Question What are you reading?

[Uncle Leo]

Thanks to prawntobewild for the Mozipedia recommendation. Arrived earlier in the week and it's a great book to dip in and out of.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Ian Rankin'sThe St Leonard's Years.Early Rebus.Great Stuff.

 

[prawntobewild]

Thanks to prawntobewild for the Mozipedia recommendation. Arrived earlier in the week and it's a great book to dip in and out of.

Thank you Sir, am now getting over the shock to have been of use to someone.

PS am on the last stretch of "Cold Heart" by Jonathan Kellerman.

 

[united we stand]

Ian Rankin'sThe St Leonard's Years.Early Rebus.Great Stuff.

I read most of the Rebus books a while back , but weirdly never watched the TV series when it was on . When I eventually watched it for the first time Ken Scott played Rebus exactly as I had pictured him. I don't know If I had once seen a trailer and it had stayed in my subconscious, or if the production company , director and Ken Scott simply got it spot on.

 

[Napster]

I read most of the Rebus books a while back , but weirdly never watched the TV series when it was on . When I eventually watched it for the first time Ken Scott played Rebus exactly as I had pictured him. I don't know If I had once seen a trailer and it had stayed in my subconscious, or if the production company , director and Ken Scott simply got it spot on.

I preferred Rebus as John Hannah but Stott is v. good.

 

[steveo]

My Life in Prison by Donald Lowrie. Imprisoned in the early 1900's. 15 years in San Quentin for stealing a watch.

 

[Napster]

Looking Good Dead with detective Roy Grace. Very old fashioned and very dull despite what seems a far fetched plot. Pedestrian. But reads quickly.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Just started Ian McEwan's Sweet Tooth.Wonderful stuff.

Seem to be in a spy/detective grove these days.

 

[Smudger]

Currently reading Danny Baker's autobiography. Strictly speaking I've never been a huge fan of Danny's radio work but this book is brilliant - one of the funniest I've read in years. He's just a brilliant storyteller. The stuff about his dog had me crying with laughter.....

 

[prawntobewild]

Faces - Martina Cole - I've read a few of these now & i'm sure I enjoyed a couple but the last few just seem to be full of about 10 or 20 stock phrases surrounded by either the F-word or C-word - the plot & story are there but the development of both are lost in the authors quest to pad out the story with unnecessary waffle.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Finished John Grisham's Innocent Man book last night. It hasn't changed my opinion on capital punishment though, I felt that the central characters in the book were let down by a legal system that is hugely inferior to our own. There is just no way a British court of law would have allowed what happened to them to happen here. Too many people just seemed not to want to question the evidence, which was sketchy at best. Enjoyed the book though, very sad in many ways.

 

[Uncle Leo]

Currently reading Danny Baker's autobiography. Strictly speaking I've never been a huge fan of Danny's radio work but this book is brilliant - one of the funniest I've read in years. He's just a brilliant storyteller. The stuff about his dog had me crying with laughter.....

Very enjoyable isn't it. He's had a good old life (not forgetting his recent illness of course!).

 

[united we stand]

Finished John Grisham's Innocent Man book last night. It hasn't changed my opinion on capital punishment though, I felt that the central characters in the book were let down by a legal system that is hugely inferior to our own. There is just no way a British court of law would have allowed what happened to them to happen here. Too many people just seemed not to want to question the evidence, which was sketchy at best. Enjoyed the book though, very sad in many ways.

I am genuinely shocked. I didn't think anyone could read that book and still be pro the death penalty. Its a superb book, but a truely tragic story

 

[OldBlueLady]

I am genuinely shocked. I didn't think anyone could read that book and still be pro the death penalty. Its a superb book, but a truely tragic story

It's because it's set in America, I have far more faith in the British legal system than to allow such a gross miscarriage of justice on such flimsy "evidence" in our country. I hadn't realised it was going to be quite so recent either which makes it all the more tragic as far as I'm concerned.

My stance on capital punishment is unchanged in that I think it should be reserved for those most heinous of crimes, those that are without any doubt. I'm talking the likes of Sutcliffe, Nielson, Brady etc.

 

[Pubey]

It's because it's set in America, I have far more faith in the British legal system than to allow such a gross miscarriage of justice on such flimsy "evidence" in our country. I hadn't realised it was going to be quite so recent either which makes it all the more tragic as far as I'm concerned.

My stance on capital punishment is unchanged in that I think it should be reserved for those most heinous of crimes, those that are without any doubt. I'm talking the likes of Sutcliffe, Nielson, Brady etc.

The fact that you can't clearly distinguish between those crimes and others (because of the complexity regarding gathering and weighing evidence) is why people are against capital punishment full-stop. If you don't have capital punishment, you can't wrongfully murder an innocent person who happened to be found guilty.

 

[OldBlueLady]

The fact that you can't clearly distinguish between those crimes and others (because of the complexity regarding gathering and weighing evidence) is why people are against capital punishment full-stop. If you don't have capital punishment, you can't wrongfully murder an innocent person who happened to be found guilty.

But that couldn't possibly be the case for the people I mentioned!!! :facepalm:You're not listening to what I'm saying! It should be an exceptional punishment for out of the ordinary cases, not just handed out willy nilly to any murderer! :thump:

 

[prawntobewild]

Finished John Grisham's Innocent Man book last night. It hasn't changed my opinion on capital punishment though, I felt that the central characters in the book were let down by a legal system that is hugely inferior to our own. There is just no way a British court of law would have allowed what happened to them to happen here. Too many people just seemed not to want to question the evidence, which was sketchy at best. Enjoyed the book though, very sad in many ways.

Indeed a good read . Had a bit of a chuckle at rhe "Couldn't happen over here comment" - I'm afraid it has far too often - the main one that sticks in my mind is Noel Fellowes (his book is called Killing Time) - a good ol fashioned 1970's fit up with evidence falsified & family members threatened to gain a conviction.
I agree that it is less likely these days but it still happens.
Used to be in favour of the death penalty but now against as you can't always be 100% of a conviction. As for the people you mentioned there is a level of insanity in some these cases & this has some influence on their punishment.

 

[Pubey]

But that couldn't possibly be the case for the people I mentioned!!! :facepalm:You're not listening to what I'm saying! It should be an exceptional punishment for out of the ordinary cases, not just handed out willy nilly to any murderer! :thump:

I am listening to what you're saying, you've cherry picked 3 high profile serial killers who committed their crimes a long time ago. I'm saying how can you draw a line between 'without doubt' and 'not without doubt' when our legal system Currently works on 'beyond reasonable doubt'. It requires a a new threshold which personally I can't see as being possible to set.

 

[londonblue]

Finished John Grisham's Innocent Man book last night. It hasn't changed my opinion on capital punishment though, I felt that the central characters in the book were let down by a legal system that is hugely inferior to our own. There is just no way a British court of law would have allowed what happened to them to happen here. Too many people just seemed not to want to question the evidence, which was sketchy at best. Enjoyed the book though, very sad in many ways.

You may consider American law to be inferior to our own. Firstly I would dispute that as there have been countless miscarriages of justice here too. Especially where second time around you simply can't fathom why the person was convicted in the first place, and secondly, I would say that that argument is irrelevant here; he wasn't let down by the law, he was let down by people and people are the same the world over.

(BTW I put a similar reply on the DNA thread, feel free to ignore it!)

 

[united we stand]

It's because it's set in America, I have far more faith in the British legal system than to allow such a gross miscarriage of justice on such flimsy "evidence" in our country. I hadn't realised it was going to be quite so recent either which makes it all the more tragic as far as I'm concerned.

My stance on capital punishment is unchanged in that I think it should be reserved for those most heinous of crimes, those that are without any doubt. I'm talking the likes of Sutcliffe, Nielson, Brady etc.

Following your logic and taking in account only 'heinous of crimes' the Birmingham 6 would all of hanged.
Following your logic on our legal system and flimsy evidenc, as recently as 2000 Barri White should not have been convicted of murder. He is only out now because of the rough Justice programme, which has since been scrapped, the real killer was only found in 2010 as his DNA was taken in connection to another case . In other words without these two 'lucky ' breaks Barri would still be inside for murder now. There will be others examples others can find.

In the US the figures for miscarriages, and the execution of innocent people is staggering
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=i...q=innocent+people+convicted+of+murder&tbm=nws (cant believe I am quoted the Guardian before Barna)