Engerlund

England fail again, this time at footy. So MacLaren's on his way and the circus begins once again. Last time we were told we needed an English manager to inspire some patriotic fervour in the players. (That didn't seem to work.) Never mind that there weren't really any English candidates properly qualified for the job. MacLaren was the only one who'd actually won any trophies (albeit the League Cup) and at least he'd had some international experience alongside Sven, but the poisoned chalice that is the England Manager's job strikes once again.

It's a graveyard of promising managerial careers. Only Bobby Robson and Sven (so far) have managed to recover their reputations after undergoing the stresses and strains of the job, and I think Sven should be getting a bit more respect for his record now it's been shown that our overpaid prima-donna players are actually extremely difficult to mould into a successful team. I hope the candidates for the vacant post think hard and long about what they're letting themselves in for before accepting it. Martin O'Neill's building what looks like a useful side at Villa and still has yet to fulfill his club ambitions in England, Sam Allardyce has just got his hands on a big club after struggling along in poverty at Bolton all those years... Steve Coppell's working miracles at Reading and would probably become another Peter Taylor for England.. really, if they've any sense they should take a leaf out of Ferguson's book - stick with a big club and build a granite reputation and save the international scene for afters if you feel like it. He couldn't get out of the Scottish hotseat quick enough after Jock Stein died, and I see Walter Smith & Ally McCoist preferred Rangers to Scotland earlier this year. Of course the England job is higher profile than Scotland (and comes with a damn sight more money!) but if you want to be remembered as a legendary football manager, you're better off turning an also-ran club into title contenders and trophy winners than taking on the English media in a forlorn effort to win us the World Cup.

If you don't believe me, ask Glenn Hoddle, or Kevin Keegan, or Peter Taylor, or Graham Taylor, or the late Don Revie, or even Steve MacLaren.

Prison Overcrowding

Heard something on Radio5 today about our overcrowded prisons and "what can we do about the situation?" Seems to me a very simple equation - if the prison population is rapidly increasing, custodial sentences obviously aren't working as a deterrent. If a prison sentence was genuinely harsh, criminals would be alot less willing to re-offend. Make the conditions as hard as possible and you at least wouldn't get the homeless committing petty crimes to get a roof over their head, with a bed, central heating and three square meals a day. I regularly see reports in the local paper of this sort of thing going on, and you can't really blame them either, if they're stuck sleeping outdoors in the middle of winter. It proves the point about prison conditions though. Bring back hard labour, or at least make a prisoner earn his keep. Privileges shouldn't be televisions and hi-fi's, they should be heating and decent bedding. If a spell inside was the worst experience of your life, you're not going to consider doing anything that might land you back there in a hurry.
Lest I be thought some sort of stone-age rightwinger, I'll add that on a related point I'm hugely offended by what's going on at Guantanamo Bay. Detaining people indefinitely without charge is what military dictatorships do, and it has no place in democratic societies whatsoever. It's a massive evil stain on the self-proclaimed "Land of the Free" and makes a mockery of everything they're claiming to defend.
The difference here to my mind is that a UK prisoner has been tried and found guilty, and though no justice system is perfect, the majority of cases are presumably pretty sound. Hence a convict has forfeited his right to decent treatment by society and needs to understand that actions have consequences. If they don't like the consequences they need to change their behaviour. If they're not too bothered by the consequences (comfortable cell, free food, etc.) why bother changing their behaviour? The kidnappees at Guantanamo Bay have, on the other hand, been rounded up on the flimsiest of suspicions, are denied access to the law and are essentially political hostages.
So I'm not at all right-wing by inclination, but even I can see the "caring, sharing, rehabilitation" approach simply isn't working in the UK and we're reaping the results of too many years of sociologists' theories rather than real-world experience.