Ann Widdecombe just doesn't get it

Second rant of the day coming up! This all kicked off last month with an assertion by Sir Nicholas Winterton that MPs should be paid to travel first class on the railway. Both he and his wife Ann are Tory MPs standing down in the General Election and were regarded as prime examples of those misusing the allowances and so it is little wonder that his remarks drew a few raspberries. Since then other MPs have deployed various lines of reasoning to show why they consider they should also be paid for first class travel. The one who really takes the biscuit though is Tory Ann Widdecombe!

In the past I have lavished praise on Ms Widdecombe having seen some of her documentary stuff on TV where she has been at the sharp end going where most fear to tread and confronting hoodies and prostitutes amongst others. Full marks to her for that. Now though she has really let herself down talking about how she travels first class and evidently thinks she has a right to be paid out of the public purse. She has tried her hand at writing books and, get this, says that by travelling first class she has been able to write two of her novels whilst in transit as it were.

The inference of her remarks - I believe they were quoted in the 'Daily Telegraph' - is that the public stumping up her fares in first class has enabled her to complete something for her own benefit and not something that is connected with her work as a constituency MP in Kent. She really doesn't get it does she. What a totally stupid inane thing for her to say, especially as she is standing down anyway. I understand that she now has her 'retirement' home near, appropriately, Widecombe-in-the-Moor. Well at least now Ann the only cost to us for you writing a book is if we decide to buy one of the darn things!

Ann Widdecombe versus prostitution

I don't watch that much TV these days but last week there were some programmes that seemed as if if they would be particularly interesting. In my paper last Wednesday I saw advertised "Ann Widdecombe versus prostitution". Now what I like about Ann is that she does what MPs should do: she goes out to look at situations from the sharp end, in fact I had praised her back on 20th January about an earlier programme of hers.

This time she was looking at the social problems posed by prostitution. She visited Peterborough (it could of been any one of hundreds of other places) and talked to a family in a perfectly respectable neighbourhood who were being plagued by girls plying their trade in the road outside. She also built up a rapport with one prostitute who, surprise surprise, was 'on the game' to fund her drug habit. Now if memory serves me right Ann Widdecombe is single and a catholic and it was obvious that what she saw was very alien to her sort of world. But bravo to her for her campaign looking at some of this country's social problems - I believe this is the first of a series.

Personally I think the laws on the oldest profession are in a mess and are unsatisfactory for everyone. Maybe organised brothels will prove to be the answer.

Police cells taking more prisoners

Towards the end of last year a number of police stations were having to accommodate prisoners because the gaols had become full. Apparently this policy has just been renewed with 6 cells in Torquay, Devon and 6 in Launceston, Cornwall being pressed into service "for the foreseeable future" say Devon and Cornwall Police. How depressing this all is! I believe we have a particularly large number of prisoners in this country relative to our population and for all the government claims of reducing crime there seems to be more of a squeeze on prison accommodation.

Of course one has to be careful with statistics; it might be that if sentences are longer that in itself would slow down the availability of cells. And it may be that as the country's population increases the number of criminals increase assuming the proportions stay the same. All very difficult but it seems to me that much more has to be done with young people who are starting to go off the rails.

Last night I watched the second of two programmes on ITV in which MP Ann Widdecombe visited a couple of notorious estates in London and confronted some of the hoodies. Some of these were OK though intimidating even more so when they congregated in stairwells. Ann spoke to some of the residents who had literally become prisoners in their own homes frightened to go out. The MP strikes me as pretty tough but even she seemed pretty shocked. I'm very keen to see our MPs seeing things at the sharp end be it a rundown estate in London or a farmer on Dartmoor battling the elements and red tape.

It almost defied belief seeing some of these Londoners trying to live their lives - one who was interviewed had been mugged several times. Without wishing to excuse the criminals in any way I would say that the design of the particular tower blocks seen in the two programmes was absolutely soul destroying and there seemed to be numerous alleyways and corners where those bent on mischief could hide. Lots and lots wrong there. Why doesn't the home secretary see these things for himself?