Friday 30 October 2009

Friday avo ramble, 30 October

Here’s your Friday links. Print ‘em now to read ‘em over the weekend.  :-)

 

Thought for the day, from the Vodka Pundit:
Too late for coffee. Too early for a cocktail. There is nothing worse than exactly 3:43PM.

That’s all your links for today. But don’t forget tomorrow's beer-tasting at The Castle & Galbraith's, starting at The Castle around 2:30. ?  For details, and to find out what to bring, email organon AT ihug.co.nz with LIGHT BEER or DARK BEER in title for details.

And finally, since I’ve been enjoying my old Phil Manzanera albums again (Galt, he’s good) here’s Phil playing ‘Leyenda’ while women dance the Paso Doble around him. Lucky man:

6 comments:

Berend de Boer said...

PC: Holland is closing jails instead of opening them. How? Simple They've ended the War on Drug

Learn to read Dutch PC, you are completely clueless about Holland. They're not closing prisons, they're closing coffee shops.

Peter Cresswell said...

Well, let's read that report again shall we:

"The Dutch justice ministry has announced it will close eight prisons and cut 1,200 jobs in the prison system. A decline in crime has left many cells empty... Deputy justice minister Nebahat Albayrak announced on Tuesday that eight prisons will be closed, resulting in the loss of 1,200 jobs. Natural redundancy and other measures should prevent any forced lay-offs, the minister said. "

Unknown said...

What are you smoking Berend? From:

http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2246821.ece/Netherlands_to_close_prisons_for_lack_of_criminals

Quote:

"The Dutch justice ministry has announced it will close eight prisons and cut 1,200 jobs in the prison system. A decline in crime has left many cells empty.

During the 1990s the Netherlands faced a shortage of prison cells, but a decline in crime has since led to overcapacity in the prison system. The country now has capacity for 14,000 prisoners but only 12,000 detainees.

Deputy justice minister Nebahat Albayrak announced on Tuesday that eight prisons will be closed, resulting in the loss of 1,200 jobs. Natural redundancy and other measures should prevent any forced lay-offs, the minister said.

The overcapacity is a result of the declining crime rate, which the ministry's research department expects to continue for some time. "

Perhaps you should brush up on the English?

Berend de Boer said...

What's the link with war on drugs?

There's no relation.

They're closing coffee shops actually. So why isn't the link the opposite: less coffee shops is less crime.

This is a story from May 19. It was a proposal. How many prisions do you think will be closed?

And you know why they close prisons? Because they have alternatives. Even for violent crimes. And the population isn't happy about that.

As this was a plan, I'm not even sure it has or will be executed. It's just the usal trial balloon, no follow ups after that.

Libertyscott said...

I believe the Netherlands is closing prisons AND Amsterdam is closing coffee shops, to foreigners I gather (might be wrong). I know Amsterdam is trying to go upmarket for tourists, and besides it is losing the hedonistic weekend market to Prague and Riga.

I know some Dutch based people (we have an office there), Berend has a point - the Netherlands is becoming less tolerant on drugs, admittedly it still is light years away from the war on drugs in the English speaking world.

Portugal recently decriminalised personal drug use, that is where we should be watching.

Anonymous said...

True, Berend.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081206200321.5mlf28t0&show_article=1