Political alignment is a complicated area but I recently heard it said that the main difference between politics in the UK and politics in the US is the strong polarisation; in the UK, there is room for compromise and collaboration whereas int eh USA, the opposition is the enemy and is totally wrong 100% of the time.

That maybe true but I never thought I would share any ground with Boris Johnson. However, it has happened. Apparently, in his recently published Book, he writes that he despaired at how much the public craved instructions and guidance during COVID. He couldn’t understand the public’s desperation for rules and regulations.

Full disclosure: I haven’t read the book myself because this place has a war on books and I on’t want to be on the receiving end of more bullying and intimidation from guards. I am relying on a piece I heard on Radio 4 so I may have picked up Boris’ point wrongly. However, I do agree that many people on the outside seem not to be able to function without instructions.

Thinking about this place, there is an odd mix between prisoners not wanting to be told what to do and then needing to be told what to do. I have been amazed at prisoners’ lack of ability to manage themselves. What on earth has happened to them in the past that means they can’t shower unless they’re told to; they can’t put out dirty laundry unless they’re told to; they can’t complete basic forms unless they’re told to?

They can’t interact healthily with authority, they don’t have even a basic understanding of the way the world works and they are unable to keep themselves either physically or emotionally healthy. The reasons for this are undoubtedly long and complicated but it will be a cocktail of poor education, poor parenting, growing up in poor circumstances and lack of social investment. Is any of that their fault?

There is a disproportionate number of care experienced people in the prison system or, to put it another way, these are children of the State. One guy I know has always been in the system – abandoned as a baby, grew up in a children’s home, then borstal, then Polmont and has been in most of the prisons in Scotland. To be sure, he has committed a lot of crime and he is really not a nice person at all but does he bear 100% of the responsibility for his actions? Where is the accountability for the factors that caused him to develop like this?

He has been surrounded by instructions for over sixty years and he has never learned to make decisions for himself. He has never been allowed the responsibility of being accountable for himself and the results are clear.

Wider society says it lies freedom but when it comes down to it, when something major happens, unless we have developed decision making skills, we have no idea what to do and I think that’s what Boris was saying.

NaN.