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.
John Spencer-Davis
I’m 99.99999% sure that Fred was joking.
Dreolin 5:49 pm
Many thanks for that. I’m not: but if he was, then fair enough. Deadpan humour is sometimes difficult to recognize in the absence of the living person. I had a lesson on that myself on this forum a few days back.
Kind regards,
John
Yes, Dreoilin, I am sure that Fred was joking too. Such a strange sense of humour. It reminds me of what Les Dawson said about alternative comedy though I can’t remember exactly what he said, or even if it was Les Dawson that said it, but it was along the lines of ‘alternative comedy’ being aptly named because it was alternative to being funny.
Mary, ever elastic with the truth, writes:
“Having watched a bit of TV today, I can tell they are lusting for the cause of the crash to be terrorist related. They dare not voice it though.”
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Well, “they” (who are “they”, by the way?) must have unlusted shortly afterwards, because when I heard a snatch of the internet Radio4 this morning it was clearly said that the authorities had ruled out terrorism.
Question : is one born as silly as Mary, or does one become it after some decades of the wrong kind of living?
John Goss
6:01 pm
“It reminds me of what Les Dawson said about alternative comedy though I can’t remember exactly what he said, or even if it was Les Dawson that said it…”
Now that really does strike me as a hysterically funny thing to say…thanks for that John!
Kind regards,
John
Macky
“Clark of course just merely imitates Craig’s shallow and flawed arguments, further causing more people reading this blog to realise that it’s not at all a serious place for intelligent & meaningful analysis”
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If you believe that, Macky, why do you so object to my posts which make the very same point through the device of showing up the silliness and shallowness of so many of the comments on here?
It should also be restated that it is people like you, Mr Goss, Republicofscotland and your various hangers-on who are bringing this once-excellent blog into disrepute and turning off potential readers.
John Spencer-Davis
You’re very kind. Thanks.
Clark asks questions to which there is no answer:
“Craig was a diplomat for many years and has great expertise in international relations. What are your greater qualifications, Macky, that I should transfer my loyalty to you and the things you say? What experience and qualifications do you have? What are your specialist areas of knowledge, how did you acquire them and where and when did you gain experience?”
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I suspect that Macky has experience and qualifications in very little save in drawing attention to himself by posting foolishness on the internet.
How, I ask myself, did he get by before the advent of the internet?
Muttering in the aisles of supermarkets must have been much more uncomfortable from several points of view.
Good to see the SNP,will block any attempt by a Tory minority,trying to form a government.
Its a blow to the not only the Tories but Labour,who have beeb pushing the tired old line of voting SNP will lead to a Tory government.
Watching PMQ’S today,showed,just how scared of the SNP the Tories are.
Milband and Cameron are no match for big Eck.
I see Judas Iscariot,aka the Secretary of State for anywhere but Scotland, aka Alistair Carmichael,rejected a proposal,that would’ve prevented any future UK government from trying to dissolve Holyrood.
The Lib/Dem, who represents Westminster’s interests,instead of Scotland’s was asked to come to a Holyrood committee meeting to explain his decision,declined the invite saying he’s busy.
How many Tomb Tabards disguised as Scottish Secretaries have sold their souls for Westminster kudos…..too many.
Scottish nationalists would block second Cameron government: Salmond.
Does Salmond’s statement mean that the SNP would vote in Parliament to support a Labour government? If so, I think that means a Labour government after the election is pretty much a sure thing.
David Cameron has claimed he won’t stand for a third term as PM,hopefully he won’t even see a second term.
His successor,could be Boris Johnson, who like Cameron was a member of the secret Bullingdon club,or it could be Gideon Osborne who was also a member,of the secretive Bullingdon club,only open to the offspring of the aristocracy, and the super-rich.
I really hope Scotland obtains independence having either of those clowns as a PM doesn’t bear thinking about.
Does Salmond’s statement mean that the SNP would vote in Parliament to support a Labour government? If so, I think that means a Labour government after the election is pretty much a sure thing.
………………………..
Lysais.
Yes Lysais the SNP, Plaid Cymru,and possibly the Greens would all help to put a Labour government in Westminster.
Their would be no formal alliance but a vote by vote basis,it wouldn’t be just about the SNP and Labour,other parts of the UK would need representing.
I hope it comes to fruition I and many others,see it as an opportunity to eventually break free from Westminster for good.
A certain commenter (to use his own expression) takes me to task for asking him to identify the Oxford college where he allegedly read Greats and to specify the capacity in which he allegedly served in the U.S. garrison in Berlin, on the basis that I have no right to ask for such details when I myself have revealed no similar details about myself and my “past”.
That certain poster would certainly have a valid point if I were – as he is – in the habit of providing little snippets of “information” about myself in an attempt to underpin and provide authority for the comments and assertions I choose to make on this blog.
But I do not have that habit. Those who do – as the certain poster I have in mind – cannot reasonably object if I ask them for supplementary details to complement the information they themselves have already given unasked.
Obama too busy to meet with NATO Secretary General.
Meanwhile the State of Utah in the USA, is to start using a firing squad to execute condemned prisoners,after European manufacturers of lethal injection drugs, refused,to sell them to the state of Utah.
The USA currently carries out more executions,than any other liberal democracy in the world.
The hypocrisy is too funny for words.
“His successor,could be Boris Johnson, who like Cameron was a member of the secret Bullingdon club,or it could be Gideon Osborne who was also a member,of the secretive Bullingdon club,only open to the offspring of the aristocracy, and the super-rich.”
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The above comment, from our friend Republicofscotland, contains two errors of fact.
I wonder if a certain commenter, who claims to have experience of Oxford, could identify those two errors for the general public on here?
“House of Commons Library: On Finance Bills between 2005 and 2010, the SNP voted with the Tories 88% of the time.”
http://www.number10downingtweet.co.uk/profile/Toby%20Perkins%20MP/
A somewhat short response from a certain commenter…? And not to the point either. 🙂
He is clearly not as obsessed with NATO as some of the posters on this blog
I suspect the refusal to meet reflects disagreement with the policies NATO has been pushing.
“Yes, Dreoilin, I am sure that Fred was joking too. Such a strange sense of humour … but it was along the lines of ‘alternative comedy’ being aptly named because it was alternative to being funny.”
No John, Fred can be genuinely very funny.
(When he’s not annoyed at people throwing muck at him.)
I suppose that if one REALLY wanted to impress, one would have to add to an Oxford education and service in both the navy and army a former high level post in the administration, a visiting fellowship or two at some prestigious think tank or university and the authorship of a couple of standard works on something or another.
and I appreciate people making the effort to be funny. Because the atmosphere here has become very oppressive. Not at all like it used to be.
A certain commenter seems to think all Oxford men are able to spot errors about the Bullingdon Club. The fact is, I never heard of the thing while I was there.
But that certain commenter seems to know enough about it to be able to spot such errors.
I look forward greatly to reading about those in due course and promise not to ask for further details.
SNP youth wing infiltrate schools to brainwash children.
http://www.michaelmccann.org.uk/snp-infiltrate-local-schools-to-manipulate-pupils/
NATO is a consensus organization and the US its largest member, so it can’t be doing much the US doesn’t like. So more likely that he doesn’t care.
Who was the last person Obama conspicuously refused to meet? Was that just because he didn’t care?