There must or there should be eminent persons with the appropriate intellectual breadth and experience around but not beholden in any form to government who can spell out to those in Westminster just what reactions are taking place in our society often but not exclusively concerned with immigration, housing shortages and increasing disparities between the have far too much and the just about managing. The failure of policies and quangos operating under the control of the Home Office and MOJ and the inability to grasp that fundamental change must apply to the NHS as everywhere else can no longer be contained. T.May`s pitiful attempts to explain conservatism as it is practised in SW1 are pitiful. Capitalism unleashed with no reins upon it is as dangerous for our society as Corbyn & Co preaching their brand of socialism like the sirens of old. The paradox is that that the more capitalism is allowed to rampage unhindered eg British Gas in a supposed market which is in name only the more Corbyn and his successors can advance their cause just as the sirens did for ancient mariners. If that happens we`ll all be on the rocks.
The problem with the awful business at Grenfell Towers is that the buildings were undoubtedly built to meet the requirements in place at the time. When regulations change, eg wiring regulations, they aren't usually retrospective, so that what has already been put up and approved doesn't have to be changed to comply with new legislation. This isn't the case with, for example, motor vehicles, where changes in the requirements for MoT tests apply to all vehicles, although I believe that there are exceptions even here.
ReplyDeleteThe physical practicalities of keeping a block of flats right up to date with all the applicable building regulations are mind-blowing and whilst it's easy for people at the top to make such rulings, it's not nearly so easy for the men and women at the coal face to implement such rulings. What the solution is, I just don't know.
The core issue is that our legal system is based on the assumption that most people are innocent and honest.
ReplyDeleteWhich is just for the individual, and fine when the premise holds true, and the dishonest are a minority. To assume otherwise would see us spiralling down the vortex of Charybdis.
But when we import cultures where corruption is endemic, and where people have been taught though experience that facts and honesty mean little compared to simply purchasing legitimacy and justice, there we start grinding on the rocks of Scylla.
This is not a criticism of the individuals - we are all products of our culture, as well as shapers of it. However, it is a reality, and wishing won't make it otherwise, nor chanting slogans and waving banners.
Practically, our justice system relies on mass compliance rather than mass contempt. Our welfare system and public services need contribution to exceed exploitation.
I remain concerned for the state of all of the above if we continue to stress them with challenging customers. Upper lips can only be kept so stiff for so long.