Impunity 1959


After such an extended break from blogging, you will be deeply disappointed that I restart with something as mundane and trivial as Jeremy Clarkson. I have defended the man in the past, because I much enjoy Top Gear and consider that much of what he has been criticised for in the past had been an amusing winding-up of the po-faced of the kind I employ myself. But nasty, indeed vicious bullying of a subordinate should always be a sacking offence.

That did not ought to be the question, though. He hit someone and they had to go to hospital. Where are the police? They are incredibly fond of sweeping up scores of teenagers for thought crime, but here we have an actual violent assault that spills blood, and it seems completely out of the question the perpetrator is brought to account. Why is that? I had a personal experience a couple of years ago when I was very mildly hurt – less than young Oisin – in an assault, and the police insisted on arresting the perpetrator despite my repeated requests to them not to do so. They told me rather firmly that the idea that it is the victim who has a say in pressing charges, is a myth. Why was Clarkson not arrested?

I cannot in my mind dissociate this from the non-arrest of Jimmy Savile for his crimes, despite their being well-known and reported at the time. That seems to link in to the wider paedophilia scandal, and the question of why no action was taken even in the most blatant of cases when there was compelling evidence, such as that of the extremely nasty Greville Janner MP.

But then I think still more widely as to why, for example, Jack Straw has not been charged with the crime of misfeasance in public office after boasting of using his position to obtain “under the radar” changes in regulations to benefit commercial clients, in exchange for cash. I wonder why a large number of people did not go to jail for the HSBC tax avoidance schemes or the LIBOR rigging scandal, which involved long term dishonest manipulation by hundreds of very highly paid bankers.

At the top of the tree is of course the question of why Blair has not been charged for the crime of waging illegal war. The Chilcot Inquiry heard evidence that every single one of the FCO’s elite team of Legal Advisers believed that the invasion of Iraq was an illegal war of aggression. Yet now the media disparage as nutters those who say Blair should be charged.

Then I think of all the poor and desperate people who get jailed for stealing comparatively miniscule amounts in benefit fraud, or the boy who was jailed for stealing a bottle of water in the London riots.

The conclusion is that we do not have a system of justice in this country at all. We have a system where the wealthy and governing classes and those associated with them enjoy almost absolute impunity, broken in only the rarest of cases. At the same time those at the bottom of the pile are kicked hard to keep them there. There is no more chance of justice against those in power in the UK than there is of the killers of Nemtsov being brought to book in Russia.

But what has really scared me is this thought. This situation has been like this my entire life: and I have reached the age of 56 before I realised it. A very great many people have still not realised it at all.

What does not scare me is this. I realise that if the system of justice is completely corrupted, then there is no obligation on me to follow the laws of the state. In fact it would be wrong of me to do so. I must seek my ethical compass elsewhere than in the corrupt power structure which weighs so hard upon the people.


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1,959 thoughts on “Impunity

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  • Resident Dissident

    “the “Western” mass media spent months pretending Ukraine didn’t have any fascists.”

    No they didn’t – the involvement of Svoboda and Pravy Sektor was mentioned many times, even to the point of exaggerating their real influence.

    Dreolin

    Threads here never really change anything – apart from being the smallest drip drip drip for change. If you don’t think what is happening to ordinary Russians and the former Soviet republics at present is a matter of interest to you then you are totally free to discuss other matters that do interest you. There is a real war in Eastern Ukraine I’m afraid.

  • Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)

    Any fool knows how reliable Soviet censuses were, especially the Stalinist ones. About as reliable as Soviet economic statistics.

  • John Goss

    Noddy, no offence. I just found it a bit surreal that the biggest wanker on the blog could come out with the phrase “I’m told it’s quite good”. Who told you? Resident Dissident?

  • RobG

    @Resident Dissident
    22 Mar, 2015 – 10:59 pm

    The biggest problem on web sites like this is that you find yourself debating stuff with people who are totally brainwashed. They believe that black is white, because the media tells them so.

    Are there three nuclear reactors on the coast of Japan that are in total meltdown?

    Are there massive wildlife die-offs occuring in the Pacific Ocean at the moment?

    Were Cyclone Pam and Typhoon Haiyan the two biggest storms in recorded history?

    If your answer to these three questions is ‘no’, then you probably need to keep taking more drugs, to stave off reallity.

  • Daniel

    “Internationalism is bad as well, whether Capitalist globalization or Marxist proletarian I’m against it.”

    Ok, that’s a value judgement I personally disagree with but nevertheless recognize that it carries some weight. I think that “good” nationalism is often used as a “cover” for “bad” nationalists who are motivated by bigotry and hatred of the “Other”. The ugly face of Scottish nationalism that is synonymous with the bad variety, was in my view greatly underplayed by Craig in his various blog pieces leading up the independence referendum.

  • John Goss

    “Were you with Jimmy Savile, John, or by yourself?

    And did you enter?”

    Now, now, Noddy. It’s comments like that that get back to the fagmasters. And you know what that might mean?

  • Daniel

    Or his “Notes on Nationalism”:

    “The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his
    own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.”

    Indeed. Craig Murray is guilty on that score – at least in terms of public disapproval.

  • RobG

    God, my spelling is awful at the moment.

    This is obviously because I’ve just drunk eight litres of red wine, and not because I’ve been totally laid out by this winter’s flu bug.

    Heck, the vermin don’t care.

  • Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)

    Mr Goss

    Yes, I do know what it might mean. It might mean that they look into you a little more carefully than hitherto.

    On the other hand, you may just have been bragging when you wrote about your visit(s) to Blyton Hall?

  • Clark

    Rob, there are no “vermin” here. Even Habbabkuk has been seduced by the place.

    All there are are a load of people who can’t encompass the enormity of the world’s problems and sometimes refuse to see each other’s points of view.

  • Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)

    “Craig; “Macky, my apology.””
    _______________

    Are you seeing things, Macky?

  • RobG

    Clark, I must be doing something right if you’re apologising for me.

    Read what I say, and then perhaps form a judgement.

  • Clark

    Macky, RD’s OK; he’ll discuss things if he’s given a chance. And I think he may ave a point about Russian expansionist ambitions, but we need to keep the row damped down to find out.

  • John Goss

    RobG, sorry about the digression into the world of wooden-topped characters and caricatures.

    Fukushima is, I agree, up to now just abwhich contained a photograph of thousands of bags of nuclear waste from the meltdown. It is still being stored (for ten years at least) before it can be assessed for some kind of disposal. But worse. They are still collecting it. And will be for years to come. It was on a Facebook thread and I can’t find it.

    But I found this.

    http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/16/radioactivity-green-tea-fukushima/

  • Clark

    Rob, I think you have valid points about Fukushima. I think RD has valid points, too, about the Russian government. But people keep rejecting others’ valid points because those others won’t even consider theirs, and vice-versa on and on and round and round. It’s the human condition, and we’d best fix it fast because time is running out on multiple fronts.

    So please stop calling people vermin, and learn to be a bit more rigorous. We need arguments to be rationally convincing as well as emotive.

  • RobG

    Clark, a standard dictionary definition of ‘vermin’:

    Various small animals, such as rats or cockroaches, that are destructive, annoying, or injurious to health

    We are, quite literally, at war at the moment; and we are at war with the vermin who have taken over political power.

    You can go and vote for them if you want. As for me, I’d put the lot of ’em up against a wall, to be shot.

  • John Goss

    Don’t know what happened to the last but it should have read something like this.
    —————————–

    RobG, sorry about the digression into the world of wooden-topped characters and caricatures.

    Fukushima is, I agree, up to now just about the worst nuclear problem to date is Fukushima. A few days ago I read an article which contained a photograph of thousands of bags of nuclear waste from the meltdown. It is still being stored (for ten years at least) before it can be assessed for some kind of disposal. But worse. They are still collecting it. And will be for years to come. It was on a Facebook thread and I can’t find it.

    But I found this.

    http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/16/radioactivity-green-tea-fukushima/

  • lysias

    Why would the Soviet Union have wanted to exaggerate the number of Russians and underestimate the number of Crimean Tatars in the Crimea in 1939?

  • Macky

    Habbabkuk; “Are you seeing things, Macky?”

    Quite ! After Craig’s failure to apologise to Mary for a very sharp rebuke, after she linked to article that correctly mentioned the Neo-Nazi element in the new Kiev government, I guess we have a better chance to see flying pigs rather than ever see an apology from Craig.

  • Clark

    Rob, I think it’s at least possible that the population grew so quickly and technology advanced so rapidly that the evolved structures of government became overwhelmed. We expect a lot from politicians, but we can’t even hold a civil debate on this blog.

    The desire to kill the enemy is as old as instinct. It’s not at all clear who the enemy is any more. Nuclear power stations, for instance, weren’t actually intended to kill anyone, but they have. Nuclear bombs were actually designed to, but haven’t killed anyone directly since 1945.

  • RobG

    This weekend the Sunday People/Daily Mirror broke a story that was quite remarkable…

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/vip-paedophile-files-sick-web-5379332

    It was remarkable because it named names (and it should be noted that much of this journalism came from Exaro News).

    And what I’m trying to say to you, Clark, is that no, it’s not ok for you to try and ajudicate here. Vermin are vermin. Fullstop.

    Anyone who tries to come on here and make apologies for this stuff will get both barrels from me.

    You vermin at GCHQ are total scum, and you will be put on trial.

    How dare you think that you can turn my country into some kind of tinpot dictatorship!

    You’re fecking vermin, and you’re outta here very shortly.

    Do you understand?

  • John Spencer-Davis

    Clark
    23/03/2015 12:04 am

    “Nuclear bombs were actually designed to, but haven’t killed anyone directly since 1945.”

    Hmmm.

    Totem 1, Maralinga, Australia, 15/10/1953.

    Kind regards,

    John

  • RobG

    John Goss
    22 Mar, 2015 – 11:53 pm

    I think I’ll go to bed.

    _______________________

    I know exactly how you feel; but really, the left have got to address the Fukushima issue, because it is the most important issue there is. Even the threat of a nuclear war caused by the neocons doesn’t come close.

    Fukushima is life and death stuff; the life and death of the planet Earth.

  • Clark

    John Spencer-Davis, thanks.

    Rob, my quick guestimate suggests that the energy from radioactive decay of Fukushima fallout is much smaller than required to boost cyclones to previously unseen levels. It certainly should be insignificant; the power stations were only a few gigawatt thermal, which is next to nothing compared with the energy flows within the ocean and atmosphere.

    However, both super-storms being in the Pacific may indicate a connection. If so, I suspect that destruction in the marine ecosystem produced a disruption of some sort in the established energy flows.

    On the other hand, I read a short while ago that El Niño has just been confirmed; Squonk commented about it.

    Anyway, off to bed. Good night (no replies necessary – shutting down now).

  • fred

    I think I read somewhere that tropical storms are caused by a butterfly in Birmingham.

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