Chris Grayling plays Scrooge

Chris Grayling is a nasty piece of work, isn’t he? To wit:

[N]ew rules, which forbid prisoners from receiving any items in the post unless there are exceptional circumstances, were introduced in November as part of the government’s changes to the Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) scheme.

Under the rules, families are prevented from sending in basic items of stationery such as cards, paper or pens to help people in prison keep in touch with their friends and families and wish them a happy Christmas. They are also prevented from sending books and magazines or additional warm clothes and underwear to the prison.

Almost no-one cares about prisoners, of course, so the Justice Secretary can do as he likes knowing that the press will never, ever, cause a fuss about petty and mean-spirited nastiness of this sort.

But it is the sort of small-minded – and gratuitously vindictive – measure that appeals to bullies and if Chris Grayling is not one such bully we may reasonably say his impersonation of one is remarkably convincing.