Talking about mobile phones, as I was a moment ago, I had one of my trademark bizarre ideas this evening.  At a meeting of the Horsham Labour Party there was a lot of discussion about policies, which is always a good thing.  It was prompted by some draft manifesto-type documents that we were invited to submit amendments to.

One of the topics was crime and prisons.  As we all know there are many disadvantages to having a large prison population, not least of which is the cost of keeping so many prisoners banged up, but there are also considerations about how ineffective rehabilitation can be, and whether prisons can end up setting released prisoners on a more criminal path than they started.  Of course, the problem is that many other punishments are seen as not much of a threat.  Suddenly one of those famous bad ideas popped into my head from nowhere – what about electronic tags?

OK, so we already have electronic tags,  but not like the ones I was thinking about.  What about electronic tags with a built-in device that jams mobile phones within a 2 metre range?  Somebody tagged with one of them would be unable to use a mobile.  Looking around at the number of people walking and driving around with them glued to their ears you have to wonder if being unable to use one wouldn’t be considered a punishment more to be feared than fines or community service.  It would certainly make a vandal more appreciative of phone boxes.

Not only that but the old ‘Peckham Rolex’ would not be the supposed status symbol it is said to be at the moment.  If you had one of them, your mates would not come within six feet of you because their own phones would then not work. About the only good thing about it would be that you would be a lot more likely to get space around you on the train and some chance of a snooze.

On reflection, it actually makes more sense than certain other ideas – like 42 day detention.