Crime in the UK in WWII

An underworld at war - spivs deserters, racketeers and civilians in the second world war by Donald Thomas  ISBN 0-7197-5732-1

This is a fascinating book - if a little over long about crime in the UK in World War 2.  While there was undoubtedly a lot of sacrifices made by many people, other saw the war as an opportunity or reason to turn to crime.

Theft and fraud make up the biggest amount of crime - be it stealing or forging ration books, whole lorry loads of supplies disappearing or fraudulent claims for work or wages.

It is informative to find out how the Government tried to counter crime and how some relatively trivial matters were punished harshly while some more serious ones

Often the stories are almost incredible. In 1941 a Liverpool ship repairer cheated the Government out of £20 million (at today's prices).  Soliders and others would steal equipment needed for the war effort. 

Of course these are just the records of the crimes that were recorded, no doubt there were many more that weren't recorded.

Private Walker from the TV series Dads Army is most peoples idea of a spiv - before that there was Arthur English (are you being served) and Sid Field and a host of others who played to audiences who new spivs not just from 6 years of war but the years of rationing the continued after 1945.   This book shines a light on those that make Walker look like a boy scout.

After a while the accounts seems to blur and a few more statistics and a few less examples would have been a good idea, however for a topic that has been overlooked, it is a good read.

Who'd be a prison officer ?

Just read 'screwed - everybody serves their time' by Ronnie Thompson, "a prison officer reveals what really goes on behind bars." ISBN 978-0-7553-6265-3

Judging by the reviews on amazon, the main debate about this book is how accurate it is and whether there is too much swearing.

Firstly, the book states at the start that to protect former colleagues - the prison described is fictitious, as are the characters some of the conversations are imaginary or re imagined.  So documentary it's not.

As as narrator Ronnie probably captures the essence if not the reality of prison life. I found myself initially quite sympathetic to his 'get the job done' approach but by the end of the book, his drinking, treatment of his girlfriend and son, swearing and bending of the rules to his own advantage was quite tiring. The chapter on the celebrity rock star prisoner seemed particularly fake.  lol.

It does raise lots of interesting issues - are prisons under staffed ? are the regimes achieving what they aim to ? how extensive are the problems of drugs, smuggled phones and corruption?  What can be done to tackle them ?  Do prison staff get enough support ? 

Overall, the impression is that like many big organisations, procedures are out in place but they are unrealistic - so create more problems than they solve.

Is there too much swearing ?  Well again, it's probably indicative of conversations in prison, but in a book it was repetitive, came across as gratuitous, the lack or variation and very misogynistic nature of the swearing was very off putting.

If the aim was to get people to have a bit more sympathy and understanding of the role of a prison officer, it suceeded with me at least.