Home Truths from Abroad Dear Sir
| Author | M. Gough |
| Date | 01 March 1982 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455058202900112 |
| Published date | 01 March 1982 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
30
LETTERS
We
have
been
delighted
by
the
volume
of
correspondence,
much
of
it
in
response
to
the
last
edition.
We
print
almost
all
of
it
(at
the
expense
of
some
other
material)
in
the
hope
that
this
may
be
the
beginning
of
real
debates
in
the
’Journal’.
Do
keep
your
letters
coming!
Home
Truths
from
Abroad
Dear
Sir,
May
I
respectfully
prostrate
myself
in
front of
you
singing
praises
to
your
name
(sorry,
please
retract
that-I’ve
been
brainwashed
by
the
grovelling
conclu-
sions
of
(too)
many
colleagues’
social
inqmry
reports)
...
Oi,
cop
this
lot!
1)
Thanx
for
the
December
PJ
which
I
received
with
delight
on
January
19th
-SANTA
may
be
older
than
most
but
at
least
he
gets
his
SIRs
(Santa
Infallibly
Remembers)
in
on
time.
2a)
Reefering
(sic)
(I
imagine
I
would
be
not
having
tried
the
stuff)
to
the
article
on
young
Rastas,
I
was
intrigued
by
Table
1
on
p
115
(why
number
a
table
when
there
is
only
one? )--two
probation
officers
had
prepared
reports
without
consulting
their
clients.
Does
it
matter
that
their
clients
might
have
been
pleading
not
guilty?
Does
it
matter
that
there
have
been
a
significant
change
of
circumstances
since
the
last
contact?
Does
it
matter
that
in
the
event
of
an
alleged
further
offence
their
clients
might
appreciate
some
contact
from
their
friendly
probation
officers?
Just
because
‘clients’
is
an
anagram
of
’stencil’,
it
doesn’t
mean
they
are
cut
out
for
the
job!
2b)
In
the
same
table
(anagram
of
’bleat’)
there
were
some
sheepish
responses
from
some
officers
who
actually
recommended
custody.
My
colleagues
in
Birmingham
tell
me
that
the
CPO
of
West
Midlands
cannot
envisage
a
circumstance
in
which
an
officer
could
actually
recommend
cus-
tody-it
must
be
the
only
area
of
the
country
in
which
a
Daydream
and
a
Knightmare
are
one
and
the
same
thing!
3a)
There
were
some
lovely
pictures
of
men
doing
hard
physical
work
on
p
12~-
community
servitude?
3b)
The
article
’What
about
the
workers?’
was
based
on
’a
questionnaire
given
to
a
hundred
(cs)
workers’.
Later,
the
author
says
having
completed
their
orders
’over
a
hundred*
(cs)
clients
were
given
questionnaires’
and
also
’for
those
disenchanted
with
statistics ...
the
need
for
simplicity,
guided
by
common
sense
is
evident
in
this
exercise’.
If
the
author’s
fastidiousness
over
percentages
and
detail
was
shared
by
all
members
we
could
all
be
(gratefully)
accepting
pay
cuts
each
year.
4)
D.
Sleightholm
reported
all
M.
Zander’s
contribution
at
Bridlington.
What
D.S.
forgot
to
mention
was
Zander’s
EFFECTIVENESS -
nearly
everyone
went
to
sleep.
5)
D
S.
also
wrote
on
NASPO
which
he
regarded
as
a
’subversive
organisa-
tion
working
against
NAPO’.
In
my
view
NASPO
is
more
childish
than
subversive
which
brings
us
to
the
catch
69
situa-
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