The Wright Stuff Day Two: Russia, Overcrowded Prisons, and a New Book for Girls [17th July 2007]

[17th July 2007]

Today was Day 2 of the Wright Stuff on Channel 5 TV. I’m getting on very well with my copanelists and Diamond.

Amongst the subjects we discussed today were the new “Cold War” between Britain and Russia, the early release of prisoners, and a new advice book for girls.

“Russia Catches a Cold”

Britain cannot ignore the fact that Alexander Litvinenko was murdered in London, our capital city. He was killed with radioactive isotope polonium 210, which could have killed hundreds of other people. We have a political stalemate between Britain and Russia, which is refusing to extradite the main suspect Andrei Lugovoi.

There will be much political posturing over this issue, on both sides. President Putin is in his last phase as Russian President and is grandstanding to a domestic audience. In Britain we have a new Prime Minister and a new Foreign Secretary, Gordon Brown and David Miliband also are keen to act tough. Meanwhile, I have no doubt that diplomatic discussions will continue behind the scenes, since Russia and Britain have strong commercial interests with each other. There is a warning sign though, that because of its vast supplies of gas, it could become too dependent on Russia for our energy supply. We must be careful to explore other energy markets, to safeguard our own domestic interests.

“Prison Fiasco”

Thirty criminals who were freed from prison to ease overcrowding, broke the terms of their release including committing crimes within seven days, the Justice Ministry admitted yesterday.

Jack Straw, the new Justice Secretary, said that there needs to be a national conversation about the issue. This is an extraordinary statement. For the last five years the government has been warned that the prisons were becoming overcrowded and that the government needed to look at effective noncustodial sentences for appropriate crimes. The government ignored these warnings, and the prison population reached a record 81,040 this month. There’s no point having a national conversation if the government continues to be deaf to critics of penal policy.

“The Future for Girls?”

The Great Big Glorious Book for Girls, which is about to be published, gives advice on knitting, baking, and applying makeup. My criticism of the book is that it is too narrow in its focus. The Dangerous Book for Boys, published some years ago, was far more comprehensive in its advice to boys. The book for girls is patronising in that it makes no mention of the fact that modern girls can also be ambitious and achieve leadership roles in politics, business, education and the arts. Maybe the publishers need to write a second book giving such encouragement to potential female leaders.