ARE WE APPROACHING THE DEMOCRATIC PARADOX?

First there were guilds and guilds begat trade unions and laterally professional associations all with the purpose of protecting their members` interests. The industrial age of the 19th century saw trade unions morph into political parties but professional associations generally kept within their constitutional boundaries and/or pursued their political aims behind closed doors. An oft quoted exception was the medical profession`s fight against the establishment of a national health service. We are living with the consequences of privately operated general practices where every measurement taken be it weight, blood pressure etc is subject to a tick box reward of ££.  But within the hospital sector doctors on the gravy train to consultant status have realised that strength is in numbers and they have as in the recent past rallied round a flag this time of opposition to the recent Supreme Court`s ruling on women.  It seems that the marxist overcoat wearing leaders extending to their followers are once again on a collision course with elected government.  

The hate engendered marchers whose sympathy for the cause of those in Gaza is as much an opportunity to express in public their hate not just for Jews in Israel but Jews per se were given the green light by the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to continue their intimidating diatribes.  Muslim rioters have been given to a certain extent a real tangible get out of jail free card.  Five Muslim MPs seem more interested in Gaza than their own constituencies.  Their fellow religionists in Sudan, Yemen and Syria where hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed are not on their radar.  I wonder why. 

Health, Education, Defence and Justice have been starved of funds for over 20 years and yet the headline in today`s Times is "Milkshakes tax looms in broader sugar levy".  The Left, in and out of parliament, screams "tax the rich" as they have been doing for decades.  There is still cash in the pockets of UK citizens; would some of that money be better spent by government than individuals?  Research indicates that more people are planning to take holidays abroad in 2025 compared to previous years and 20% of all travellers had already booked two or more international trips for 2025 before the end of last year.  

If, as is possible, the four departments of state as above, are still being starved of funds in 2029 and the frivolities of a woke culture have been shown to be superfluous to economic well being,  we might survive a crisis for democracy as we have known it since 1945. If not the Democratic Paradox looms.  Perhaps on the principle of salami slicing we are already within its radius.  

21st NOVEMBER 2010

Having just published the entry from my magistrate`s diary for 21. November 2010 https://amagistratesdiaries.blogspot.com/ and with the current controversy over the possibility of a "mongrel" court minus a jury and comprising a District Judge with two magistrate wingers I have copied here that day`s entry below.

There has been much attention paid to Lord Judge, Lord Chief Justice and the judiciary`s main man. This is as it should be. And when he comments on the jury system everybody listens and that also is how it should be. But critical comment has been………… pianissimo.

The good lord has explained his discomfort in that jurors might seek further knowledge from outside the courtroom when considering facts pertaining to a case. In other words they might seek to increase their knowledge by the common man`s most accessible source of information……the internet……. which might offer many things but in general terms is an enormous fantasamagorical library with an indexing system easy enough for Joe Blogs to find in seconds eg the Italian musical term for playing softly. But in the good old days only toffs and so called intellectuals had shelves full of books which contained information that was or could be useful for or of interest to them. Of course in those days old or good most such folk declined to serve on juries; they were too busy or considered themselves too important to judge their fellow man. Now that`s all changed and everybody……..or is anybody a better description?……..can be chosen for jury service. And that`s the point. There is no consideration of anybody`s intelligence or ability to follow the performance, to appreciate the hurdle “beyond reasonable doubt”, no test to ascertain the limits of anybody`s understanding of the English language or anybody`s capability of balancing the credibility of witnesses or the facility for anybody to comprehend a judge`s summing up. Truly anybody can be a bit thick but then that`s why we have a jury of twelve people who can be anybody. Of course under current attitudes supposedly handed down from Magna Carta and modified for current times peer review by any other term is what determines a defendant`s guilt or innocence.

In effect the LCJ is complaining that ignorant jurors trying to fulfil their task are seeking knowledge outside the courtroom which others in their group might already possess by virtue of their education, profession, general or specific knowledge or quite simply a higher IQ. Universal jury service is now an outmoded concept and sooner or later a senior member of the judiciary, probably after retirement, will step into the public arena and say so. This is not to say I am advocating judge[s] only courts……I am against the practice of single District Judges acting in trials as both judge and jury. I am suggesting that the concept of juries now constituted is not an 11th commandment notwithstanding the recent paper Are Juries Fair? Another interesting paper taking a wide historical perspective is A Historical and Comparative Perspective on the Common Law Jury . More research should be undertaken into possible variations to ensure that justice is done and seen to be done lest another government with similar authoritarian tendencies as those which lurked in Downing Street from 1997 until May pulls up its drawbridge and judge[s] only trials risk becoming commonplace.

KNIFE CRIME FROM NOW TO 2029?

How far into the depths of authoritarianism are we prepared to descend in order to ensure our streets are safe?  Even a decade ago such a question would have been or seemed ridiculous; not anymore.  Analysis of many public attitudes 2025 does not make for comfortable reading.  Opportunistic street crime including shop theft can affect anyone and everyone.  There can hardly be a single person who is unaware of a friend, relative or colleague who has been a victim of or witness to such everyday events.  

Woke influencers and journalists alongside self seeking politicians sought to diminish the frequency of stop and search for knives  irrespective of the facts that the large  cohort of those searched and their victims was black youths or young people.  In this House of Commons table I would point out that the ethnicity of offenders and victims is omitted.  That would seem to be deliberate policy; overlook that the king "is in the altogether" i.e. has no clothes and the public will be mollified by the naked scandal in its midst.

Between 2019/20 and 2021/22, a third of black homicide victims were aged 20 or younger. This compares to 13% of white victims and 25% of victims from the other ethnic groups.  At 31/03/2023 there were 24.5 stop and searches for every 1,000 black people and 5.9 for every 1,000 white people.  A comprehensive analysis of stop and search encounters is available here. 

There are a thousand and one opinions and statistics on knife crime.  And there are many who manipulate fact, figures and fiction to promote their own point of view as a basis of what should be done to reduce or even eliminate this awful aspect of our society.  Their shrills will become louder up to 2029.  Let us hope that reason can prevail for the sakes of the offenders as well as their victims so that my opening sentence is irrelevant. 

BENEATH THE TIMES

Lessons will be learned. How often is that the final sentence uttered by somebody reading or writing from a prepared script to apologise for the failings of some authority, organisation or quango when public ire has forced remedial action to be taken over long known failings which more often than not have been covered up by those in the know.  So many Chief Constables and other senior police officers have resigned or been fired in the last 15 years that there is no easily obtained source to see the extent of their failings and/or wrong doings. In similar fashion many hospital trusts have been castigated for being unable to deliver the required standard of care demanded medically and in some cases legally.  When such happenings are finally recognised government drags its feet to the shame of all of us whose trust has been misplaced.  The current scandal at the post office took a TV programme to shame the government. The tainted blood scandal going back decades is, to this very day, not fully resolved but with every dying victim the compensation will be lessoned. Retribution for the Hillsborough tragedy might still to be said, incomplete after over 30 years. 

And so to the Times Crime and Justice Commission now published.  In The Times today there is a synopsis under the following headings:-

• Shoplifting, robbery and anti social behaviour
• Knife crime and gangs
• Violence against women and girls
• Cybercrime and fraud
• Terrorism, radicalisation and online harms
• The role of technology
• The causes of crime
• Policing
• The courts
• Sentencing
• Prisons and probation

These topics have not appeared from an alien planet; they have been systematically ignored by those with the power to have done something about them years or even decades ago.

There are common causes which link the above with examples in the opening paragraph:  I would suggest that apart from misguided parsimony in the allocation of adequate funding there is a tolerance to or acceptance of incompetence in the highest reaches of management and/or a preference by government for brushing under the political carpet those matters which would cause embarrassment or worse still affect the chances of some favoured MPs being re-elected.    

Shoplifting is a perfect example.  With much reduced police numbers and no time or personnel available to investigate; half magistrates courts closed and a decimated probation service lead to reduced sentencing combined with no prison cells for short custodial sentencing of recidivists. Result is an explosion in such crime.  A similar tale of woe is seen re theft of mobile phones.  Similar chains have been created with similar links in so many aspects of what has been since the beginning of this millenium a woke attitude to so much that held our society together. 

There has been much discussion about the increase of autocracy in the world.  Autocrats including the one causing recent economic headaches don`t appear from Aladdin's  magic lamp; they are a result of democratic processes which have developed since 1945 failing many sections of a society.  It`s not inconceivable that in 2029 with another showman as prime minister experts will wonder how such a nation as the UK could fall from grace.

In 1927 the BBC adopted the motto, "Nation Shall Speak Peace Unto Nation".  That phrase encompassed what this country thought it stood for.  Hitler had already published Mein Kampf and Mussolini had been in power for five years.  Few could foresee what was around the corner.  We have had 25 years of moral, social, financial and political decline. There will be some{many?} who will vent their frustrations at the ballet box.  So many countries have voted for authoritarianism, why should we think we are any different?  That is the hidden message beneath the report from The Times. ​

THEY APPEALED

The Court of Appeal of England and Wales was created in 1875 and is split into two permanent Divisions; the Civil Division (which hears family cases as well as a range of civil appeals) and the Criminal Division which hears appeals against criminal convictions and sentences.  The Industrial Revolution led to an increase in the number and complexity of court cases and the need for court reform to deal with them.  The Court of Appeal was created as part of this new court. Following reforms contained in the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.

For most people the Court of Appeal is of interest mainly when high profile criminal cases are involved but for many reasons the civil matters can be as highly significant as are the ferociously  paddling  webbed feet of a swan apparently moving effortlessly and serenely on the surface of a meandering river.  The following links are to some Court of Appeal decisions that are unlikely to feature in any but specialist journals or websites.

The following is of interest because it focuses on when a post on social media is considered merely objectionable or hateful. 

Some [many?] readers will be aware of the case in 2015, when Shamima Begum, along with two other schoolmates, travelled to Syria to join the Islamic State (IS) group and Begum was stripped of her British citizenship in 2019 after being found in a Syrian camp.  An unrelated but similar equally tragic case was heard recently at the Court of Appeal.

Immigration and its corollary deportation are probably amongst the top considerations of all our political parties` leaders and a matter of huge interest for many in this country.  The many possible interventions in the path of the deportation of immigrants legal and illegal are welcome fodder for the hordes of rabble rousers at all levels of the political spectrum.  This is a recent case. 

More than once I have opined that sometimes Scots law appears to offer a more logical road to justice than that of England and Wales.  Academics within the legal profession might find  Scots Law Influencing English Law on Deposits and Debt within Edinburgh Private Law Blog of interest.

Increasingly media items on the pros, cons, merits and safeguarding of whistleblowers grab our attention but it`s not always a bed of roses for those subsidised or not by interested parties  who consider themselves unjustly treated by large organisations or corporations.  Some are won and some are lost. 

Finally today there is the case of the chicken shops and their potential customers.  On the assumption that many of the sales at such establishments take place late in the evening when some of these customers might be worse for wear from over indulgence at local hostelries does the logo at the aforementioned takeaways have much significance?  Read what the Court of Appeal decided. 

v

LONDON PHONE THEFTS AND NEW YORK`S BROKEN WINDOWS

Like so much shouted about the Metropolitan Police being the largest most efficient and oldest police force in Great Britain these claims are not true except the first.  The idea of a civic force to keep order on the streets was pioneered in Glasgow arguably in 1789 but not until 1800 did the establishing Act receive Royal Assent. The aims of its founders were absorbed forty years later by Robert Peel and the Met was established in 1829.  And to this day the louder the trumpeting of Scotland Yard the quicker its shine is covered in ordure. 

In more recent times 1994 the New York Police Commissioner Bratton and  Mayor Giuliani coined the term zero tolerance  as their policy for reducing the criminal activity which had exploded in the preceding decade and was infecting many activities within the city especially commerce and tourism.  The example used was that every minor incident of law breaking eg broken windows would be investigated and the offenders seen to be punished.  Building on that policy increasingly successful prosecutions against career criminals produced a real reduction in serious crime. Between 1990 and 1999 homicide dropped 73%, burglary 66%, assault 40%, robbery 67%, and vehicle theft 73%. Whilst employment and standard of living rose in the 1990s contributing to crime reduction there is no doubt that a significant factor was the expanded NYPD and a crack down on all crime including minor offending.

From a personal point of view I well remember driving along 5th Avenue in 1995 and seeing a police officer at every corner of each block and another at every cross road. 

And so it is mid afternoon on the last Sunday in March and my son and his fiancee are strolling near Leicester Square in London`s west end when she discovers to her horror that the youth who had rudely brushed by her a couple of minutes previously had stolen her iPhone.  After that initial shock they reacted by doing what is advised in such a situation and summarised below:- 

1. Report the Theft:

File a Police Report:

Immediately file a police report with the Metropolitan Police Service (or your local police force). This is crucial for potential insurance claims and for helping the police if they can track down your phone. 

Contact Your Mobile Provider:

Call your mobile network provider (e.g., Vodafone, EE, O2, Three) and report the theft. They can block the phone and SIM card to prevent unauthorized use and help with a replacement SIM. 

2. Secure Your Accounts:

Change Your Passwords:

Change the passwords for all your important accounts, including email, banking, social media, and any other accounts accessible from your phone. 

Contact Your Bank:

Inform your bank about the theft and request that they freeze your cards and any mobile banking access to prevent unauthorized transactions. 

Notify Insurance Providers:

If you have insurance that covers your phone, contact your insurance company to file a claim. 

3. Additional Steps:

Remote Wipe (If Necessary):

If you suspect your phone is in the wrong hands and you can't recover it, consider remotely wiping the data to protect your personal information. 

Track Your Phone (If Possible):

If your phone has a tracking feature (like Find My iPhone or Find My Device on Android), use it to try and locate it. 

Note Down Device Information:

If you haven't already, write down your phone's make, model, serial number, and IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number. This information can be helpful for police and insurance purposes. 

Using my son`s phone they did most of the above and within half an hour had traced the phone`s location to one of two flats at WC2H ### about a short brisk walk away from their current position.  Of course they had told the police immediately of this location but the Metropolitan Police officer told them they were unable to assist.  In 2023 it`s estimated that in London alone 64,000 mobile phones were stolen and between July 2023 and July 2024 84,000 were stolen. Criminologists suggest that organised criminal gangs are at work supplying ready markets in China and other countries.

The above tale of woe is a further example of how slowly and steadily British society is disintegrating and democratic political choices seem incapable of providing answers.  From a  prime minister accepting funds from a Labour donor to enable him to have designer glasses and suitable clothing to MPs guilty of assault via additional MP`s expenses to keep a dog and myriad other examples to corruption, misconduct and malfeasance  in public office by senior police officers, faith in the justice system is at an all time low. 

In addition confidence that supervisory bodies are fulfilling the requirements entrusted to them to keep NHS bodies safe for use is hardly encouraging.  Despite the publicity given to illegal immigration on small boats it is legal immigration seemingly out of control which has supplied the massive increase to our population over just a few short years. 

Just how long can a society hold out against such pressures as above which are but a microcosm of the failures of government going back half a century.  Rome wasn`t built in a day but the decline of the Western Roman Empire is generally considered to have begun in the late 4th century AD with significant events marking this period. While there is no single date that signifies the start of the decline several key factors and events contributed to it:

Crisis of the Third Century (235-284 AD): This period saw political instability, economic decline, and military defeats, which weakened the empire significantly.

Division of the Empire (285 AD): Emperor Diocletian's division of the Roman Empire into the Eastern and Western Roman Empires created administrative challenges and set the stage for divergent paths.

Barbarian Invasions: From the late 4th century onward, various tribes, including the Visigoths and Vandals, began invading Roman territories, leading to significant territorial losses.

Sack of Rome (410 AD): The Visigoths, led by Alaric, famously sacked Rome, symbolizing the empire's vulnerability.

Fall of the Western Roman Empire (476 AD): The traditional date for the fall of the Western Roman Empire is 476 AD, when the last emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed by the Germanic king Odoacer.

Overall, the decline was a gradual process influenced by internal strife, economic troubles and external pressures.

It doesn`t take wild powers of imagination to overlay the above litany with events post 1945 in the UK.

Mobile phone theft is for us the broken windows of New York. But we in London most surely do not have a Bratton or Guliani; would that we had. Do those who rule us have awareness of our dire situation or are they ignorant and hoping for the best? As my post 18th March ended: time will tell.