System malfunction - by Richard... Sunday, September 04, 2011

System malfunction - by Richard... Sunday, September 04, 2011

In its small way, the example offered by Booker of insane red-tape is another classic example of how democratic government has ceased to function.

As with the Leighton-Morris story, we did earlier, in a sensible and responsive system, someone in authority would by now have intervened to stop this nonsense. But so far has the system degraded that there is no one in a position who can pull the plug.

Of course, it all makes a nonsense of Cameron's "localism", although that was always a non-starter anyway. But that is another sign of the time. The more they talk about local democracy, the less of it that we actually get.y

Disaffection is catching - by Richard... Saturday, September 03, 2011

Dellers is in fine form, writing this:

Yep, it seems like there's one rule for the political class and its cronies – and another one for the rest of us. If, say, you're Sir Reginald Sheffield Bt the father-in-law of the British prime minister you can make getting on for a £1000 a week (Actually ... per day) from the wind farms on your estates; if you're the wife of the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg you can make hundreds of thousands of pounds as a legal adviser to the Spanish wind farm company whose unsightly bat-chomping eco-crucifixes are going to be wrecking the British countryside.

If on the other, hand you're an ordinary punter, you're expected to sit there and take it as the cost of your energy is doubled, your standard of living lowered, the countryside you love is ruined, and the destruction of your ailing economy is accelerated by the policies of a government which no longer gives a damn what you think about anything.

Actually, I don't suppose they ever really gave a damn about what we think. It's just that they don't even bother hiding it now.

Justice beyond the grave - by Richard...

One has to admit that our justice system is wondrous to behold. Thus did Tamworth resident Barry Bartin, 65, receive a letter stating his wife, Evelyn - who had died four years ago - had been summoned to court for a motoring offence supposedly committed in February of this year. He rang the court and they said it was the fault of the DVLA, then contacting the DVLA and sending them a copy of his wife's death certificate.

But Barry was then furious to read in his local newspaper that magistrates had fined the long-dead Evelyn £175 plus £60 court costs and a £15 "victim surcharge". No doubt these diligent justices thought they were doing a real good job for the community they "serve" - having established (not) that Evelyn was alive and that she had actually committed the offence. Whatever happened to proof? What happened to the requirement for the prosecution to prove its case "beyond reasonable doubt"?

The ultimate irony here, though, is that an individual is being "fined" for failure to process paperwork properly. But when the state commits the same "offence", it is nobody's fault. It never is.

One now worries that this might catch on. After all, fining dead people for offences they did not commit does have distinct advantages. Normally – at least, without a séance – dead people can't answer back. Thus the courts can continue their "rubber stamp" functions uninterrupted, and do not have to trouble themselves with the idea that their hearings have anything to do with justice.