I’m Back

I’ve been away from work for a week. We were supposed to take a trip to Taiwan this summer, but we ran out of money to be honest, and last week was a substitute holiday. We did a few days out, including Bourton on the water (I dropped my smart phone in the river there, but it still works), Bowood House (the boy fell over there and gave himself a black eye), the Oasis swimming pool (there were no accidents there), Bristol Aquarium (the Dragon gave herself a blinding headache watching a 3D film in the IMAX theatre), and the Swindon to Cricklade Steam Railway. This is probably not interesting to anyone other than me.

Today is the first day in our new office. I have a window seat. I feel special. Things got up and running surprisingly quickly. The new phone system is not working. Excellent, no phone calls. On the downside, people have discovered how to set personalised ring tones and it sounds like Blackpool Pleasure Beach in here. I have a view of conker trees.

I noticed that Steve Gough, the Naked Rambler, was released from prison last week in Perth, Scotland. He was free for exactly one minute before being arrested again and returned to prison because he refused to put any clothes on. It’s not the first time he’s done this. In fact, according to news reports, he’s spent most of the last five years in prison for refusing to wear clothes in public. There are many reports out there covering his latest release, many of which suggest that he is in need of psychiatric help.

I have no view on his psychiatric condition. He believes that there is nothing indecent about nudity and that it should be accepted. I have some sympathy for his philosophy, but he fails to realise that a significant number of people don’t share his view and he is therefore being antisocial. The interesting thing to me however is how the authorities are dealing with him. He’s walked naked from Lands End to John O’Groats twice. He was arrested in England (twice I believe) but he was released and sent on his way almost immediately each time. In Scotland he was arrested multiple times resulting in jail sentences. Each time he is released he leaves prison naked. The police are waiting for him, and he is re-arrested.

He’s not going to stop doing this. He’s enjoying the publicity and it furthers his cause. I suspect the Scottish authorities wish they’d never jailed him in the first place. The English police made a point by arresting him and then sent him on his way, surely a much better strategy.

The law in England and Scotland is different, but it isn’t illegal to be naked in public in either country. Gough has only ever been charged with things like “breach of the peace”. He’s also found himself in Contempt of Court by refusing to wear clothes in court. One wonders where it will end. Gough is not going to put on clothes to appease the Scottish authorities and the authorities are going to find it hard to justify allowing him to leave naked after refusing to do so in the past. One thing does occur to me however and it is this; if Gough continues to appear naked in public, it may prompt new legislation that does make public nudity illegal, and that would be a step backwards for him.

And staying on the theme of ineffective justice, here’s a great story I found yesterday. Two security firm workers have been sacked after they attached a security tag to an offender’s false leg, allowing him to remove the device and ignore his curfew. He was only discovered after he was stopped for a traffic offence while he was supposed to be at home. Apparently around 70,000 offenders are tagged by private security firms each year on behalf the ministry of justice. That’s fairly horrifying isn’t it.

OK, I think I’m going to leave it here for now andwrite some more tomorrow. I’m sort of thinking of taking photos every 30 minutes throughout the day tomorrow and turning it into an entry.