The Scotsman

There is a reason why conditions in Scottish jails are better and violence is less common than in English ones, writes Sandy Mccall Smith

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WH Auden liked pithy observatio­ns. One of his best occurs in a short but rather beautiful poem on woods, in which he writes: “The trees encountere­d on a country stroll,/ Reveal a lot about a country’s soul./ A small grove massacred to the last ash,/ An oak with heartrot give away the show/ This great society is going smash ...”

The idea is an intriguing one: certain features of any society tell you what’s going on. Good drains and functionin­g aqueducts must have reassured the Romans that things were fundamenta­lly right with their empire, and that any thoughts of decline and fall were premature. Putting a man on the moon – which Auden, incidental­ly described as “so huge a phallic triumph, an adventure it would not have occurred to women to think worthwhile” – similarly speaks to the optimism and confidence of America at the height of her power. So, how well key things are looked after or how well things can be done might speak a great deal about the state of a civilizati­on and its prospects.

Which is why Auden might have shaken his head at the photograph of Rory Stewart, the English prisons minister, posed outside a prison last week, looking grim. Stewart is a remarkable

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