Caron Lindsay

Another vindication for Alison McInnes on civil liberties as regulation of facial recognition technology recommended

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 27th January 2016 - 3:48 pm

There has been a pattern in this Holyrood Parliament of Scottish Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson Alison McInnes finding out the SNP on some major civil liberties fail (armed police, excessive use of stop and search, including of children), the SNP just not getting it and then Alison being absolutely vindicated.

Today, that happened again. Last year, Alison highlighted the dangers of unregulated use of facial recognition technology by the Police after discovering that over 335,000 people’s images were retained on a police database.

A report today makes a number of recommendations to regulate this practice. The SNP Justice Secretary had previously dismissed Alison’s concerns.

The report concluded that there is “a need for improved legislation and better independent oversight around the police use of biometrics in Scotland, an independent Scottish Commissioner to oversee biometric databases should be established, as was introduced in England and Wales in 2012 when the Liberal Democrats were in the coalition government and a statutory code of practice governing the use of biometric data should be developed.

Alison said:

This review vindicates the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ campaign highlighting the inadequate safeguards governing the use of our biometric data and in particular facial recognition technology.

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Guy Russo

The war we should be fighting

By Guy Russo | Wed 27th January 2016 - 2:48 pm

We are, on account of abiding by certain inadequacies of the global community, fighting an ill-defined war, at home and abroad, which is tearing nation-states apart and dividing our own communities in abhorrent ways, and which without further strategic solutions beyond conflict, we will continue to fight perpetually and fail miserably. No, not the War on Terror, but a similar conflict against a poorly defined enemy: the War on Drugs.

British involvement with the conflict abroad has always been subtle and at points, secretive. The Foreign Office has often refused to comment on Britain’s involvement, and in that vacuum a great number of allegations have arisen. A Guardian investigation in 2003 suggests that in Colombia, the SAS trained anti-narcotics police and provided aid, equipment and advice for military units in the drug fields. There are numerous accounts of atrocities on all sides of the Colombian conflict, including by government sponsored paramilitaries. Worse still is the situation in Mexico, where the cartel versus government conflict claimed 6,000 lives last year, and in 2012 it was 18,000. With a cumulative death toll since 2006 of at least 60,000, the Mexican Drug War is the 8th largest conflict by death toll in the world, and the largest not associated with the War on Terror.

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Caron Lindsay

Ensuring that committees can be elected by One Member One Vote

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 27th January 2016 - 1:45 pm

I know this is a very “party report” heavy couple of days on LDV with Zoe’s and Sal’s excellent reports on the Federal Conference Committee and the Federal Executive respectively, but there is yet more.

Last September, Conference approved Constitutional Amendments bringing in One Member One Vote for Conference.

However, the Federal Executive subsequently received advice from the Chair of the Federal Appeals Panel that the Committee Election Regulations would need to be changed in order for the next set of Committee elections to be conducted by One Member One Vote. That’s why local parties were advised to elect Federal and Regional Conference representatives for this year.

I’m part of a small group of Federal Executive members who are looking at the regulations or the Leadership, Presidential and Committee elections. The first stage of our work is to change the Committee Election Regulations to permit elections by One Member One Vote. You can see the draft changes here. The current version is here

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Caron Lindsay

No, really, it’s not the same as being on an all-inclusive holiday

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 27th January 2016 - 1:15 pm

There have been a couple of shocking stories this week about how asylum seekers have been, however, inadvertently, stigmatised which can lead to them being attacked and intimidated. First we had the Middlesborough “red doors” controversy and then, this week, the appalling news that asylum seekers in a hostel in Caefiff were forced to wear wristbands to access their food.

Newly arrived asylum seekers in the Welsh capital who are housed by Clearsprings Ready Homes, a private firm contracted by the Home Office, are being told that they must wear the wristbands all the time otherwise they will not be fed. The wristbands entitle the asylum seekers, who cannot work and are not given money, to three meals a day.

That practice was quickly stopped when the company was shamed in the press, but I have been concerned to see that some people have been saying that it’s ok to do this to people, because if you’re on an all-inclusive holiday, you have to wear a wristband. Really, it’s so not.

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The Voice

Tim Farron’s message for Holocaust Memorial Day

By The Voice | Wed 27th January 2016 - 12:43 pm

From Facebook, here is Tim’s message for Holocaust Memorial Day:

My reflections on this year's Holocaust Memorial Day. This is a day for everyone to remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, and the millions of people killed by Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. The years theme of ‘Don’t Stand By’ highlights the choice we have in not tolerating unacceptable behaviour. It is vital that we remember and reflect upon these horrors of the past, and honour those who survived.

Posted by Tim Farron on Wednesday, 27 January 2016

Posted by Tim Farron on Wednesday, 27 January 2016

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The Voice

Willie Rennie’s penny on tax for biggest investment in Scottish education since devolution

By The Voice | Wed 27th January 2016 - 11:51 am

Willie and ACH on nursery visit

Finally, someone is actually planning on using the new tax-varying powers given to Scotland. Willie Rennie has made a big announcement on education this morning. He intends cleaning up the mess the SNP have made in education with 4 radical measures, paid for by a modest rise in income tax which will not affect anyone who earns £19,000 a year or less.

That £475 million investment will include the Lib Dem Pupil Premium, already successful in England and, thanks to Kirsty Williams, in Wales. That’s all about giving extra money to disadvantaged kids in school. Then there’s investment in nurseries and colleges, as well as a reversal of the SNP’s education cuts.

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Stephen Howse

Tim talks to a room of students – and energises the #LibDemFightback in Newcastle


By Stephen Howse | Wed 27th January 2016 - 10:25 am

Students at NUSU Tim Talks

Of all the drops in the Liberal Democrat vote in May, the drop in the 18-24 vote was harshest. From 30% of the total vote of this age group in 2010, our vote collapsed to just 5% in May. Hope springs eternal in Newcastle, though – and we were delighted to welcome our leader, Tim Farron, in hosting a ‘Talk to Tim’ event at the Newcastle University Students’ Union on Monday night.

Tim was in fine form, answering questions from the packed room of well over 100 students on issues ranging from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership to fracking and from the government’s proposed Teaching Excellence Framework for Higher Education to just what, exactly, is the point of the Liberal Democrats.

The questions were reasoned, varied and detailed. If this event was any indication, if we listen to young people and show that we genuinely care about what they have to say, we will win their respect and, in time, win back their support.

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Newsmoggie

LibLink: Caroline Pidgeon: A Lib Dem mayor would help London’s lowest paid get to work

By Newsmoggie | Wed 27th January 2016 - 8:55 am

Lib Dem London Mayoral candidate Caroline Pidgeon has been writing for Left Foot Forward – a very good move, to connect with many of our former voters.

Her emphasis was on transport and she set out her stall and explained why it would help the lowest paid:

London’s economy is served by many low-paid workers, such as cleaners and security staff, who often get to work long before other people. Half price travel for any journey made before 7.30am would directly benefit many of London’s lowest-paid employees.

The policy also has wider benefits as it will encourage some people to start their journeys at an earlier time. Overcrowding, especially on the Tube, is already a massive issue.

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Caron Lindsay

Willie Rennie to make major announcement on education tomorrow

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 26th January 2016 - 6:30 pm

It’s 99 days to go till the Scottish election and Willie Rennie is making a major policy announcement tomorrow. He will be launching his “plan to save Scottish Education.”

He’ll be visiting an Edinburgh nursery tomorrow where he’ll be laying out what is being described as a “bold, costed plan.”

He is expected to say:

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Caron Lindsay

Lynne Featherstone’s “Equal ever after” is out now – how same sex marriage became a reality (with added Lib Dem flouncing)

By Caron Lindsay | Tue 26th January 2016 - 5:26 pm

Lynne Featherstone Equal Ever AfterLast night, at a glitzy party, Lynne Featherstone’s book, Equal ever after was launched. In it she tells the story of  her crusade as Equalities Minister to deliver same sex marriage.

The launch was attended by Nick Clegg, Jo Swinson, Julian Huppert and many, many more. Sadly, I wasn’t there, even though I was in London. I was at a meeting of the Federal Finance and Administration Committee instead.

You have to wonder what position Jo Swinson was in when she took this:

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Paul Walter

Does a perceived distrust of politicians justify redistributing an image meme that was discredited 14 months ago?

By Paul Walter | Tue 26th January 2016 - 4:40 pm

Meme debatesThe image meme above went the rounds of social media in November 2014. It was roundly and conclusively fisked by Isabel Hardman on the Spectator Coffee House blog. I noticed that the meme was getting re-distributed a week ago. I pointed out to the people sharing this meme that it had been thoroughly discredited well over a year ago. Interestingly, several replied saying that “most people” think that’s how parliament behaves so it’s not a problem distributing it.

My indignation hit about twelve on the Richter scale.

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Sal Brinton

Sal Brinton’s Federal Executive report

By Sal Brinton | Tue 26th January 2016 - 1:45 pm

Sal Brinton Sal @ Crohns & Colitis Rec _2 CROPPED Nov 13Just before Christmas the Federal Executive (FE) met for an awayday to receive and consider your responses to the governance review consultation.

Two of the concerns that you told us about were the lack of diversity of our MPs, and how you felt that all the party committees and structures were hard to understand, and often out of touch.

We will be bringing back the next stage of the governance consultation to you in February, and will run a consultation session at the York Federal Conference in March, with some draft proposals and seeking your views on some of the key issues. Following your comments over the summer we will develop proposals, a new constitution and structures, which will then come back to the Autumn Conference in Brighton for your debate and voting. This would mean that the next round of Federal Elections (which will take place after Conference, ready to start at the beginning of 2017) would be run under the new arrangements.

In the meantime, FE wants to report back regularly to members: in addition to the report on the members’ part of the party website, we will let you know as soon as we can after a meeting what is discussed at our meetings. We will ensure that there is a report on Lib Dem Voice and in addition we want to encourage the cascading down through representatives on FE of important information. Clearly, some matters are (and must be) confidential, and others are seriously uninteresting, but we will do our best to let you know what is happening.

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Zoe O’Connell

Federal Conference Committee report

By Zoe O’Connell | Tue 26th January 2016 - 12:16 pm

Saturday yet again saw Federal Conference Committee‘s agenda-setting meeting, this time for Spring conference in York – now less than 6 weeks away. As well as
worrying about which motions would be debated, the committee also received a welcome update on the success of the new Access Fund, discussed details of Friday night’s rally and proposals for a new “supporters” conference attendees category. This new scheme will allow members to vouch for friends and family of members to enable them to come to conference without needing to pay commercial rates – more details on that should be available soon.

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NewsHound

Norman Lamb finds increase in mental health patient deaths

By NewsHound | Tue 26th January 2016 - 10:06 am

Using the Freedom of Information Act, Norman Lamb has obtained figures showing an increase in deaths among mental health patients over three years from 1412 to 1713, of these, suicides have risen from 595 to 751.

The Guardian quotes Norman Lamb:

Significant numbers of unexpected deaths at the Mid Staffs NHS trust caused an outcry and these figures should cause the same because they show a dramatic increase in the number of people losing their lives.

NHS England and the government should set up an investigation into the causes of this as these figures involve tragedies for families around the country

…

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Antony Hook

EURef Round-up: Exit would be “disaster” says Citigroup, 82% polled see it as a “risk”, Sturgeon forgets rest of UK votes too…

By Antony Hook | Tue 26th January 2016 - 7:59 am

In the Guardian, Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP, has objected to the possibility of the referendum being held on 23 June.  Her reason on is very odd.  She says it would be “disrespectful” to Scotland due to the Scottish parliament election in May. She seems to overlook the fact that the whole UK is voting in one or more election and May and 23 June gives six clear weeks – comparable to a General Election campaign.

82% of people consider that leaving the EU would be “a risk” reports the Independent.

IN campaign chairman Lord Rose is urging people to focus on …

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David Boyle

The terrifying consequences of witch-hunts

By David Boyle | Mon 25th January 2016 - 6:00 pm

ScandalNow that, one by one, European countries are shifting the law for allow for same-sex marriage – the spotlight now turns on Italy where mass demonstrations have taken place in support of the idea – it is  worth thinking about why homosexuality was criminalised in the first place.

We have spent so much time celebrating the decision in 1967 to repeal laws which did so, that we have perhaps forgotten to look a little further back to see how they came onto the statute book in the first place (sodomy had been a crime for some centuries before).

The story goes back to the Phoenix Park murders of 1882, when republican terrorists stabbed the Irish Secretary to death – accidentally, as it turned out: he happened to be walking with the intended victim.

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Katharine Pindar

It’s our legacy – let’s proclaim it

By Katharine Pindar | Mon 25th January 2016 - 4:19 pm

290715 1

We must not let the Tories define our legacy, as they did for Labour when that government fell. We were a force for good in the Coalition government, ensuring fairer and better policies for all. But we are not being given the credit for it by the public. Our standing in the polls is still less than 10%, and in Oldham West we didn’t save our deposit. Despite the valiant efforts of Tim and his team, eight months after the General Election we are not getting heard. Political discussion and comment in the media mostly ignores us. What to do?

Let’s look at how we got to this position. ‘There is a tide in the affairs of men…’ and so there is. We swept into Coalition as a tide of discontent, and alarm at the economic situation swept Labour away. Action followed by reaction is the general rule of political history. Last year we were left like so much flotsam and jetsam on the beach.

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Peter Martin

“How to Pay for the War,” or, Just about Anything! – Keynes 1940

By Peter Martin | Mon 25th January 2016 - 1:22 pm

Whenever a progressive party proposes a better education system, a better NHS,  better public transport or whatever,  the killer question is always “How are you going to pay for it?” The implication is that someone will have to pay by way of an increased tax bill or the money will have to be withheld from some other worthy project to compensate.

Our parents’ and grandparents’ generation had a similar, but much harder, problem to solve when it came to the question of how to pay for the war against Nazi Germany in 1939. If the principles of ‘sound finance’ which held that government budgets must at all times be balanced had been rigidly applied then surrender would have been the only option. Fortunately, the Liberal Party, and the country, had at their disposal the best economic mind of the 20th century in John Maynard Keynes who explained, in his 1940 book “How to Pay for the War” how an inadequately armed country of 40 million people, with an economy which had been performing poorly in the inter war years, could at least start to function well enough to take on a much better performing country, at least economically, of twice its population.

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Dick Newby

Dick Newby writes….Limehouse at 35

By Dick Newby | Mon 25th January 2016 - 11:55 am

2016-01-20 13.51.09

35 years on from the Limehouse Declaration and the launch of the SDP it’s easy to see the similarities. We have a Labour Party with a very left wing leader pushing ideologically driven policies and zero prospect of winning the next election. And we have a Conservative Party which is pursuing harsh economic policies at home and is split down the middle over the UK’s relationship with the EU.

But if there are similarities with 1981 there are even more differences. Britain is now a very different place socially and economically. It is much more ethnically diverse, particularly in the large cities. It is far less deferential and far fewer people have a strong party loyalty. It is also much more affluent – the average household is now earns twice as much as it did in 1981 – and unemployment and inflation are both much lower.

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Mary Reid

Conference Access Fund gets off to a good start

By Mary Reid | Mon 25th January 2016 - 9:50 am

 

Generous party members have already contributed nearly £5000 to the Conference Access Fund – and I’m proud to say that included a donation from Lib Dem Voice. The bulk of the fund has now been allocated to around 20 members to help them with the costs of attending conference and to pay for the BSL interpreter.

Last month I wrote about How you can help to send someone to party conference. I had been asked by Federal Conference Committee to convene a working group to look at Financial Inclusion. Conference already managed an Access Fund to support members with any additional costs relating to their disability needs, but we decided to broaden it so it could be used to support anyone who would find it difficult to afford to attend Conference for any reason.

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Caron Lindsay

Top of the Blogs: The Lib Dem Golden Dozen #447

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 24th January 2016 - 7:00 pm

Welcome to the Golden Dozen, and our 447th weekly round-up from the Lib Dem blogosphere … Featuring the seven most popular stories beyond Lib Dem Voice according to click-throughs from the Aggregator (17-23 January, 2016), together with a hand-picked quintet, you might otherwise have missed.

Don’t forget: you can sign up to receive the Golden Dozen direct to your email inbox — just click here — ensuring you never miss out on the best of Lib Dem blogging.

As ever, let’s start with the most popular post, and work our way down:

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Caron Lindsay

Willie Rennie takes on Sturgeon and Amazon over low wages and poor working conditions

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 24th January 2016 - 4:20 pm

Willie Rennie has gained the backing of the Scottish Trades Union Congress for is stance on low wages and poor working conditions at Amazon’s depot in his Fife constituency. He’s also challenged Nicola Sturgeon over massive grants paid to the giant company when they treat their employees so badly.

From the Sunday Mail:

But Rennie said Amazon shouldn’t receive any more money until they increases employees’ pay to the “living wage” of £8.25 an hour – deemed to be the minimum income necessary for workers to meet their basic needs.

The Scottish Lib Dems leader said: “The slipshod manner in which the Government have handled Amazon is embarrassing.

“The SNP have paid them millions of pounds in grants, even though they have been avoiding tax and paying workers low wages.

There is little point in Roseanna Cunningham visiting Amazon now unless she gets them to pay more tax and pay higher wages.

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Newspuppy

Wonderful photo from the Faraday by-election

By Newspuppy | Sun 24th January 2016 - 3:15 pm

Last Thursday, after an energetic campaign, 18 year old Liberal Democrat candidate Lauren Pemberton-Nelson achieved an 8.2% rise in our vote share, more than doubling it to 14.5%.

One theme that came across from the campaign was how brilliant a candidate she was. Tom Brake had this to say about her when he went to help:

We’ve been sent one special photo by regular LDV contributor Ruth Bright who represented the Faraday ward on Southwark Council before Lauren was born.

Here she is with Lauren on the Aylesbury Estate where Lauren has lived for most of her life.

Ruth Bright and Lauren Pemberton-Nelson

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The Voice

LDV’s Sunday Best: our 7 most-read articles this week

By The Voice | Sun 24th January 2016 - 2:31 pm

7 bestMany thanks to the 12,500 visitors who dropped by Lib Dem Voice this week. Here’s our 7 most-read posts…

Farron’s strategy to tackle Corbyn is all wrong (71 comments) by George Potter

A long, slow goodbye…a warm hello (30 comments) by Tod Sullivan

What do you do when you see a disastrous exit poll? Eat your hat, of course. (82 comments) by Caron Lindsay

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NewsHound

LibLink: Tim Farron: Help needed for floods recovery and prevention

By NewsHound | Sun 24th January 2016 - 1:19 pm

Tim Farron has been writing in the Westmorland Gazette about what needs to be done in the short and long term to repair the damage from December’s floods and take action to prevent them in the future.

He talks about the need to repair vital infrastructure quickly:

In the short-term, there is an urgent need to restore damaged infrastructure, while in the longer term we must look at comprehensive, whole-systems approaches to flood prevention. For far too long, the government has sought to make short-term savings at the expense of long-term investment which would have helped to provide protection from the floods.

The single biggest infrastructure challenge we face is the continued closure of the A591. Although the government has finally committed to undertake in full the required repairs, this crucial route connecting the north and south of the Lake District is due to remain closed until the end of May. Local business people expect thatthis could cost the local economy up to £100million. If this happens, businesses that rely on the tourist trade will go under, and with them the jobs they supported. I am urgently pushing for a solution that will provide relief for local businesses.

In the longer term, there’s a need for a holistic approach to tackle flooding:

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The Voice

Lib Dem Job watch – lots of campaigning jobs going across the country

By The Voice | Sun 24th January 2016 - 12:10 pm

There are some excellent jobs going in the Liberal Democrats at the moment. The most prestigious is the Head of Press. The party is seeking someone to:

lead a small but effective media team to promote the Liberal Democrats and the party Leader Tim Farron in regional and national media. You will be expected to lead the party’s mission to secure daily coverage in national and regional print, broadcast and online news media.

As a key player in the wider Liberal Democrat team, the Head of Press will take a significant role in the rebuilding and fightback of Liberal Democrats, offering creative and engaging ideas, and take a leading role in interacting with journalists and key influencers on social media.

This role will be focused on delivering positive coverage for the party and for candidates of all levels across the United Kingdom, as well as be able to inspire best practice to help volunteers support the party’s media operation.

The Head of Press will also take a lead in managing crisis communications, and have a clear ability to work well under pressure.

The master of understatement, don’t you think?

If you are good at design and political messaging, you might be interested in the content designer post based at LDHQ in London:

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Caron Lindsay

Farron says there’s “not a lot of truth” in Independent report on secret talks with Corbyn over electoral reform

By Caron Lindsay | Sun 24th January 2016 - 11:30 am

Today’s Independent has a report that there are secret talks going on between Labour and the Liberal Democrats over a joint platform for electoral reform at the next General Election.

It attributes the following to a “Lib Dem source”:

The Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru and the Greens could also be involved in the talks, the source said. If the  negotiations are successful, up to five left-of-centre parties could stand on an agreed platform of voting reform at the 2020 election – giving them a mandate to scrap Westminster’s first-past- the-post system without a referendum, so long as they are able to secure a majority in the Commons.

It certainly strikes me that if there were successful talks going on, then there would be no reports about them in the press. It also strikes me that the Labour Party is in no position to commit to any deal, given the power struggles that are going on inside it. Another report in the same paper says that there is a plot afoot to move Jeremy Corbyn’s speech to the end of Conference to prevent the final day of the event being ruined by the press finding opposition to it from within the Labour Party. Corbyn is fighting so many internal battles, that it’s impossible for him to look outward and work with others, which is a real shame. Actually, I think the sort of alliance that the Independent described on that one issue of electoral reform might not be a bad idea. You might not get a rainbow coalition to work in Government, but you could have one fighting for the Parliament the voters ask for. The Conservatives and SNP are tightening their grips on power on both sides of the border. They are very well resourced and the Tories look set to benefit from boundary changes. These of course would benefit the Tories in two way. Firstly, they benefit the Tories anyway, but   Labour would go nuclear as moderates and Corbynites scrapped over the new seats.

Tim Farron was asked about this on Pienaar’s Politics a few moments go. He said that  there was “not a lot of truth” in the report and that an alliance on electoral reform isn’t his priority at the moment. What matters is rebuilding the Liberal Democrats and effectively opposing the Tories. He said:

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Chris White

LGA finally agrees a common line on Housing Bill

By Chris White | Sun 24th January 2016 - 10:15 am

Terraced housing

It’s never easy doing politics in the Local Government Association. Some commentators carelessly say that it is ‘Conservative-controlled’ because the Chairman, elected under carefully balanced internal horse-trading rules, is at the moment a Conservative.

But in reality it is a perpetual coalition, with each of the four political groups having a veto on the association’s public stance. This applies to any issue and to any press release.

So it is good to see that the LGA has now published a statement on the Housing and Planning Bill, even if the …

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The Voice

What does it mean to be a Liberal Democrat today? Choose the Agenda 2020 Essay competition winner

By The Voice | Sun 24th January 2016 - 9:45 am

As part of the Agenda 2020 project to restate our values in a way that’s relevant to the modern world, the party ran an essay competition in the Autumn. Members were asked to submit 1000 words on the subject “What does it mean to be a Liberal Democrat today?”

Out of what is described as a “huge” number of entries, the party has shortlisted nine.

You can read them and vote for your favourite here.

We don’t know who the shortlisted applicants are – we just have their words to choose from. So, if you’re on the shortlist, no cryptic clues in the comments, please.

What’s in it for the winner?

The competition winner will be invited to speak to our Agenda 2020 consultation session at spring conference, have their essay published on the party website and in our party magazine, and be presented with a copy of John Stuart Mill’s ‘On Liberty’, signed by Tim Farron.

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NewsHound

LibLink: Nick Clegg: Give doctors the right to prescribe Cannabis for those in real pain

By NewsHound | Sun 24th January 2016 - 8:54 am

Nick Clegg’s Standard column this week tackled the issue of Cannabis prescription:

He tells some real-life stories of people whose lives have been transformed by being able to use Cannabis:

Faye, a corporate PA for a big company who was diagnosed four years ago with rheumatoid arthritis, is about as far away from the cliché of the layabout pothead as you can possibly imagine. An ambitious, outgoing and highly able young woman, the pain threatened to derail the career she had been building since the age of 16. She tried a number of prescription medicines but they came with a range of nasty side effects, from hair loss to constant nausea, that often left her too ill to work.

Four years later, her career is back on track. She makes her own cannabis-based skin cream that she can use at work, which has no psychoactive qualities and can easily be disguised so that no one knows she is using cannabis. To her colleagues, it looks like she simply keeps a small jar of normal hand cream on her desk. As a result, she told me that she can “live my life as I used to four years ago”. But she does so at great expense and at the risk of a criminal record. She is also forced to put herself into potentially difficult situations in order to obtain the cannabis she needs.

Nick makes the point that not one of these people wants to be criminals:

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