A Hint of Things to Come

Two snippets that give a hint of things to come as the TR omnishambles moves up a gear:-

I have heard from colleagues who have attended the Purple Futures workshop. Main thing is that from March things will start being implemented but it won't be until November that we will really see the changes. Each OM is going to have a budget per offender to spend as they so wish on programmes - £2k for lower risk ones. It also seems clear that there is going to be a new offender database that will replace Delius and there will be a much bigger emphasis on remote working with encrypted tablets. Minimum requirements per 12 month Order is 6. Very much focused on £ following risk and our current working practices changing almost beyond recognition.

Partners and Social Entrepreneurs Sought in London and the Thames Valley 

aBandofBrothers are part of the novo consortium that will be combining with MTC to run the CRCs in London and the Thames Valley. As part of the supply chain, we will be expanding our rites of passage based personal transformation and mentoring programme in the region over the course of the next 18 months.We are conscious of how we might be seen by others in the sector. One group may see us as having “sold out” to the corporates. Another may have concerns about us assuming that we know their area and their client group and judge us as arrogant for thinking we should grow.

We want to assure everyone that this is not the case. We know we have much to learn about the unique characteristics of new areas and about the challenges of working with different cultures and sub cultures. However we do believe that we have something of value to offer – both to other organisations and to individual young men, struggling to put their life on track after a period in custody. So we’d like to start by offering people from the wider sector an opportunity to experience our methodology and start to build a relationship with you and also build a network of like-minded souls. 

We are running a weekend residential workshop from 20th to 22nd of February for those interested. We are at this point, primarily looking for senior leaders from the sector who would be in a position to commit their organisation to a partnership. We’re also looking for connected and capable social or Civic entrepreneurs interested in our approach. 

Finally, I just wanted to mention and congratulate the so-far-unidentified probation officer who put that pompous arse David Starkey in his place last night on BBC1's Newsnight. During a spontaneous intervention, she made the point that long experience of dealing with sex offenders had demonstrated that "it does no one any good to blurr the boundaries between childhood and adulthood."

The topic being discussed was the astounding sentencing remarks by Judge Joanna Greenberg QC in the case of the 44 year-old male teacher found guilty of having sex with a 16 year-old female pupil. This in the Daily Telegraph:-

Judge Joanna Greenberg QC said it was apparent that the victim had become "obsessed" with Kerner. She told him: "Her friends described her, accurately in my view, as stalking you. "If grooming is the right word to use, it was she who groomed you, (and) you gave in to temptation."

The judge said Kerner was "emotionally fragile" due to complications with his wife's pregnancy. This did not excuse his behaviour, she said, but it did help explain why someone with an "exemplary" character would commit such offences.

Starkey was being rather more obnoxious than usual and basically tried to shift the blame onto the child for 'seducing' the teacher. The robust intervention from our colleague nicely disabused him of this notion. It seems the Attorney General can investigate the remarks, but cannot review the sentence. This in the Independent.

As an aside, I find it hard to believe that Tory junior minister Anna Soubry was ever a barrister as she strikes me as not being particularly bright, but there again, she shares that trait with quite a few politicians in my view. This comment left earlier seems to sum things up nicely:-

Question Time was a crease tonight. David Starkey in fine shithead form referring to Muslims as medieaval & finding teenage girls guilty of seducing (he thought it was a more accurate term than grooming) married men. A Probation Officer in the audience got half a word in about sexual offending behaviour, but it wasn't of interest to the Dimble. Some guy (Mehdi) from Huffington Post (Whats that?!?) was very eloquent in the first instance, but then slipped into making snide asides, which (whilst Starkey deserved them) rather spoiled the first impression. Tory minister in denial about the state of the nation & irritated with LibDem panellist, whilst Labour Minister was forgettable. Is this what we have to look forward to with TV debates?