Britannia Radio

Crime: a contempt for justice   Sunday 28 July 2013 Autonomous Mind weighs into the debate with a piece about the selectivity of the police in defining the crimes they investigate. In the corporate worlds of modern police forces, it is no longer Parliament which decides what is and what is not a crime. Rather, chief constables and their minions decide between them what is a "priority" crime category – i.e., that which they are prepared to investigates. One finds that, if the crime is not on the priority list, as defined, then it will be ignored. And the lesson for the criminal fraternity – which includes a large number of local government officers – is that as long as you confine yourselves to "non-priority" crime, you are above the law. What is also beginning to emerge is the sinister effect of legal aid cuts. Where most people accused of a criminal offence used to have their legal fees paid by the state, that list is now shrinking to vanishing point. Malicious police, aware of this, can lay spurious or exaggerated charges, in the certain knowledge that they are forcing their victims to gamble thousands of pounds on a skewed court system, in order to prove their innocence. Small wonder, many take the easy way out and plead guilty in order to reduce their risk of being on the wrong end of court fees, far in excess of any potential fine or other penalty. In terms of weight of penalties imposed, it seems that the greatest crime of all is to seek to defend yourself against accusations from the state. Win or lose, your defence will invariably cost more that the fine imposed if you lose - and then your penalty is increased because you had the temerity to attempt a defence. Even to partake in the "justice" process requires of the individual the completion of a highly intrusive "means" form, failure to complete which is not only a criminal offence but legitimises the system to impose the maximum scale of financial penalties and costs. You can actually see why Booker is complaining about the court system, but his complaints are only the half of it. The system across the board is unfit for purpose and terminally corrupt. What these people do not seem to realise is that an efficient and fair justice system is the safety valve of society. Screwing down the valve can only ever lead to trouble, yet they seem unaware of what they are doing.  In the nature of things, it is only a matter of time before they find out. COMMENT THREAD Richard North 28/07/2013

Brexit: a welcome recruit?   Sunday 28 July 2013 One should not be at all churlish when Helena Morrissey, a member of the glittering ceo-cracy, turns round and supports the "EU out" campaign. After all, a vote is a vote, whoever it comes from. In that limited sense, why she wants to leave is of little importance. One does, however, wonder about the comfortable little planet this woman lives on, when she tells us: The EU approach … has highlighted something that has long been a focus for me. I am convinced that the tide of influence is moving away from the top down, command-and-control, one-size-fits-all approach to business and politics. Supranational organisations, overly bureaucratic corporations and undemocratic political unions will struggle increasingly to achieve progress. Scale is often neither the best nor the most human way to operate. Smart people of all political persuasions are starting to recognise that smaller scale, more collaborative environments with space for difference and discussion are more relevant. Where people have real responsibility and accountability for outcomes – when they feel they have a real part to play, not just carrying out orders – the results are better. Any one in the real world – the bits outside the gilded palaces that these corporate parasites have created for themselves – will know that, if anything, we are seeing a shift further up the line from geographically limited regional bodies, to global bodies and global decision-making. We live in the age of the vast, trans-national conglomerates, the anonymous corporates, a nation where water and energy companies are owed by foreign equity management groups, where "local" authorities have populations of half a million or more and where MPs get elected to Parliament on less than ten percent of the popular vote. This may look very different in the upper echelons of the privilegati, and if the EU is troubling the little lady, all very well and good. But the idea that "the tide of influence is moving away from the top down, command-and-control, one-size-fits-all approach to business and politics" is total moonshine - the sort of arrant nonsense that only someone detached from reality could come up with. Seriously, this woman is not in the real world, nor anywhere near it. Even more seriously, what she seeks is not what we seek. The UK leaving the EU is just a start, but it is of no value unless we achieve new settlement - a move towards real democracy.  I suspect that a world in which Helena Morrissey found herself at ease is not one that would be at all attractive to most of us. COMMENT THREAD Richard North 28/07/2013

Booker: of Norway and other things   Sunday 28 July 2013 Only two pieces in Booker today – one big story about how the family courts are "spinning" a new set of guidelines in an attempt to demonstrate that they are to be more open. Yet, as we see, nothing very much has changed. The second story picks up on some of the issues that we rehearsed, with Booker telling his readers that: "Doomsayers who say we can't leave the EU have their own agenda". The crucial thing about the whole piece is that the sub-heading tells us: "Norway and Switzerland are outside the EU, but enjoy full access to the single market. We could too". This is something we need to repeat, again and again, until the message finally sinks in. Then, of course, we get the flood of comments telling us that Norway and Switzerland have to implement all the EU single market regulations and have no say in their making. But we can address these issues as well and, by the time we have finished, the naysayers will have nowhere to go. And each time Booker raises these subjects, we get a little closer to our goal. COMMENT THREAD Richard North 28/07/2013