Half a percent

There's a big fuss at the moment about how unpleasant people are allowed to be to burglars, muggers and other assorted ne'erdowells. I was both amused and horrified by this clarification of the situation:

Mr Macdonald said only 11 householders had been prosecuted in the past 15 years, of whom five were convicted.

The most notorious case was that of Norfolk farmer Tony Martin, jailed for life for shooting dead 16-year-old burglar Fred Barras in 1999. The murder conviction was reduced to manslaughter on appeal and Mr Martin was freed in July 2003.

Another man who was convicted had lain in wait for a burglar on commercial premises in Cheshire, beat him up, threw him in a pit and set him on fire.

All good clean fun, eh?

I also notice that climatologists at this big conference are discussing the likelihood of the Gulf Stream shutting down. This would mean lots more white Christmasses, not to mention white Halloweens and white Easters.[1]

Another interesting point here. You'll notice that the defendant was clearly delusional at the time he committed the crime, but chose to plead guilty rather than try for an acquittal based on this. Very sensible course of action, actually.

[1] OK. Possibly a slight exaggeration. It would definitely mean glaciers would start forming in Scotland, though.