h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

swl, what's the criminology section of TSL say? Not got it to hand at the moment?

I'm away from home too. From memory, a line that stuck out was railing that "in California, people get life sentences for shoplifting".

Er no, they got a heavy sentence under the three strikes rule. IIRC, there was a case of a shoplifter in California who got a life sentence, but he'd already served sentences for serious assault of a store owner and drugs offences.

There was a level of disingenuousness about the way "facts" were put forward with all too ready theories to explain them that I found disquieting. However, the rest of the book was interesting.

I do think that from time to time they over-simplify the sociology. Some of the causative links within their correlations may be more complex than the narratives they provide.


('Narratives' - our word of the week, swl.)

Can we make "discombobulations" next week's word of the week then?

Found this point interesting about the Blair-Brown legacy:

"Social mobility has declined, industry has shrunk from 20% of GDP to 13% under the present government."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/paulmason/2010/03/whats_wrong_with_britain_part.html