Pat Mountain, a vocal supporter of the discredited Keenan/Canvin regime, is a regular contributor to the letters pages in The Telegraph. Here is his observation from August 2011.
Campaigners who criticise rioters' sentencing should consider the wrong done to the victims - Human rights and the punishment of crime.
SIR – Those who argue that, if no actual riots resulted, then persons guilty of incitement should not be so severely punished, are illogical in their thinking.
There is no difference in the crime whether or not it leads to further criminal offences. The intention to cause mayhem, which could have led to the deaths of innocent people, is a heinous crime and should be punished accordingly.
The law and natural justice – today often tenuously related – demand that the justice behind sentencing should go by three principles: restitution, retribution and rehabilitation.
That the first two of these seem to have been abandoned in recent years is a root the problems that now beset us all.
Patrick Mountain
Somerton, Somerset
Obviously Mr Mountain suspends his belief in the 'the law' when it comes to his friends. Equally, when it comes to his friends, he loses interest in 'restitution and retribution'.
Till next time, I'm still Niall Connolly