Death to theives

I beleive as it was in the car you'll have to go with the car insurance and that will knock ure no claims out and ure next premium up, I have heard of some small print on some policies that do not cover anything that is on view ( not locked in the glove or boot) unless you are talking about a fitted nav system.

Twas Mon, 5 Apr 2004 19:43:26 +0000 (UTC) when "Neil Brownlee" put finger to keyboard producing:

bas****s

-- Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.) ___________________________________________________________ "To know the character of a man, give him anonymity" - Mr.Nice.

mrniceATmrnice.me.uk 110 CSW 2.5(na)D___________________________________________________________

I claimed for my camera off the house insurance when I got it wet whilst wading. But I'm not sure about yours as it was stolen.

I had my car broken into twice last year; once to get in the boot when the cover thing was over the top; the other to get a Tesco's bag off the back seat. Since then I never leave ANYTHING on display, or even in the cubby box. And I leave the boot curtain thing open so people can see it's not worth breaking in.

If you really want to stay safe then keep everything out of the car, and leave the glove compartment & cubby box open so the feckers can see there's nothing in there.

David

I aint paying my excess + hike...so it looks like the w*ankers beat me :(

Neil

Normally, Mabel is put under the seat, I forgot. Price? No GPS and a smashed window.

Neil

NOT HAPPY AT ALL

Commiserations Neil. The point is, the thief will want to sell that GPS to buy drugs or whatever and the only people that would buy it are those who know what it is and how to use it; unfortunately, someone very like yourself.

Bob,

Having just paid over £5000 for a security system for the offices due to drug abusers.......

Neil

in article c4scsu$5cp$ snipped-for-privacy@hercules.btinternet.com, Neil Brownlee at snipped-for-privacy@nospamscreamingnospam.net wrote on 5/4/04 20:43:

He/it will probably die of frusration trying to tune it into radio one or something simmiler.

On or around Mon, 5 Apr 2004 21:42:10 +0000 (UTC), "Neil Brownlee" enlightened us thusly:

unless it was very expensive, the excess + hike would cost more than a new one.

Stings, doesn't it? The cost _and_ inconvenience are never recorded in the statistics for such crimes - in fact most crimes of this nature go unreported. Add to this the cost of protection against such crimes (again, not recorded) and I'm not really surprised that we're all being held to ransom by international drug cartels.

Drifting off topic, I'm of the belief that giving druggies their drugs on the NHS is a good and workable strategy. In the mid 80s a Consultant Psychiatrist in the Wirral (John Marks) re-adopted what used to be known as the 'British System' and prescribed injectable heroin (known as Diamorphine Hydrochloride - a common and very cheap drug in the health world) to those who'd obviously not benefited from other treatments or custodial sentences.

His actions were condemned by the (then) Tory Government for being 'soft on crime', however the true test came when the local Marks and Spencer store noticed such a huge reduction in theft from shoplifting that they sponsored the first International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm (now an annual event).

Another reason I'd support this strategy is pure economics. The cost of 'giving' enough heroin to a seasoned user is around 100 quid a week, less, I'd guess, than the cost of fixing your window, let alone replacing the GPS? (out of this 100 quid over 70 quid is the cost of paperwork and administration).

Not very popularist views, but based upon sound evidence and many years personal experience of working with drug users :-)

Read "High Society" - Ben Elton

Interesting (and entertaining) angle on this subject.

David

Sound thinking in my book. We have a rehab centre behind our office, and the dealers hang arounf the front of our office. Easy pickings.

The GPS was a Garmin StreetPilot III - I am in two minds as to what to do about replacing it now :(

Neil

Thinking 2610?..... Jon

Which they are are, rather. There might well be desirable short term effects but long term I don't believe it's sensible.

Someone's committed a crime and they should pay for that. Not locking them up with their own entertainment systems and the odd fun job. Unpleasant hard work (preferably abroad) with solitary confinement. They get out when they can show they've changed their ways, can do an honest day's work and have paid for the damage their criminal actions have cost.

We already pay for druggies to get their drugs on the NHS anyway so this scheme isn't working in practice in the areas I know of in Scotland.

Sorry, I'm much more of the belief that people should have personal accountability for their own actions. Everyone screws up sometimes, but when you screw up, other people should not be the ones to suffer. It's your responsibility to make sure they don't.

Regards

William MacLeod

Depends what you want I guess. The short term sees a marked reduction in crime, a reduction in accidental overdoses, a reduction in needles beeing dumpted in the street, a reduction in prostitution (and as a consequence, pimping) and a reduction in STDs and HIV.

In the long term all of the above plus undermining the complex distribution structures that illegal drugs are a part of, potentially reducing insurance premiums, potentially saving the HNS around half a Billion a year, reducing the pressure on the Police, Probation, Social Services, Prison Service.

More interestingly, the longer term evaluated consequences from Dr Marks' sample group showed that many became 'bored' with drugs and simply stopped.

No, we don't. There are (to my knowledge) no locally implimented injectable diamorphine programs in the UK. There are many various maintenance programs which are often based around Methadone, but this is totally different in every possible sense from the strategy I outlined.

The scheme did work and was Internationally accepted as a success.

It was Political expediency which stopped it. The will to get into bed with the Americans and launch a War on Drugs.

Radical and pragmatic solutions to complex issues are never popular - especially so when they work.

Odd you should say that as it's been on my list of books to read for ages. Elton apparently did some quality research when writing this, including reading works from Dr Russell Newcombe, studies from the NHS and ISDD (Institute for the Study of Drug Dependency - as it was at the time) and also a Thesis from a young, slim, athletic, good looking PhD student who now likes Landies... :-)

I fail to see how Methadone programs that we pay for are so completely different from your outlined strategy. We do pay, and the government do dish out drugs to save the druggies having to fork out for their heroin

- that's our Methadone programs is it not?

Is it the case that you're saying that you think the government schemes would work if they would dish out the real drugs that users are used to instead of substitutes?

Regards

William MacLeod

Methadone is not really a substitute, it is a current strategy of treatment which prevents the withdrawal associated with opiates (like heroin) - however it will only work for those who are committed to the process. The evidence suggests that the majority of those prescribed methadone may relapse sooner than those who were prescribed their 'drug of choice'.

It's difficult to grasp, but it actually costs more to prescribe methadone, than diamorphine. If I were given the choice of paying my tax and seeing drug users given heroin where other strategies have failled - or - paying the hidden tax of higher prices in the shops, increased insurance premiums and having to replace the driver side window every six months...

As I said before, I guess it really depends upon what you want, and how open minded you're prepared to be in order to achieve your goal.

Just to spice up the debate, I'd like to throw in a Devils advocate comment :-)

It never happened in my day!

Bring back the birch!

Hang 'em ......

Bring back national service.

Or tell em to get off there bone idle ass'es and get a job.

...purely for debate you understand for my research.....discuss....

Lee D