Policy in Practice

As the profile picture may suggest every now and again I like to chuck a line in the water but have always eaten my catch and generally fish from the shore. Discards have always troubled me, as has the price and availability of fish. We live on an island yet some of our more plentiful fish are treated with premium prices; this of course is in part due to the desire to eat meat but also because we are accustomed to white fish and no bones. Personally I am not, bones melt away or can be taken out with the spine, and a fork is pretty handy for taking away flesh. Fish stocks need preserving but so does our sanity in food consumption, there has to be a middle ground that allows us to support the fishing industry while staying ecologically aware. Hugh's Fish Fight doesn't do ideas, they informed me they are just campaigning on the message so I wanted to outline an idea that last year I sent to Natalia Manas-Sentis the EU Minister for Fisheries and Richard Benyon MP. Idea ...

In 2012 the Government changed the penalties for cannabis growers and now having up to 9 plants will see a more rational approach to coping with the millions of those who do use the drug. I wrote this piece because I have spent a lot of time working with the disengaged, especially those with habits, through my experiences I was able to speak to users, abusers and growers to try and further my understanding of the cannabis and drugs problems in a wider policy context. The last decades Government efforts to reduce cannabis availability has caused more issues than expected and has ironically cost the NHS and Police service more time and more money than they once exerted. Drug seizures have doubled since 2004, mostly due to cannabis, yet this supply reduction has impacted social, economic and underworld activity. While the Police force have increased their focus on closing cannabis farms there are few statistics to show how those efforts work to improve the real problems.  Many ...