The UK news is full of the saga of Chris Huhne, liberal politician, formerly a MEP and then MP.
He was caught speeding, presumably by an automated camera, and for whatever reason his wife admitted to driving the car at the time, so she would get the penalty and not him. Anecdotally, this seems quite a common thing to happen when one driver finds they would get so many penalty points on their licence that they might get banned from driving as the punishment. So a partner or other user of the vehicle says they were driving and takes the points.
Thats fine and unlikely to be found out. The problem in this case was that Huhne's wife told a newspaper her husband had asked her to take the points for him, which is illegal. She did so because they had been divorced, and itwould seem wanted revenge. All very foolish, to publicly admit a crime. So now both have been charged with perverting the course of justice. Huhne has pleaded guilty after a long legal chase trying to avoid a trial. His wife now is on trial, her defence being that he compelled her to do it.
All so very ridiculous. Speeding is generally regarded by the public as a bit of a joke. Driving instructors even teach you to break the law! So how come someone ends up facing a prison sentence, in principle at least up to life imprisonment for something almost everyone would regard as trivial. Much more harm has been done to the nation by bankers...who got early retirment on a hefty pension. In the news today was the results of an enquiry into a hospital which by bad management was killing hundreds or even thousands of people over several years before this was discovered. No one punished there.
So what should happen to Huhne? Serve his time in her majesty's prison, or continue his previous term now as a slightly wiser member of her majesty's parliament?
He was caught speeding, presumably by an automated camera, and for whatever reason his wife admitted to driving the car at the time, so she would get the penalty and not him. Anecdotally, this seems quite a common thing to happen when one driver finds they would get so many penalty points on their licence that they might get banned from driving as the punishment. So a partner or other user of the vehicle says they were driving and takes the points.
Thats fine and unlikely to be found out. The problem in this case was that Huhne's wife told a newspaper her husband had asked her to take the points for him, which is illegal. She did so because they had been divorced, and itwould seem wanted revenge. All very foolish, to publicly admit a crime. So now both have been charged with perverting the course of justice. Huhne has pleaded guilty after a long legal chase trying to avoid a trial. His wife now is on trial, her defence being that he compelled her to do it.
All so very ridiculous. Speeding is generally regarded by the public as a bit of a joke. Driving instructors even teach you to break the law! So how come someone ends up facing a prison sentence, in principle at least up to life imprisonment for something almost everyone would regard as trivial. Much more harm has been done to the nation by bankers...who got early retirment on a hefty pension. In the news today was the results of an enquiry into a hospital which by bad management was killing hundreds or even thousands of people over several years before this was discovered. No one punished there.
So what should happen to Huhne? Serve his time in her majesty's prison, or continue his previous term now as a slightly wiser member of her majesty's parliament?