Good week, Bad week

Good week for:

British criminals, after officials at Her Majesty’s prison in Birmingham announced that guards would henceforth be required to call prisoners by their first names and to knock before entering a cell, as part of a new “decency agenda” to improve prison morale.

Iceland, which was named the most desirable country to live in by the U.N. Human Development Index. The tiny island nation, which is frozen and dark most of the year, edged out Norway due to its long life expectancy, high educational levels, and comfortable per capita income.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Vigilance, after Iraqi soldiers noticed that the bride in a wedding party passing through a checkpoint near Baghdad not only was remarkably ugly but had a 5 o’clock shadow. The bride, as well as the groom and several of the celebrants, turned out to be men suspected of terrorist activities.

Bad week for:

Getting even, after Knoxville police charged Clifford Clark, 47, with firing three rounds from his hunting rifle at a camera that catches motorists speeding through red lights. The camera, which has caught nearly 7,000 motorists, was fatally wounded.

Visual aids, after a German policeman demonstrated how he made arrests to a second-grade class by handcuffing the teacher. When the cop went to remove the cuffs, he realized he had lost the key. The teacher remained cuffed until a backup key arrived.

Judicial activism, after Niagara Falls, N.Y., City Court Judge Robert Restaino had all 46 people in his courtroom thrown into jail because no one would confess to owning the cell phone that rang during court proceedings. Restaino, who admits he “snapped,” has been removed from his post.