Crime and Punishment?

There’s been a lot going on lately, since the last time I tried to transfer thoughts to words at least.  At the end of July, Me and the Princess spent a few days camping out west, totally disconnected from the media.  When we got home we discovered a horrific murder had lead to rioting around the country as the far right goose stepped into action.  FFS can’t the country keep its shit together when my back is turned for four days?

The media loves to play the blame game and the finger was pointed at Nigel “my one job is to split the working class vote” rhymes with garage and the brazen con man Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.  As much as I may dislike these grifters I think for once(?) they are convenient scapegoats.  This right wing nonsense was fuelled by the rantings of the nastier side of the Tory party; Patel, Braverman and De Pfeffel to name just three.  The former government stirred up this shit in an attempt to disguise their own incompetence and there is a relatively small yet surprisingly large percentage of the population who can’t understand that the people telling them to blame immigrants are the very people who are dry fucking them.

In a similar vein the morons who went out smashing things and attacking innocent people are scum and should absolutely be punished. But hang on a minute, it’s all a bit rushed isn’t it? I mean, it seems a bit heavy handed to me, how are they getting this done so quickly?  If justice can be dispensed this easily then why are the courts so backed up?  People are literally waiting months if not years for their day in court.  Are the sentences being handed out consistent with similar offences at other times?  Or to put it another way, are the punishments fitting the crimes?  On the other hand perhaps the incarcerated rioter really do have their country back, at least the one they deserve.  It’s madness to try to make sense of anything in an insane world said somebody somewhere more than once.  Probably.

Don't blink, its Test match time again

Late August, already!  Another Test series starts tomorrow, England versus Sri Lanka, three matches squeezed into a period of twenty days.  This after the West Indies series was all over inside an eighteen day period.  I wish we could return to the days when a test match summer was exactly that and touring teams would get proper practice matches and plenty of them.  Come to think of it the only time I got to see the great West Indian team play in whites was a tour match at Chelmsford…

Sri Lanka should be stronger opposition than West Indies but England should be expected to make this a 6-0 summer but now Stokes is out injured (bastard hundred) this series suddenly seems a lot closer.  Even with Joe Root in the team the captain is our best player and irreplaceable, his loss will be huge.  That said I like that the selectors have moved the middle order up one and picked an extra bowler, it feels like the right thing to do.  Chris Woakes would have played many more test matches in almost any other era and Jamie Smith has been impressive.

If I’m not mistaken Sri Lanka haven’t won a test match against England since 2014 although that win was enough to take the series, a rare home defeat for England.  One day many of these England players will have to cope without Stokes in the team, now is a good chance to get a bit of practice and I still expect a comfortable home win.