THE CYCLE OF JUSTICE

One of the joys of my life was for my 15th birthday the present from my parents of a brand spanking new red and white Raleigh touring bicycle having 3 speed sturmey archer gear shifter, white wall tyres, a foldaway stand, two mirrors and the ubiquitous bell to warn off impending collisions with pedestrians aimlessly crossing my path. The only missing accessory was a dynamo powered light set owing to my parents` insistence that I didn`t go anywhere after dark.  That sensation of freedom induced by those two wheels was an elixir of exuberance repeated when four years later I took possession of another red and white two wheeled transporter; a 125cc Lambretta scooter.  My first car purchased as my student days ended was the final adrenalin inducing vehicle which gave me a similar "high" as did that bike years earlier.  As a car owning pensioner in my latter years living in an ordinary suburban environment I wouldn`t now cycle more than half a mile from my house at any price even if I had the most efficient electric bike there is to be bought.  I rate the risk of injury too high; paranoid perhaps but a not uncommon feeling amongst many.  

Perhaps that brief history explains why I have been so interested in the sad case of Auriol Grey.   Literally the trials and tribulations following those events have now been laid bare for all to see. And as if by Zeus in his Olympus hideaway throwing a bolt of lightening to illuminate the law and its perversity another event with a cyclist at its centre has brought into view questions about the Crown Prosecution Service and its capacity to lose public confidence in its ability to do the job we expect.  So many public bodies have been seen to fail with the cover ups of these failings exposing systemic government failures to punish those personnel responsible i.e. failure of the CPS and police to pursue wrong doers within parameters that must have been whispered by the NHS, Home Office and Ministry of Justice. The latest death by bike was that of Hilda Griffiths 81, knocked down in Regents Park by Brian Fitzgerald cycling at 30MPH.  Rarely do "normal" cyclists even approach such a speed which is equal to travelling 44 feet per second.  Law is available which if applied could have brought the director  of an international bank to trial.  There is  "Causing Bodily Harm by wanton or furious driving."  This 1861 Act is still in use today.  "Whosoever, having the charge of any carriage or vehicle, shall by wanton or furious driving or racing, or other wilful misconduct, or by wilful neglect, do or cause to be done any bodily harm to any person whatsoever, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years ..."   During my period as a magistrate I was in the middle chair on an occasion when this Act was used successfully to prosecute the drunken driver of a mobility scooter who knocked down a pedestrian on the pavement.  The 1988 Road Traffic Act is available to the CPS.  My question is why the police did not charge under the most appropriate section.  Was it that the "accused" was likely to be a person of wealth and high social standing with ample resources financial and professional at his disposal?  

There is no doubt that from virtually every angle or viewpoint the justice system in this country from arrest to Z beds in prison cells is approaching a point not just of no return but a point where the public has no faith in its being fit for purpose. When that collapse happens it is a signal that society itself is at a point of disintegration.  Identity politics is the term that`s been given to the divisions in the country centred on racial or ethnic group preferences.  This whole topic has become an industry as this style guide from Bristol University illustrates.  

   

We are in a situation where the answer to the questions, "What is British" or "What does it mean to be British" or "What are the five most typical British values" are no longer able to be rolled off the tongue without some deep thinking.  There are those amongst us whose desire is to diminish any sense at all of Britishness. Those who denounce patriotism for that is what Britishness is at its core are bad mouthed as being racist or worse.  It is to be hoped that these increasingly widening cracks in society can be unified but failing an alien invasion from the Andromeda Nebula Ah hae ma doots as the separates north of Hadrian`s Wall would say.