This wek’s Barometer
Crime lords
— Lord Taylor of Warwick was jailed for 12 months for fiddling his expenses. He is the fourth peer of the realm to be jailed, after Lord Archer (jailed for four years in 2001 for perjury),
Lord Watson of Invergowrie (16 months in 2005 for setting light to hotel curtains at the Scottish Parliamentarian of the Year awards) and Lord Ahmed of Rotherham (12 weeks in 2009 for dangerous
driving). Lord Hanningfield, convicted last week of fiddling his expenses, is also likely to receive a custodial sentence.
— If five out of 789 peers are jailed over a ten-year period it suggests an annual imprisonment rate of 0.06 per cent of the ennobled population, about one third of that for commoners.
Moonage daydream
The penultimate space shuttle mission has concluded, with no American replacement due until at least 2015.
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