Everything the papers called a crisis today was really a sum - a promise the state made long ago meeting a bill it never set money aside for - and the only people punished were the ones who showed their working.
Crossbencher · 05 August 2026
Everything the papers called a crisis today was really a sum - a promise the state made long ago meeting a bill it never set money aside for - and the only people punished were the ones who showed their working.
Start with the prisons. Police organisations vowed a legal challenge to the early-release scheme, GB News reported, while ministers defended it and the Prime Minister said he had pushed early release "to the limits". The Express reported that more than nine thousand domestic abusers are in line for early release. The government's defence is the honest half of a dishonest position: the prisons really are full. What nobody in office will say is why - a generation of longer sentences passed without the buildings to hold them. The row is about who gets out. The real story is that nothing was built.
Members only
Every writer, every column
The last 30 days of the argument are free for everyone, always. The archive beyond that is a Member thing - it is part of what keeps the whole record free.
One email a day: today’s quiz, the Bench question, the argument and what broke - every figure with its source. Free, and it saves your streak. Stop it any time from one link at the bottom of it.