Ooh, don’t those mince pies look gorgeous on the TV? I’ve been trying to guess which taste the est and I have to give the award to Tesco because theirs look spectacular. I do, however, need to dock points because of their contribution to the “perfect family” image.

All of the major adverts on TV do it along with the crappy programmes lecturing us on how to deliver a perfect Christmas. I am suspicious that many of these programmes are sponsored by large retailers but the truth is that it is all riving a materialistic society which is craving and externally defined idea of “perfection”.

There must be hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people in Scotland who will not be able to experience a perfect Christmas for a variety of reasons. Certainly, the 8,500 people currently being held in captivity in prisons in Scotland will not have anything like a perfect Christmas. Is it not time that marketing departments begin to consider the effect of their adverts on the emotional health of so many people?

If it is the Prison Service’s job to reprogramme convicted criminals, should they not be trying harder to allow us to experience a societally appropriate Christmas?

I don’t yet know what it will e like on Christmas day but the chances are the well publicised staffing problems will mean that we will be locked up for 23 hours with little humanity. The food will be uninspiring and the staff who are on duty will be taking it even more easy than usual.

I guess this gets to the heart of what prisons are for. If they are about punishing then, yeah, cool; lock everyone up and give them gruel. However, I don’t think that is the goal because most thinking people realise that almost everyone in prison will be released back into society sooner or later.

If prisons genuinely are about creating a safer Scotland, they have to treat prisoners better so that they can be responsible citizens when they re-enter society. Therefore, at Christmas, allow us to eat together, give us access to a community based experience, be pleasant to us and help us with our self-worth. And, for heaven’s sake, let us buy some of those Tesco mince pies because they look amazing!!!

NaN.