The millionare former owner of the Daily Telegraph, (Lord) Conrad Black, was jailed for six and a half years for fraud by a court in Chicago yesterday.

The sentence laid down to him was shorter than the 16-24 years prosecutors wanted. But at least he will be put behind bars (although he plans to appeal). Canadian-born Black was accused of stealing millions of dollars from shareholders in one of the most shameful examples of corporate crime.

Many people feel that those who commit such serious corporate crimes often either get away with it or get short prison terms, yet the rest of us who may fall behind with paying taxes have the full weight of the law and state brought down on us. How fair is that?

Despite this judgement, he will still be a peer of the UK’s House of Lords, a predominately appointed upper chamber in which he could help block or approve such legislation. There have been calls for Black to have his peerage taken away because of the court case, but of course, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who may have many fraudsters within his own party, has other more important things to worry about…..

In the furore over the government’s donations scandal, I’ve read an interesting article on Liberal Conspiracy.

The writer says:

So, what is the solution to party funding? To my mind, the situation we have already is ok. Britain has some of the cleanest politics in the world. The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act generally took the view that ‘sunlight is the best disinfectant’. That is why it required donations to be registered. The furore over the David Abrahams case shows that people tried to circumvent this. This should be cracked down upon, as provided in the act.

The problem is that the situation over party funding is not ok, it’s definitely toxic. British politics continues to be dirty when the governing Labour party passes some laws, then privately attempts to break them. Prime Minister Gordon Brown was forced to admit this in Parliament. Far from cracking down on these unlawful donations, the government seems very reluctant to take any action. In the last few days, we have seen ministers openly apologise for failing to declare some donations.

The only way to deal with this properly is to openly force political parties to be funded solely by their members. No to state funding, no to donations, and there should be heavy restrictions on how much each political party and individual candidate can spend on campaigns and elections…. that must also include cutting the funding of the Labour party from the trade unions. The writer however is against this simple reform, saying:

[If a £50,000 cap was introduced]….It would make Labour still more dependent on wealthy individuals and would lead to the decay of the party and make it impossible for trade unions who wished to set up a new-left party.

The unions that (still) support the party are deluding themselves. If they had any sense, they would consider a open and public break with Labour. What is stopping them forming a new political party that supports their aspirations is fear….. fear that their influence would no longer be heard in the corridors of power. Where on earth have they been these last ten years?

In a shock development on the “War On Terror”, home secretary Jacqui Smith has announced plans to extend the period that people suspected of such activity can be held in prison without charge to 42 days.

Ms Smith, arguing for the measures, says that there is “…a serious and consistent threat from terrorism”, and the proposed new period would be needed “only in exceptional circumstances”… which means, in the current emergency, that, in the eyes of the government, anyone either with a darker skin, or looks like a Muslim, or speaks a different accent or language, can be seen as a threat to Britain’s “safety and security”.

The current detention limit of 28 days is already the longest in Europe. These plans have already being attacked by the opposition parties in Parliament, as well as anti-war and civil liberties groups. They will be seen, quite rightly, as the government’s increasing desperation in their bid to draw attention away from the dodgy donors scandal, and the other problems that threaten day-by-day to bring down the Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Labour party.

At a time when the UK seems to be sinking in a sea of violent crime, Justice secretary Jack Straw’s announcement of plans to construct more prisons looks at face value to be a sound investment.

Under the proposals, three so-called super-prisons will be built to help increase the number of prison places from the current 81,000 now to around 96,000 in 2014. But do we really need to lock up more people in a bid to curb crime?

We now have a situation that our prisons are seriously overcrowded, because of a combination of both media hysteria over crime levels, and a government policy which sets unrealistic targets for police forces to tackle crime. The result is that many people are being locked up for mostly minor offences. Some of them also suffer from personal and mental health problems. The courts are often caught in the middle and are often criticised if they get involved in high-profile cases.

What is needed right now is for a clear, long-term strategy for tackling crime… much of it doesn’t need to refer to prisons. We have a scandalous situation where high numbers of people live in acute poverty, particularly in our more deprived areas. Those who live in such areas are far more likely to get into trouble, but where are the plans to deal with their problems? Many of the most successful schemes which keep people out of prison are few and far between, and some of these are under threat of closure because of the lack of public funding.

Think about it, Mr Straw…. the amount in taxpayers’ cash you are committing to building new prisons could be better spent on seeking alternatives to prison, and helping to form a better social policy… but the nation won’t be holding its collective breath….