Dr Brain strikes again

The brilliantly named Dr Brain is fronting a new drive from the police to crack down on sex traffickers - the criminals who literally buy and sell women and girls (occasionally men) into sexual slavery.

Weve talked about this in previous blogs and Amnesty has consistently called for the government to back up its attempts to stamp out this form of 21st-century slavery with a firm commitment to protecting the women themselves.

The problem in the past has been that women have been brought out of fortified brothels only to be put back behind bars in immigration removal centres and then deported back to countries where theyd still be at risk of trafficking. Great system.

So, three cheers for the police and the government for getting tough on this, but lets see some statutory support for the women - proper counselling and care, temporary residency rights etc.

Meanwhile, slightly bizarre news for those of you whove been following the case of Kenny Richey, the Scottish man who has faced a death sentence in the USA for the last 20 years.

Yesterday the state of Ohio said that he would need to post $10 million if he was to have bail ahead of a re-trial. The judge has since said hed accept $1 million and his family are now reportedly considering selling their own homes to get him out.

This is all bit rich (excuse the pun) if you ask me, considering hes suffered from shoddy justice for two decades, finally won the right to be brought off death row and get a proper trial - but still they wont let him out of prison even though, technically, hes an un-convicted man. As they say, go figure.

And in the and finally slot today, I want to congratulate Arsenal on their fine win at Steaua Bucharest yesterday. But I just have a small favour to ask of Arsene and the lads. Can you please avoid scheduling home games on Tuesday nights, as its playing havoc with my getting to the (excellent) Tuesday night Artrocker gigs at Highbury Corner. Thats all. Thanks.