Mick, good post - but what do non-USAians mostly see of US politics which is on average far to the right of the rest of the world?

I have nice carrots.

But, Don, when I was young, and when a little further back you were young, there were jobs. UK's youth unemployment is now over 20%, and it's a lot worse in the hotspots. I know two very high achieving young people who went off on a world trip and now are unable to get employed but are precariously self-employed. I know another less young who was European manager of part of a worldwide computer company who let go of the greasy pole to breed and now lives precariously from contract to contract. The world is not what it was. It is conservative governments who have deliberately undermined workers, and removed safety nets, and now it continues. You don't teach a dog by beating it. You teach it with reward and praise. Beat it and sooner or later it will bite you or someone else.


Cavedweller - there are four theoretical bases for imprisonment: prevention, reform, punishment, and Hegelian balance (the balance between right and wrong). Total prevention (ie lock them up for ever so they can't do it again) is wholly unaffordable. It is also morally wrong since the punishment then does not fit the crime, as was the case in the bad old days. The USA has one of the highest prison populations per capita in the first world - and one of the highest crime rates. We do pretty badly on that scale too. Your kneejerk reactions learned presumably from Melanie Phillips are no recipe for a cure.

Oh, and if you want to insult my professional career, at least check for how long you could find me in the Legal 500 first.