. It's not meant to be a holiday camp. It's meant to be a place you endeavour to stay away from. 

Most were in custody for the first time, few were given clear information about why they were being held, and some said they were confused and frightened.

Well, of course they did! They know what will win them sympathy from the lanyard classes...

Andrea Coomber, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said the report showed that children were being punished by the mistakes of a prison system that was supposed to help them. 

Isn't it also supposed to help us, the general public, by keeping these sorts of people off the streets? 

“Prison is a toxic place for children, and spending even a few days in that environment can be terrifying and profoundly damaging. Although remand should always be a last resort, too many children are being sent there by the courts and being punished for the mistakes of services who ought to be helping them. 

Helping them with what? 

“The majority of children placed on remand and bailed within seven days or fewer are placed in a young offender institution, where they experience long periods locked behind their doors with very little to do.”

Who cares? We outside are safer with them inside. 

One child sent to a young offender institution, told inspectors: “I was scared, there was a lot of shouting and noise, and the next morning there were lots of people [referring to other children] at my door, asking me questions in an intimidating way if you know what I mean.”

Yes, we do know. We have to have people to prevent it while we commute to work to pay for the system that keeps you separate from normal society. 

Lessons In Economic Reality In 'The Guardian'...

In 2014, I started a petition to end the unfair and sexist “luxury” tax on period products.

Oh, and how did that go? 

...in December 2020, Rishi Sunak, then chancellor, announced he was “proud” to finally end the 5% tax rate applied to period products.

Hurrah! Right? 

Due to a simple administrative error, period pants (a reusable and environmentally friendly menstrual product) were wrongly categorised by HMRC as clothing rather than menstrual products. As a result, period pants are still being taxed today at 20%.

Ah. The government screwing things up. Gosh. What a shock. Still, everything else is cheaper, right? 

It has been two and a half years since Sunak announced the end of the tampon tax (on all products except period pants). You would expect products to be cheaper as a result.

You might. I'm not sure I would... 

Yet a report by the not-for-profit advisory firm Tax Policy Associates found they are hardly any cheaper today than they were in 2020, even after adjusting for inflation. This is for a simple and extremely disappointing reason: retailers have kept prices the same and pocketed the reduction in tax as profits, amounting to an estimated £15m every year.

Wow! Who could have forseen that? Except, maybe, everyone..? 

It’s time to stop weaponising periods. The point of ending tax on sanitary products is to make them more accessible, not to make retailers richer.

As soon as you figure out how to do that, let us all know, eh?