PENALTIES FOR ASSAULT

In Scotland new guidelines issued by the Crown Office have advised that people accused of "minor" assaults (apparently defined as those requiring less tha three stitches) should no longer be prosecuted before a court but be subject to a fine of up to £300. Previously a court might, and often did, hand down a prison sentence. Our police are rapidly becoming little more than tax-collectors. Politicians, prosecutors, the legal profession, lily-livered judges are failing in their duty to the public. And on my way back from the newsagent's shop there is a notice attached to a lamp-post advising me that it is an offence to drop litter and I could face a fine of £2000. Pity I'm the sort of person who doesn't go round knocking old ladies on the head as it looks like a cheaper hobby.