Hopeful Messages

I know it's difficult, but despite everything, including the seemingly inexorable rise of the right, I try to keep hopeful on this site and in that vein I thought it worth highlighting the following:-

Or, instead of sleepwalking into that dystopian future, we could actually learn from what has worked before, and what still works in other countries. Probation is a brand, and a good one, but it needs realignment, investment, and political will. Prison doesn’t work as a default response. It never has and it never will, unless it’s reserved for the most serious offences with genuinely long sentences. Reduce the prison population and you immediately increase access to proper rehabilitation.

Probation could be resourced and legislatively supported to do what it’s supposed to do: rehabilitation, resettlement, and access to services. Housing, benefits, employment, mental health, substance misuse, these should be part of the package, not an afterthought or referral into the ether. Strengthen support and aftercare, allow unpaid work to lead to vocational qualifications, let probation hostels teach real life skills. There’s even a role for electronic monitoring, just not at £700 million a time.

Imagine five well-run probation hostels in the area of every probation office instead of all those intended new prisons, it would be cheaper and far more effective. As said above, abolish recalls for all but the genuinely dangerous, and instead increase support for others through voluntary supervision, including for people on remand.

And yes, pay probation officers more, give them proper social-work-grounded training again, and bring back family-focused practice instead of endless “leadership” courses or academic qualifications like theose Cambridge Criminology MAs that add little to the frontline.

The solutions aren’t difficult. They’ve been sitting there for decades. But as long as the ideas continue to come from the same managers who already failed us, a revolving door of ministers, and a handful of carefully selected academics, nothing will change. The frontline knows what works. It’s time someone listened.

Probation Officer

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It sounds good & is good in principle but how do we make it heard? How do we get someone to listen?

Forty years ago I qualified and for forty years I've been shouting & arguing & fighting against the tide of shit & the hierarchy of policymaking. I've had my head above the parapet forever. I've submitted evidence to parliament, to my MP, to the press. I've stood on picket lines, I've travelled hundreds of miles to Westminster to meet my MP (who failed to show for our appointment & has never yet apologised). I've submitted comments - positive & negative - to this blog. I've leaked documents elsewhere. I've been threatened directly & indirectly by names you would not believe.

As far as I've been able to work it out, here's my take on it:

1. Policymakers are a unique teflon-coated species who wield most of the power as they slither between the various layers of parliamentary lowlife.

2. Advisors feed on lobbyists & are very responsive to the sound of big money.

3. Politicians only listen to what their advisors tell them as they're too busy earning a meagre crust elsewhere in the City.

4. Those in 'the centre' (for probation & prisons = HMPPS) don't want to hear anything other than the words of the politicians they protect & serve & manipulate).

5. The peripatetic/regional leadership isn't interested in hearing anything but the edicts coming from 'the centre'.

6. The frontline are exhausted, tired of being crushed, abused, lied to, shouted at & bullied. The frontline usually get it from all corners of the compass: (a) from management, (b) from those they supervise, (c) from colleagues & (d) from the media. There used to be a small canopy under which they could shelter but Napo has folded & now cosplays 'good cop' to the HMPPS 'bad cop'.

It might yet need a farage government & the nuclear fallout of such a terrifying event to raze the status quo to ground zero so we can start again.

--oo00oo--

Talking of hope, I note it's nearly time for this years BBC Reith Lectures:-

The Reith Lectures Rutger Bregman - Moral Revolution Episode 1 of 4

Rutger Bregman's 2025 Reith Lectures, called "Moral Revolution", explore the moral decay and un-seriousness of today's elites, drawing historical parallels to past eras of corruption that preceded transformative movements especially the 19th Century campaign to abolish slavery. In his series, he argues that small, committed groups can spark moral revolutions, emphasizing the importance of perseverance and long-term vision.

Bregman advocates for a new "realist utopia" in the face of rapid technological change, promoting ideas like Universal Basic Income, fairer taxation and responsible tech regulation. Finally, he zooms out to reflect on humanity’s strange historical trajectory, warning of the existential risks posed by unchecked AI and urging privileged individuals to take on an active role in shaping a better future.

1. A Time of Monsters - 25th November 09:00 Radio 4