A couple of weeks in a warm climate where the habits and requirements of a normal lifestyle are laid aside for the indulgencies associated with retirement do not change the cycle of domestic happenings even when "roaming" is turned off and TV stations offer very limited choice in the English language.
The recent domestic happening of interest to those associated however loosely with the legal and criminal justice system must be the announcements by the justice secretary of proposed changes to sentencing of offenders driven by the chronic shortage of prison places. If ever there was an example of the political tail wagging the political dog this must surely be it.
In 2010 the then justice secretary Kenneth Clarke was exuberantly proclaiming to his cabinet colleagues that he was first in line to declare his department`s budget cut of 23.8%. Amongst his 11 Tory successors to 2024 was the thoroughly incompetent Chris Grayling 2012-2015 who emasculated the probation service. During the Tories period in office there were 8 Home Secretaries 2010-2024 including the ineffective Theresa May and the proof that there really is truth in *Peter`s Principle; the misbegotten Liz Truss. 5 Prime Ministers have ruled over us between 2010 and 2024 including the "I wannabe king of the world" Boris Johnson and the pair of aforesaid home secretaries promoted beyond their competence. Is it any wonder that our nation is in its current mess.
But it`s not only justice where good sense has been sacrificed to government hope for sympathetic headlines in the Daily Tale or Daily Excess. Health, Education and Defence have experienced similar salami slicing of capital, expertise and predictive abilities. Failure and collapse within policing and prisons and all stops in between has been apparent for 15 years. Figures associated with crime and offending have been as statistically valid as counting the number of angels on a pinhead. This was known by every single person and department within Whitehall and Petty France. Covid exposed the reality beneath the chimera.
From bringing up children to the threat of nuclear war deterrence is a common factor for most eventualities except in the thought processes of the MOJ. Shoplifting less than £200 value? No problem. Bike theft? No problem? Car theft? No problem. Phone theft? No problem. Make a supposedly offensive remark or be critical of an employee and face police arrest or a tribunal. Criticise even in studied language immigration or those who would change the fundamentals of being British and there is a risk of being denounced as a racist. And for the most vociferous of "progressives" if one agrees with J.K. Rowling`s opinions of the transgender debate a fate worse than death should befall the individual.
It is becoming ever more obvious that the current government will fail. From 2019 and Boris Johnson`s 43.6% vote share with 365 seats and Keir Starmer`s 411 seats with 33.7% it is apparent that the British people find little hope when changing their vote from the devil to the deep blue sea. The failure to deter, arrest, convict and incarcerate offenders is now deeply ingrained in the politics of the electorate. No longer is the failure of an outdated concept of providing health provision allowing for reasoned debate. "Our NHS" has become a totem or religious relic from an age when this country basked in the fading glory of king and empire. Populism results in a combination of offering socialism where it suits to nationalism when it appeals. It is the public response to a political situation where the previously normal choices of right and left have been left behind. It is like a previously considered dormant volcano about to erupt. It is spontaneous and destructive. It is now in the UK August 24th 75AD Pompei Time.
*PETER`S PRINCIPLE
The Peter Principle states that people in an organization or company will be promoted until they are no longer qualified, filling that organisation or company with incompetent leadership.