Fast and loose

Probably during my short stint at the Home Office, twenty years ago now, I was told that an important part of managing prisoners, apt to be violent and apt to have mental health issues, was that they should all have a settled release date. That is except for the relatively few on whole life or indefinite sentences - with these last having, I think, now been abandoned, at least going forward.

So it struck me this morning that our new leader playing fast and loose with sentences was being rather irresponsible. He is certainly attempting to address the very real problem of prison overcrowding, but he must also be making the job of managing a difficult group of prisoners much harder than it might otherwise be.

And while I am on, I also pick up the matter of the obscured label of reference 1, a label which Google Images tried rather too hard to read. It turns out that the second line was not the variety name we were both expecting, rather the common name of the species - 'giant reed'. Now that I know the answer, hard to see what was so difficult about the original image, something like that above.

Brain stuck in a rut and unable to get out? To look out and over?

While the previous day had seen my walking stick deep inside a crack in the clay at the top of Clay Hill Green. I dare say a garden cane, without the rubber bung on the end, would have gone a good bit further in.

Plus what I took to be a fine display of chrysanthemums in the very rustic raised bed, previously noticed at reference 3.

Google Images tells me that I am quite wrong, once again: 'The image shows a vibrant border of blooming dahlias (Dahlia), likely single-flowered or collarette varieties, growing alongside a garden path in front of a white house with arched windows'. He allows that the two can look quite alike, but come from quite different parts of the aster family. Must take a closer look at the leaves next time I am that way.

PS 1: I have also read that people detained in secure hospitals sometimes complain that they are under indefinite sentences - and would be much happier in a regular prison with a regular sentence.

PS 2: the title of this post being further evidence of the Anglo-Saxon fondness for linked pairs of nouns, preferably alliterative, noticed earlier today at reference 2.

PS 3: temperatures in the house have eased off to 70°F down and 74°F up. Slowly getting back to normal.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/08/a-late-entry.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/09/pots-and-lollipops.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-end-of-month.html.

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