Bristling Brock speaks out...


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The rumours are multiplying as to whether Boris will mount a leadership challenge to Theresa May and at the same time whether Nigel Farage will re-enter the Brexit fray in a new alliance with the pressure group Leave means Leave.  These are the two most charismatic characters in Britain's current political world and between them they potentially represent the views of more of the electorate than the government has ever dreamed of wooing.  And charisma is not the only attribute of these two - they both have an innate understanding of the public mood and of the way in which the Brexit negotiations should be being handled.  It's a little early to predict with certainty what these fellows are up to but it is heartening to see that they are both on the battle lines and prepared to contest the ineptitude and crass conduct of the governments strategy so old Brock looks forward to hearing more of their super-hero exploits in the days ahead. 

This will disappoint the Remainer fraternity but if we are to uphold what little semblance of democracy the referendum vote engendered then the nation as a whole should embrace the legal and moral choice to leave the EU.  Energy used in trying to undermine a democratic vote is both constitutionally wrong and wasteful.  Those energies need to be pooled into a concerted campaign to ensure that whatever individuals voted for the essential fact is that the mandate to leave the EU was the choice made and everyone would benefit from the warring factions to get behind Britain and work for its future success.  Trying to wreck that choice leads to some highly contentious issues surrounding their legality and possibly criminality which I suspect none of the ringleaders of Remain have considered.   It is also worth those ringleaders reflecting upon what might happen if they actually managed to sway the outcome to remaining a member of the EU.  If they imagine for a moment that the EU would slap them heartily on the back and say 'Welcome back, all is forgiven !' then they would be being naive in the extreme for the EU is a vengeful institution if nothing else.   I suspect a successful Remain manoeuvre would find the terms and conditions of 'refreshed' EU membership onerous in the extreme.  

The British police have not had a good time of it lately.  Some of their woes have been self inflicted but many have been imposed by political decisions from a bereft government - short on savvy, short on understanding, short on vision and always short of money.  Two things this weekend caught my eye which illustrate some of the dilemmas being faced.  The first was the report that civilians were being encouraged to become amateur sleuths - unpaid police - who could 'investigate' crimes in the absence of any meaningful police resource.   How legal such activities might be is the first thought that occurs but the notion that a bunch of vigilante style civilians should start tackling crime seems to me to raise all manner of challenges that are exclusively negative - 'Granny tackles drug dealers in downtown Lewisham' somehow doesn't cut it as a meaningful law and order dynamic.  This is a bad idea and needs thwarting straight away.

The second report following this law and order theme concerned the burglary of an elderly couple in a rural location, held at knifepoint by some eastern European thugs whilst their house was ransacked and thieved from.   The core of the story is not so much about the burglary itself but upon the almost total absence of a police resource or capability in many rural areas - brought about by a lack of money, lack of manpower and an ignorance amongst government 'experts' at what a civilised society expects from its law enforcement practitioners.  Ironically this points the finger at Theresa May during her tenure at the Home Office when some of these ill-judged decisions were being made about budgets.  Yet the underlying issue to me is about the objective of government.  Ours is a largely unwritten constitution but the US written variant acts as a good comparative insofar as the stated and primary objective of governance is the protection of the nation states citizens.  We manifestly fail in that objective here in Britain and encourage a loose observance of that concept.   That is a dangerous precedent to create for when law and order become worthless in the eyes of honest citizenry then the seeds of dissent are laid.  There is a fundamental principle in our Western culture to have laws and justice that are fairly applied to all.   The dilution of our national ability to sustain that principle is shameful especially when that is down to monetary factors and poor political choices.  Law, order and justice are the foundations of our society.  Without it, what do we become ?  Western European thugs ????

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