ACH                If you can't get a job, get a criminal record first

The Daily Telegraph today had a short article on page 14 (16 Dec 2005) that stated that Job Centres will be encouraged to give priority to former prisoners when finding jobs.

I always knew that the Blaire Bandits had a soft spot for criminals.  This has certainly proved it.  It leads me to imagine a job interview when the applicant is asked what qualifications he has.  The reply might well be: "A GSE pass in Criminal Studies, and three years in Pentonville"

I recall from my own memory, and from my mother's recall, that a criminal record was a sure-fire way of being refused work in days of yore.  You might get a job in the building trade, but a job on the buses or as a postman were totally out of the question.  And even when the dole came in, it was a meagre subsistence.  If the cons of today were subject to the  rigors that their counterparts were 75 years ago, there'd be a lot less crime.

(See my essays CAS (Calling all burglars) and ABA (The optimum level of crime)