Punch & Jamie

 cw: Murder manslaughter 

Things don't "come in threes": we're just primed to be aware of that sort of thing after something odd / outré / other sails over our aware-horizon. I had just finished reviewing O Brother - a harrowing tale of a young chap going off the rails and never quite getting back on track. From quite another field of my attention a similar story burst front and centre. The Rest Is Politics TRIP is a two-hander podcast in which Alastair Campbell [New Labour] and Rory Stewart [Con.] disagree agreeably. They are both white cis-het British centerists, so their disagreements are hardly existential. They chatter on about British and World politics much like other members of the commentariat. They are actually much better networked than most regular journalists and started a sub-podcast TRIP-Leading where they have interviewed past and present prime ministers and Presidents of  . . . Albania, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Guyana . . .

But they also share space with other people who are making a difference. In mid November, they did a foursome [also on YT] with James Graham and Jacob Dunne on Prison Reform, Masculinity, and Restorative Justice. Rory Stewart knows something about prisons because he was Minister i/c of them in the brief Theresa May government. He took his job seriously rather than soundbytely: visiting the most hellish and trying to put lipstick on the pig. Jacob Dunne knows rather more because, like Gary "O Brother" Nevin, he was banged up .  . .  for killing a stranger with a single punch while off his face with drink and other drugs.  Because he was 19, and no longer a child, because he plead guilty he was sentenced to 4 years in prison and served 14 months. Prison is not the best place for the dispossessed to find meaning or guidance on what next?

After Jacob was released, his probation officer wasn't able to help him find somewhere to live: there was a long waiting list for . . . zero available places. But she was able to talk to him about Remedi an organization helping people come to terms with their actions and the consequences. They also hold out a hand to the victims of crime, helping them come to terms with their loss. After some time communicating through intermediaries, Jacob got to meet 'his' dead chap's parents and everyone in the room did well with their anger management. Joan Scourfield, the grieving mother and Jacob Dunne the killer got past forgiveness and became . . . friends? They meet on the regular anyway and have done two-handers for / with The Forgiveness Project, demonstrating that being kind to others is being kind to yourself. And that revenge and hate just keeps the juggernaut of self-righteous anger crushing more souls. Jacob Dunne has written a book about his journey: Right from Wrong: My Story of Guilt and Redemption [2022] - co-writer credit → Mark Eglinton. Some months later, the story was flagged by edgy playwright James Graham and he brought the story to the stage as Punch.

 Graham [b.1982] and Dunne [b.1992] both grew up working class in Greater Nottingham, a post-industrial conurbation in the English Midlands. But their lives were very different. As a teenager Graham was figure-skating on the local rink while Dunne was more into getting hammered. Graham stayed in school and went on to college; Dunne failed and then dropped out of school, supporting himself selling drugs. But they had common ground and a similar accent and collaborated to bring a powerful drama to the stage . . . many different stages, on both sides of the Atlantic. Audiences have been shaken and stirred and resolved to do better and be kinder and less judgemental. Who knows, maybe a powerful play can shift the dial where decades of statistics and analysis and hand-wringing has achieved nothing but heartache all round. Like Mr Bates vs The Post Office in 2024 [see also Blob].

There are those who never met any of the people involved and refuse to condone or explain or forgive. For those folks mired in their certainties, evil actions are only carried out by evil people. And of course they themselves are squeaky clean in thought and deed. A sample from FB

• Bindy Beridge How about you change the word ‘scrapping’ in the article to violent assault. 
• John Mccaffrey He killed an innocent man, but we have to listen to his sob story and watch him make money out of the man he killed from his book. 
• Tracey Poole Rehabilitation is all very well but where’s the justice for the victim and their family? It’s like they’re just meant to move on and be pleased that the offender who ruined their lives is having a nice time now. There would be no forgiveness from me. 

What they don't appreciate is that Jacob Dunne is walking right next to Mephistopheles "Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it". It's okay if he cracks on with new dogoodnik path though life; indeed it's okay if he cracks a joke once in a while. He clearly has an inherent reservoir of empathy: when he was a teen, his presence would light up The Gang. Now he's turning that one talent [which is death to hide] on for funders and donors and prison officers and offenders. Getting a more positive message to / for / about the dispossessed whom the state forgot requires time and treasure. We have decades of inertia to turn the ship of state from victim blaming and depriving the deprived.

One optimistic note. In contrast to the friend-group of Gary "O Brother" Niven in Irvine; 'most' of Jacob's pals have grown out of nihilistic self-destruction and are now, like him, 30-something Dads making a better fist of living their best lives than they were when punching people back in the days of their youth.