Commander Jameson wrote:This is the number of travel bans in effect in the UK at the moment. Does this mean that the courts are not preventing child abusers from travelling abroad, or just that peadogeddon is in fact a media generated myth?
Discuss.
The Gary Glitter Show - the show the tabloids have been barely able to contain themselves waiting for - has finally arrived, as Paul Gadd gets released from chokey in Vietnam.
No surprise, then, to see Home Secretary Jacqui 'Basher' Smith run straight into the tabloid studios of Talksport to start announcing plans for yet more legislation to deal with Paedogeddon...
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said on Tuesday it was her view that he should be given a Foreign Travel Order (FTO) banning him from overseas travel.
"I want Gary Glitter to be controlled whilst he's here and I don't want him to be able to go anywhere else in the world in order to abuse children," she told radio station Talksport.
Well, fair enough, Ms Smith, but then...
"I think these are sensible and proportional ways of toughening up what is already a very tough system. I think that's what we owe to children in this country and to children abroad," Ms Smith said.
So how much law is enough law? As much as you want, in the Paedogeddon free-for-all, despite an 'already very tough system'. Haven't you heard? None of the usual rules apply! More than that, Ms Smith seems determined to make life very much easier for her friends in the police at every available opportunity...
"At the moment the Foreign Travel Orders that we have in place are not being used very much - the police say they're a bit unwieldy, there's too much administration," she said.
"It's all very well and good saying they've got to be tougher, but if police don't like using them at the moment then let's make that work much better."
Okay, I guess listening to the police is part of the Home Secretary's responsibiities, but should she also be legislating on the whims of a self-appointed advocacy group?
The home secretary's announcement came after children's charity Ecpat UK accused the government of "turning a blind eye" to British sex tourists.
The charity said it was too easy for nationals convicted abroad to stay under the radar of British police upon their return.
As far as I can see - and correct me if I'm wrong - Mr Gadd has served his sentence (for a crime he maintains he did not commit) and is now a free man. Surely it is now his decision as to whether or not he chooses to return to the UK? If he can find another country willing to grant him rights of residency it's none of the UK's business. Or do we now have a special system in place to ensure that even after serving prison time abroad, a UK 'paedo' will then be forced to endure years of bullying and spiteful harassment by UK law enforcement, preventing rehabilitation, costing the tax payers a fortune and flouting with notions of injustice?
