Ronnie Biggs

I've never understood the respect some people give to the likes of Ronnie Biggs. In reality, Biggs is a violent thief. Yes, he ended up living the life of Riley on the other side of the world, but in order to do that he was involved in a gang who were responsible for the theft of millions of pounds, the beating over the head with an iron bar of a train driver, and an escape from prison. It is not as if he deserves the fame he has - it didn't come through talent or through achievement. If Biggs was a ratboy gang member in a hoodie going after grannies with a kitchen knife, no-one would be talking about early release and no-one would be talking about him in almost reverential terms.

So when I read about Jack Straw refusing his application for parole, I don't have that much sympathy. He could be free by now, and he could be living out his last days in peace - had he served his sentence rather than evacuating prison via a rope ladder. Likewise, he chose to return to the UK. It must have been pretty obvious what was going to happen to him, and guess what? It did. He went back to prison. All this guff about him wanting to have a last pint and live out his last days in freedom - so fucking what? He's in prison, and the whole point of prison is that until you have served your time, your freedom is taken away from you. A cliche being bandied around at the moment is "don't do the crime if you can't do the time"; too true. Biggs was luckier than some in that he got to choose when he did the time. Unfortunately for him at this particular moment, he chose to do it at the end of his life.

And I know that Jack Straw is simply using this as a way to look tough on criminals. Would we expect anything less from our Justice Minister*? Of course he's not above picking on an old man to appear hard - I dare say Straw would be willing to punch a granny in the face if he felt it would advance his political career at all. Yet the fact that Straw is keeping Biggs in prison for blatantly political reasons doesn't change the fact that there is a good reason why he should be in prison anyway. Yeah, Jack Straw is being a prig but that alone shouldn't put Biggs back on the streets. As yer man Ronnie himself once sang - No One Is Innocent.

*A job title that probably gives him a raging boner, 24-7.