I have had some mixed thoughts on the recent release of Ronnie Biggs from his sentence.

Part of me is saying that he is no threat to society and that with his medical condition (s) what point is there is “technically” keeping him in custody.

However, I remember the “other” Ronnie Biggs – the arrogant criminal on the run from British Justice who delighted in his media exposure in the 1970's and 1980's.

During this period Biggs enjoyed his minor celebrity lifestyle in Brazil and seemed to show no regrets for his criminal past and never missed the opportunity to stick two fingers up to Britain.

It was only as he aged and became ill that he decided to return to Britain – no doubt taking a calculating view that his crimes were so long ago he wouldn't spend long in prison and that he would receive better medical care than available to him in exile.

Biggs has a minor player in a famous crime and received what was arguably a punitive sentence for this – however he has served less than 1/3^rd of that sentence.

On balance I believe that the Justice Secretary was wrong in allowing his discharge from his sentence on “compassionate grounds”.

I really don't see where much has changed from last month where Jack Straw decided not to release Biggs in spite of the Parole Boards recommendation.

As an aside, wouldn't it be good if the Home Secretary and Justice Secretary were able to show similar compassion to Gary McKinnon?

I couldn't let today's Lloyds Banking Group £4 billion half year loss go by without a quick note to congratulate Gordon Brown and Victor Blank for their sterling efforts in arranging the Lloyds HBOS merger.

Wouldn’t it be nice to think that President Obama would display equally commendable humanitarian efforts and call off the US attempt to extradite Gary McKinnon?

Over 16,000 people (25% of the electorate) voted in the Totnes “Open Primary” to select the next Conservative Party candidate at the General Election.

This was a good thing for democracy and must surely be the way ahead to ensure that the people have a greater say in determining who the main party candidates at General Elections actually are.

I guess there are some issues to resolve if this approach is to be deployed further – not least of which are the costs associated with running and organising the primary.

1. Stops party political clones & central office placemen being “parachuted in” to safe seats
2. Stops single sex candidate lists
3. Stops local association “men in grey suits” or (at best) association members only having a say in selecting the candidate

Yesterday was a good day for British democracy – well done to Totnes Conservatives for going ahead with the primary, and congratulations to the winner, Dr Sarah Wollaston.

Douglas Carwell MP is going to introduce a bill in Parliament to give the people in every constituency the right to demand open primary contests – good on him, but I wonder how much cross party support it will receive?

Will MP’s really support a process that will increase the risk of them losing their jobs?

Do turkeys vote for Christmas?