Kerre Woodham: The bootcamp is worth a try, isn't it?

The pilot for military-style academies that are designed to turn around persistent young offenders will get underway by the middle of the year. Ten young people initially, and they'll spend up to four months —that is all the legislation allows— within their Academy.

And therein lies the problem, because according to all the best experts and best practice, it takes at least 12 months to break old habits and establish new ones. But the legislation doesn't allow it, so the four-month pilot will go ahead in the middle of the year.

Karl du Fresne: "Wraparound support": the magical incantation that will stop teenage ram raids

Two of the most meaningless phrases in the English language are “award-winning” and “wraparound support”.

I expressed my views about awards here. Suffice to say that I’ve been involved in enough of them (though never as a recipient) to be highly sceptical. There are simply too many mediocre and even dodgy restaurants/homes/cars/wines/writers/whatever hiding behind those words “award-winning” for the term to have any cred.

Now, “wraparound support”. My antennae twitch whenever I hear the words.