Alec Baldwin on Bachmann: ‘Inarticulate and Full of [It],’ Backed by ‘Thuggish Interests’
June 29, 2011 No Comment![Alec Baldwin on Bachmann: ‘Inarticulate and Full of [It],’ Backed by ‘Thuggish Interests’](https://newsbreakingonline.com/wp-content/themes/transcript/timthumb.php?src=%3Cimg+src%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fnewsbreakingonline.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F06%2Fdc4e923c12alec.jpg.jpg%22+%2F%3E&q=90&w=190&h=100&zc=1 "Alec Baldwin on Bachmann: ‘Inarticulate and Full of [It],’ Backed by ‘Thuggish Interests’")
Fox Nation pointed out that Alec Baldwin bashed Michele Bachmann on Twitter on Tuesday night: Fear Bachman bc she is raising so much money. Anyone that inarticulate and full of s— who is raising money that fast …is beholden to some mighty thuggish interests. Baldwin also insisted to a conservative tweeter last night: “it's the old adage, but applied to gay marriage. Your freedom ends at the end of my…..” Speaking of inarticulate and full of beans, somehow Baldwin attempted to turn Anthony Weiner's Twitter antics into sophistication in a Huffington Post article titled “Anthony
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Pass notes is 3,000. We celebrate the informative and irreverent column and look back at some of the highlights Pass notes is 3,000. I will pause for a burst of applause and the playing of the national anthem. Thank you. At least I hope we are marking the 3,000th pass notes. The numbering has sometimes gone awry, and it is by no means certain we got it back on track. Passnotesologists at the University of Keele have pointed out that in October 1994 two pass notes (Robert De Niro and Elizabeth Maxwell) appeared on successive days with the number 511, and that No 688 was also repeated. But,
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Reported flotation of online social gaming firm behind Mafia Wars would value it at between $15bn and $20bn The online social gaming firm Zynga reportedly plans to raise up to $2bn (£1.25bn) with a flotation this week that would value the fledgling internet company at between $15bn and $20bn. Zynga, the firm behind the hugely popular Facebook games Farmville and Mafia Wars, will file plans with the US Securities and Exchange Commission as early as Wednesday to become the latest in a gold rush of social media companies to go public, according to CBNC . Zynga initially intends to sell only 10% of its shares in the hope of driving up their valuation, CNBC reported. The four-year-old gaming firm is expected to become the biggest internet flotation since Google, following sky-high valuations in recent weeks for LinkedIn and the Chinese Facebook’, Renren. Zynga, which announced in May plans to partner with Lady Gaga , says it caters to more than 215 million monthly active gamers selling virtual farm animals for real money. According to a source reported by the New York Post to have been approached to invest in the San Francisco-based firm in March, Zynga expects to generate $1.8bn in revenue this year – with a profit of $630m. Secondary market estimates put Zynga’s 2010 full-year revenues at $850m. On last year’s revenues, a $20bn market cap would value the company at 23 times last year’s sales – a higher multiple than the recent big-money technology flotations. Shares in LinkedIn have soared since it went public last month. The social network for professionals is now valued at $8bn after floating with 2010 revenues of $243m and a profit of $15.4m. Renren has a market cap of $2.98bn after raising $743m with its New York stock exchange debut. Morgan Stanley is expected to be the lead underwriter on the Zynga IPO, along with Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays and JP Morgan. Games Social media Digital media Social networking Internet Media business Stock markets Computing United States Zynga Josh Halliday guardian.co.uk
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Around 70 teachers at David Cameron’s former school are members of the Association of Teachers Lecturers, which is taking industrial action for the first time in its history Union members at Eton College, David Cameron’s former school, have agreed to “minimise” strike disruption for pupils on Thursday. Cameron told public sector workers on Wednesday that strikes were “wrong – for you, for the people you serve, for the good of the country” in a last-ditch attempt to avert a mass walkout by members of four unions. But it emerged that around 70 teachers at Eton are members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, which is taking industrial action for the first time in its history. The prospect of a walkout by teachers at Britain’s most expensive public school – in the face of pension changes proposed by a government that currently includes several former pupils – would have been embarrassing for the prime minister. Efforts to contact a union rep at the college failed, but Tony Little, the Eton headmaster, issued a statement late on Tuesday which read: “Members of ATL at Eton met over the weekend, and have taken the view that they wish to minimise disruption but take the pensions issue forward by other means.” Thursday’s strike coincides with the last full day of the school year for Eton pupils, which means disruption would have had little impact as no classes will take place that day. But anger over reforms to teachers’ pension schemes is expected to result in disruption across a number of other public schools with some likely to shut for the day, according to the ATL. The teachers’ pension scheme, underwritten by the government, counts staff at more than 1,400 independent schools as members, according to Lord Hutton’s review, which recommends that the scheme should no longer be available to them. Mary Bousted, the ATL general secretary, whose union includes 20,000 teachers in the private sector, admitted there would be more pressure on teachers to avoid taking to the picket line, but said it would be a mistake to down play the real sense of anger among members in fee-paid schools. “I think there is more pressure not to take action,” she added. “The dispute is more difficult in the independent sector because there is more of a direct link between parents who pay the fees. “Also, although these teachers are in the pension scheme there is not quite the direct link with the government in the same way [as state school teachers], but I do not want to down play the sense of anger in the private sector.” Public sector pensions Public services policy Public sector cuts Public finance Private schools Schools Hélène Mulholland Jessica Shepherd guardian.co.uk
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Group of investors includes the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Pimco Investment Management, the world’s largest bondholder, and BlackRock Financial Management Bank of America (BoA) is close to finalising a deal to pay $8.5bn (£5.3bn) to settle claims by a group of investors that the bank sold them poor-quality mortgage-backed securities that went sour when the housing market tanked, according to a person familiar with the settlement talks. The North Carolina-based bank was continuing talks late on Tuesday with the group, which includes the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Pimco Investment Management, the world’s largest bondholder, and BlackRock Financial Management. It is expected to announce an agreement as early as Wednesday, the person said on condition of anonymity because the matter was still developing. The deal comes eight months after the group fired off a letter to Bank of America demanding that it repurchase $47bn in mortgages that its Countrywide unit sold to them in the form of bonds. The investors have argued that Countrywide’s practice of modifying loans found to have faulty paperwork or those written outside of normal underwriting standards breached signed agreements with the investors. By continuing to service bad loans rather than speeding up foreclosures, the group has claimed that Countrywide ran up servicing fees, enriching itself at the expense of investors. The New York Fed is involved because it took over assets held by American International Group, which faltered under the weight of bad home loans that it insured. Bank of America, which paid $4bn for Countrywide in 2008, has dismissed suggestions that its handling of loan modifications and other efforts to prevent foreclosure have violated the terms of the mortgage-backed securities that the investors hold. In November, CEO Brian Moynihan said he was in day-to-day “hand-to-hand combat” with investors’ demands. But the combined effect of the Countrywide deal, mortgage crisis and the risk overhang of the soured loans have been a drain on BoA’s bottom line and stock price, eventually prompting a reversal in strategy. Since the beginning of the year, the bank has struck large settlements with multiple investors. In January, the lender paid $2.6bn to settle buyback claims on home loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And in April, the bank agreed to pay up to $1.6bn to Assured Guaranty, an insurer that also pressed the bank to repurchase shoddy mortgages. If approved, the latest settlement would address a significant remaining slice of Bank of America’s mortgage buyback claim risk. A Bank of America spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment. Bank of America US housing and sub-prime crisis US economy United States guardian.co.uk
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Ceop director warns against jumping to wrong conclusions as findings did not support claims of Asian grooming gangs The first attempt at a nationwide assessment of patterns of child sexual exploitation reveals that 26% of those who engage in on-street grooming of young girls are Asian. But Peter Davies, the director of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (Ceop), which carried out the research warned against jumping to any conclusions from the findings on the ethnicity of offenders because the data gathered by his investigators was incomplete, not nationwide and of poor quality. “I would send a note of caution about trying to extrapolate anything from this. Looking at this issue through the lens of ethnicity does not do the victims any favours,” he said. The figures (pdf) which published on Wednesday, afer a six-month thematic assessment involving talking to police, social services and charities revealed that of the 2,379 offenders identified by the research ethnicity had not been recorded in 32% of cases. Thhe data also showed 38% of offenders were white and a small number were black or Chinese. The Ceop assessment was commissioned after national debate over what some people had identified as a pattern of Asian men operating in gangs to groom young white girls and sexually abuse them. Davies said the findings did not support this suggestion. Davies initiated the assessment to identify any patterns of offending and victimisation to improve responses. What has emerged is that not enough is being done by the police, by social services and particularly by local children’s safeguarding boards to identify and investigate child sexual exploitation which goes on in local areas. “The key message for me is that this is a horrific crime and involves the systematic, premeditated rape of children. It needs to be understood, it needs to be brought out of the dark. There should be no hiding place anywhere for people Davies said he was “surprised and disappointed” that two thirds of local safeguarding children’s boards were failing to do their statutory duty on child sexual exploitation. He said they were required to assume that child sexual exploitation was going on in their area unless there was clear evidence otherwise. Only one third of LCSB was doing this.who take part in this kind of crime,” he said. Key findings of the research were that: • most local children’s safeguarding boards are failing to fulfil their statutory responsibility to identify child sexual exploitation and protect children, • the size and scale of the crime is not known • police forces across the country need to go out and look for the crime • there are strong links between runaway children and victims of child sexual exploitation • the Crown Prosecution Service should carry out a review of all prosecutions in the area to identify barriers to bringing perpetrators to justice and • more research was needed to provide a more comprehensive picture From the data, Ceop was able to say 2,379 offenders were identified between March 2008 and January 2011. There were 2,083 victims, 90% of whom were white girls, with strong links between children going missing from homes and the care system and becoming victims. Offenders were predominantly males aged between 18 – 24 who acted alone or in groups. Investigators from Ceop spent six months gathering intelligence and data from police forces across the country, social services, health authorities and charities working with victims in an attempt to quantify the scale of the problem. Enver Solomon, head of policy at the Children’s Society, which provided evidence to CEOP, said if patterns of perpetrators had emerged there needed to be further research but he warned against jumping to any conclusions. “This (ethnicity of perpetrators) is obviously disproportionate to the population, but the problem here is that the data is incomplete and poorly recorded so there are questions about the validity and accuracy of the data. “We need to be cautious about drawing conclusions but if patterns are beginning to be identified we need to begin to understand them more, with more research so we can draw evidence based conclusions rather than jump to any assumptions.” Solomon said the figures in the report represented “a scratching at the surface” of what was the hidden problem of vulnerable children being targeted, groomed, internally trafficked and subjected to extreme forms of sexual abuse and violence on British streets. The report identifies a strong link between children who run away, both from the family home and the care system, and those who are victims of men who target them on the streets, outside local takeaways, and at obvious local gathering points for young people, in order to groom and abuse them. The Ceop report Out of Mind, Out of Sight found that in 1,087 cases agencies have failed to identify the background of the child victim. And in many cases no one bothered to record even the gender of the victims. Last year alone, charities across the sector dealt with 2,900 children who had been sexually exploited, according to figures released a fortnight ago by Barnadoes. In 2010 alone, Barnadoes worked with 1,098 children who had been sexually exploited; a 4% increase on the year before. The new head of Ceop commissioned the assessment after a string of cases in the north of England which appeared to suggest a pattern of Asian men as perpetrators of on street grooming of white girls. After the jailing in January of two ring leaders of a group of Asian men to eight years in prison Ceop announced it was carrying out a review. Mohammed Liaqat, 28 and Abid Saddique, 27, were jailed for raping and sexually abusing young girls from the Derby area who were aged between 12 and 18. The case led to claims that a pattern had emerged in which Asian men appeared to be disproportionately the perpetrators of child sexual exploitation and their victims were white girls. In response, Davies said he needed to examine whether any patterns of offending, victimisation and vulnerability could be identified. Child protection Children Human trafficking Prostitution Crime Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk
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The Greek parliament is due to vote on the austerity bill. Protesters on the second day of a general strike are determined to stop the bill being passed. 11.17am: Dailymotion.com is livestreaming Syntagma Square again today: _ 11.08am: Only one member of the ruling (socialist) PASOK party is likely to vote against the bill – not enough to prevent its passage given that PASOK has a five-seat majority in the 300-member legislature – socialist deputy Alexandros Athanassiadis has told the Associated Press. Athanassiadis, many of whose constituents are employed by the Public Power Corporation which is up for privatisation, said he maintains his opposition to the bill but that he will likely be the only dissenter. He said: I have not changed my opinion … as things stand, I persist in my decision. I don’t think (any other socialist) deputies will vote against. I will be the only one. But the Greek news website Kathimerini.com says the vote is still on a “knife-edge” with three other socialists expressing doubts. It reports that there has been last-ditch attempt on Tuesday to win round dissenters straying from party lines. 10.54am: Alexander Marquardt, from ABC News, has posted a picture of protesters spreading Maalox, an antacid, on their faces to protect against teargas. 10.42am: The Guardian’s Helena Smith in Athens writes that battle lines are being drawn ahead of the crucial vote with 8 people already hospitalised this morning: Residents in downtown Athens woke up to the whiff of tear gas and burning rubbing bins, the former still hanging in the air after a day of pitched battles between protesters and riot police, the latter set ablaze by young Greeks bracing for a fight. Since early this morning, protesters started pouring back into Syntagma Square, the focal point of opposition against austerity measures now seen as the symbol of everything that is wrong with Greece. Many say they will stay in the square whether or not George Papandreou’s socialist government passes the bill. “Whatever happens we will stay on and fight,” says Pavlos Antonopoulos, the activist schoolteacher I spoke to yesterday who was back in the square by 8:30am after snatching a couple of hours of sleep. “We hope to amass a lot of people today even if the government has sent out a very strong order to keep Syntagma clear and us away from the parliament building. We will do everything we can to ring off parliament, to stop the vote taking place.” She said that people have been working hard to clean up the square after yesterday’s clashes and the police are determined to prevent a repeat of the trouble: Municipal employees have been working overtime to clean the square – hosing it down and in some cases painstakingly removing graffiti – but the detritus of battle is everywhere: in the shattered windows of shops and chain stores, the chipped marble facades of hotels, smashed pavements and broken entrances to metro stations. Even the trees are burned. The police, meanwhile, appear hell-bent on keeping demonstrators away. The capital’s main boulevards have been cordoned off and there have been reports of violent incidences between gangs of young Greeks and police in Pangrati, a nearby neighbourhood. By 11 am at least eight people had been rushed to hospital after being clubbed by police with one trade unionist reportedly suffering head injuries and requiring several stitches. But ordinary Greeks are equally determined to have their voices heard. Busloads have arrived from around the country – all heading for Syntagma Square. And they are backed by the powerful unions that have brought Greece to a standstill with a 48-hour general strike. “Thousands of strikers have been moved by rage and exasperation with new measures that yet again hit them while those who have, those who stole from the nation’s public wealth, those who have never paid taxes, drink to the health of those who are mocked,” said Yiannis Panagopoulos who presides over the confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) the country’s biggest labour force. “These policies are not only unfair, they lead nowhere and are ineffective. Today we are waging a huge battle and this battle will not stop until these policies are overturned.” 10.36am: Protesters have clashed with police outside parliament as people opposed to the austerity bill have sought to block MPs from entering the building to vote. One communist deputy was pelted with yoghurt as she made her way into parliament and three people were treated for minor injuries as protesters clashed with police during an attempt to bar the way into the chamber. _ 10.31am: The markets are betting on the mid-term bill being passed by the Greek parliament. • Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.54% higher at 9797 points. European shares rose sharply in early trading: • Britain’s FTSE 100 was 1.2% higher at 2,834.26 • Germany’s DAX rose 1.3% to 7,265.34 • France’s CAC-40 was up 1.1%at 3,895.66. • Wall Street was also headed for a higher opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures gaining 0.2%to 12,169 and S&P 500 futures rising 0.3%t to 1,298.40. 10.27am: The governor of the bank of Greece, George Provopoulos, has told the Financial Times the country will be committing “suicide” if its parliament fails to back the austerity bill. He said: We have never really had a debate in this country about what went wrong. In Portugal the new government has come in and said that there will be a difficult two years ahead. We have not had that kind of talk here … For parliament to vote against this package would be a crime – the country would be voting for its suicide. 10.23am: My colleague Graeme Wearden has outlined exactly what parliament will be voting on today . It amounts to a hard-hitting package of tax rises, cuts to benefits and public spending, and privatisations. Tax increases include • A solidarity levy: At 1% for those earning between €12,000 (£10,800) and €20,000 a year, 2% for incomes between €20,000 and €50,000, 3% for those on €50,000 to €100,000, and 4% for those earning €100,000 or more. Lawmakers and public office holders will pay a 5% rate. • A lower tax-free threshold: People will now pay tax on income over €8,000 a year, down from €12,000. This basic rate of tax will be set at 10%, with exemptions for those under 30, over 65, and the disabled. • Sales tax: The VAT rate for restaurants and bars is being hiked from 13% to the new top rate of 23%. This rate already covers many products in the shops, including clothing, alcohol, electronics goods and some professional services. Spending cuts include: • Public sector wages: Salaries will be reduced by 15%. • The public sector wage bill: The goal is to cut 150,000 public sector jobs, through a hiring freeze and abolition of all temporary contracts. This should cut the total bill by €2bn by 2015. • Social benefits and pensions: The retirement age is being raised to 65. Increased means testing, and cuts to some benefits, will reduce the total amount spend on benefits by €1.09bn in 2011, then €1.28bn in 2012, €1.03bn in 2013, €1.01bn in 2014 and €700m in 2015. 10.16am: Welcome to the Guardian’s coverage of the protests in Greece and the vote on the mid-term bill in parliament. The Greek government will hope to pass its austerity bill – a precondition of additional loans from the EU and IMF – in parliament against a backdrop of massive public opposition. Despite its unpopularity the bill is expected to pass. Greece has said it has funds only until mid-July, after which it will be unable to pay salaries and pensions, or service its debts, without the next bailout instalment The vote is expected anytime from 11am BST (1pm Greek time) onwards. Trade Unionists have vowed to stop MPs getting into parliament for the vote but security in the centre of Athens is high. There are fears of more violent crashes after at least 46 people were injured, most of them police, yesterday a s rioters pelted police with chunks of marble and ripped up paving stones, and authorities responded with repeated volleys of teargas and stun grenades . Several hundred people gathered in front of parliament early today for fresh protests. Greece European Union Europe Europe Protest IMF European Central Bank Haroon Siddique guardian.co.uk
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To mark the World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment we asked you to send us photos that convey the things you value most in nature Environment editor
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Sheikh Raed Salah is said to be banned from Britain but pro-Palestinian groups say he knew nothing about it Sheikh Raed Salah, a leading Palestinian activist, has been detained in London amid reports that he is banned from the UK Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, was detained on Tuesday night by police, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) said. Sarah Colborne, PSC director, insisted that Salah was the leader of a legitimate political organisation. He rejected all forms of racism, including anti-semitism, she said. His solicitor, Farooq Bajwa, said Salah had “no knowledge” of an alleged travel ban and had made “no attempt” to conceal his identity when he entered Britain. “Sheikh Raed Salah is the leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, the largest movement for Palestinians in Israel,” Colborne said. “This is a legitimate organisation which Israel has never moved to ban. “Raed Saleh regularly speaks at venues across Israel where he has considerable support amongst the Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up a fifth of the population. “Sheikh Raed has been elected as mayor of his home town, Um al-Fahm, three times. He has never been convicted of anti-semitism in Israel. “Before coming to Britain, he faced horrific allegations of anti-semitism, which he completely refuted. “He has clarified his position of being opposed to all forms of racism, including anti-semitism, Islamophobia and racism against his own people, the Palestinians.” The home secretary, Theresa May, said officials from the UK Border Agency were taking steps to remove Salah from the country. She said an investigation had been launched into how he managed to get into the UK. Israel Palestinian territories London guardian.co.uk
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As he prepares to open second reading of sentencing bill, Clarke says it is ‘a pity’ he was unable to go ahead with jail term discount plan but denied being ordered commit U-turn The justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, faces another embarrassing U-turn over his controversial sentencing reforms on Wednesday as the Labour frontbench combines with rightwing Tory MPs to further attack his prison plans. Tory backbenchers and Labour spokesmen served notice on Tuesday night that they would fight Clarke’s plans to limit the use of remand in custody and tackle the explosion in the use of indeterminate sentences for public protection (IPPs). Clarke is determined to abolish indeterminate sentences introduced by the previous Labour administration, which he describes as “an unmitigated disaster”. But his opponents scent fresh blood after last week’s U-turn when Downing Street disowned his plan to introduce a 50% maximum discount for early guilty pleas, although it would have stabilised the growth in the record 85,000 prison population in England and Wales. Clarke told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme that it was “a pity” that he had not been able to go ahead with the 50% discount plan, but denied being ordered by David Cameron to commit a U-turn. “The prime minister never ordered me to do anything,” said Clarke. The move took out 3,400 of the 6,000 prison places Clarke was hoping to save over four years as part of his “rehabilitation revolution” and left him with a funding hole in his spending plans. “You can’t have a system whereby every time you consult, if you alter it people get laughably excited about a U-turn,” said Clarke. “I have made U-turns sometimes when I have made mistakes, but I don’t think this is a U-turn. It was a huge process of consultation with thousands of responses and, if you know anything about the criminal justice system, it is not easy just to put out proposals without having to modify them in the light of what people say.” Clarke said the extra £100m savings he is having to find in his budget as a result was “not a very large amount” as a proportion of overall reductions totalling £2bn. A fresh revolt against his plans to limit the use of remand in custody would lose a further 1,300 saved places and mean he would have to find a further £40m from his justice budget. The IPP reforms would have saved 600 prison places and £10m. Clarke is expected to battle on Wednesday to save what remains of his reforms when he opens the Commons second reading of his legal aid, sentencing and punishment bill. He further infuriated the Tory right on Tuesday when he insisted the only change in the law on self-defence – hailed last week by the tabloids as a “bash-a-burglar charter” when announced by Downing Street – would be a further clarification of the law. It comes as a supreme court justice, Lady Hale, warned that £350m legal aid cuts in the bill would hit the “poorest and most vulnerable in society” and amid predictions that more than one-third of law centres in England and Wales would have to close as result. In a speech to the Law Society on Monday, she said: “There is a well-known ironic saying … that in England, justice is open to all – like the Ritz. Courts are and should be a last resort but they should be a last resort which is accessible to all, rich and poor alike. The big society will be the loser if everyone does not believe that the law is there for them.” The Bar Council chairman, Peter Lodder, said that it was a “much-peddled myth” that Britain’s legal aid system was more expensive than elsewhere in Europe and urged the government to think again, in a similar way that it had done with its sentencing proposals. Lodder told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme: “There was a consultation process. Thousands of people responded to that process and most of them objected to the way in which the government was proposing to cut legal aid.” But Clarke said Lodder’s claim was misleading, pointing to New Zealand, which has a similar system and spends far less per head on legal aid. The justice secretary told Today: “There are lots of people who think we should have more and more prisons and more and more prisoners and spend more money, and there are lots of lawyers who say we should spend more and more money on lawyers. “Our legal aid bill is the most expensive in the world by far and we are funding litigation which is perfectly unnecessary in less serious matters where really taxpayers shouldn’t pay. We are funding litigation where adversarial lawyers are not the best way of sorting out a serious dispute or a serious family quarrel.” On Tuesday Labour’s shadow justice secretary, Sadiq Khan, gave Clark a taste of the argument to come when he cited the opposition of victims and witnesses commissioner Louise Casey, circuit judges and magistrates to the plan to take away from courts the option of remanding in custody defendants who are unlikely to receive a prison sentence if convicted. Defendants on domestic violence charges have already been exempted from the move. Khan said that banning the use of remand in this way was simply a cost-cutting measure to reduce prison numbers which undermined a vital tool of the courts. Khan also served notice that Labour would oppose any plans to “water down the protection given to the public” by IPPs, claiming the government’s proposal to review their use showed it was out of touch with public concerns. The rightwing Tory MP for Shipley, Philip Davies, Clarke’s self-appointed bugbear on the Tory backbenches, also weighed in against any reform of IPPs, describing the sentences as “the single best part of the criminal justice system”. Clarke strongly defended his plans, saying there were now 6,000 IPP prisoners without a definite release date. The IPP system, which has been condemned as a national scandal by prison governors, includes more than 3,000 prisoners who had already passed their tariff indicative release date: “They’re only released when they can demonstrate to the Parole Board that they are a minimal risk to society, which is the present test, but in a prison cell they will find it almost impossible to satisfy that test. “We need long, determinate sentences for serious criminals. That is the way the criminal justice system works,” Clarke told MPs. He said Labour’s 10-year IPP experiment had “undoubtedly failed” and one in 10 prisoners would soon be serving indefinite sentences unless a better alternative was found. David Cameron has suggested that a new “two strikes and you’re out” mandatory sentence for repeat serious sexual or violent offenders should be introduced instead. Clarke told Today: “I am carrying out a serious review to work out a proper replacement,” he said. “These are serious offenders. Some of them will be given life sentences by judges if there isn’t an indeterminate sentence available, others will get long determinate sentences. We are reviewing it to come up with a workable replacement which doesn’t fill the prisons with a lot of people who have no idea when or if they will ever get released.” Hale’s comments came as figures provided by Julie Bishop, director of the Law Centres Federation, showed that at least 18 of the 52 centres in England and Wales would have to shut, because three-quarters of their income comes from legal aid that will no longer be available. Last year, law centres helped 120,000 people, Bishop said. Soon, because of the government’s determination to slice £350m out of its annual £2.1bn legal aid budget, the number who can be helped will fall by two-thirds to 40,000. Hale, who is the patron of Hammersmith and Fulham’s law centre, noted in her speech that legal aid was now being removed from “most civil and legal cases”. But providing legal advice at an early stage, she said, could often save greater costs for government agencies at a later stage when problems spiralled out of control. Kenneth Clarke Legal aid UK criminal justice Sentencing Prisons and probation Alan Travis Owen Bowcott Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk
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