Wolfgang, analysing prison populations is a useful way of tracking iniquities in communities and societies.

In Britain the over-reprentation of males in the prison population is, alas, being being reduced in part by locking up more women. The proportion of the total population in prison has grown dramatically during the 15 years (mostly under a Labour government) - though it is still some way short of the one percent achieved in the US. The UK trend closely tracks the gap between rich and poor, which between 1979 and 2005 grew wider faster than in any developed country except New Zealand. (See successive reports by the apolitical Joseph Rowntree Foundation.)

I was struck during the last days of the US presidential election by various broadcast interviews with people in predominently black communities. I saw people restricted to fairly basic vocabularies, living in levels of hardship I no longer expect to see in a developed country, and it crossed my mind that though there has been much progress, many blacks are still living on the wrong side of the tracks. It is at least interesting that on both sides of the Atlantic Mudcat itself is almost exclusively the White Man's preserve.

If we don't question the status quo, Wolfgang, it is not going to change.