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A Civitas report on crime, ominously called The Failure of Britain’s Police, argues that forces of law and order have lost control. Police in Britain are so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of crime that even recent extra recruits are making no difference according to the report published today.
The comparison with New York figures is startling. In 1991 there were 22,000 robberies in London. In 2002 there were 44,600, an increase of 105 per cent. In 1991 there were 99,000 robberies in New York City. In 2002 there were 27,000, a decrease of 73 per cent. To draw equal with New York’s achievement, London would thus have to gain no fewer than 178 percentage points in its fight against street crime.
The report concludes that to halt the rising levels of street crime, substantial increases in numbers of policemen, as seen in New York, are necessary. Zero tolence policing is called for to set clear boundaries and re-take the public places from anti-social elements.
However, that has not been the Home office’s priority. Their approach is predictable:
In the face of staggering volumes of crime, the police and the Home Office are reduced to ‘bringing crime under control’ by legalising or decriminalising many offences on the grounds that they aren’t so bad after all.
Oh, and here is the government’s story about crime figures. Crime is 9 per cent down and believe this, if you can:
These figures show Government measures to reduce crime are working. Crime is continuing a downward trend and the risk of being a victim remains at its lowest level for 20 years.
I know whether I feel safe in London or not. How about this radical solution – allow people defend themselves!
Next week we are due for the annual ritual of watching the British government’s finance minister (Chancellor of the Exchequer) tell us how far he intends to stick his fingers into our wallets. No doubt funding the cost of military campaigns in the Middle East will provide a convenient excuse, although I would guess that Gordon Brown’s huge public spending increases on health and education have more to do with it. Remember he made such increases against a backdrop of crumbling stock markets.
A good article in the British weekly, The Spectator, lays out the lunacy of where public finances are currently headed.
And an article at Reuters suggests that owners of property can expect another kick in the shins from Labour.
Some nice things have been said about Premier Tony Blair in recent weeks from the right-wing side of the political tracks due to his hard-edged realism about dealing with Saddam. We all knew it could come at a cost in blood and treasure. But on pretty much everything else, this government, like 99 percent of them, remains a menace to liberty and property.
Of course, non-interventionist libertarians would say that war is the health of the state and therefore advocates of military action vs Iraq like yours truly can have no complaints about the size of my tax bill. Well, up to a point, Lord Copper. Domestic spending, much of which is wasted, dwarfs UK spending on the military as a proportion of the total budget.
Longer term, of course, any overhaul of public spending (ie, a stonking big cut) must include a willingness to look at private sector options in providing for our defence, including use of mercenaries, even. I’d be very interested in what readers have to say on the latter point. I’d guess even opponents of the current war might want to say how minarchists or even anarcho-capitalists should look at how military forces should be paid for.
A follow up on the yesterday’s article about the EU constitution. In today’s Telegraph’s opinion section, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard is concerned that “while we liberate Iraq, Europe is busy planning to enslave us”:
The EU will no longer be a treaty organisation in which member states agree to lend power to Brussels for certain purposes, on the understanding that they can take it back again. The EU itself will become the fount of power, with its own legal personality, delegating functions back to Britain. Draft Article 9 puts Brussels at the top of the pyramid. “The Constitution will have primacy over the law of Member States,” it says.
The new order may also be irreversible. Article 46 stipulates that the terms of secession from the EU must be agreed by two thirds of the member states. In other words, one third can impose intolerable conditions.
We can already see the impact of the EU fiasco in handling the Iraq crisis:
The EU will have the power to “co-ordinate the economic policies of the member states” and – showing some chutzpah given what happened over Iraq – “define and implement a common foreign and security policy, including the progressive framing of a common defence policy”.
And there is a bit about, Tony Blair, our hero:
Tony Blair was slow to see the threat. Downing Street at first dismissed the convention as a talking shop, but woke up when the French, Spanish, German and Italian governments gave it irresistible authority by appointing to it their foreign or deputy prime ministers.
The Government then fell back to a second self-deception, imagining that France and Spain would join Britain in blocking any major assault on national prerogatives.
[…]
None of this has happened. France has abandoned Britain, and her own historical attachment to a Europe where national capitals always have the whip hand over Brussels. They seem to be accepting federalism as the price of relaunching the broken Franco-German axis. As for the Spanish, they are silent.
Scary stuff, please go and read the whole article.
Forgive this interruption to your scheduled programme of dark forebodings, war worries, terrorist threats, police state and impending civilisational collapse but I am taking a short break in order to bring you some good news.
It would appear that the political landscape of Britain is not quite as barren as I had hitherto imagined it to be. Indeed, little oases of life-giving sanity are starting to spring up amidst the arid desert of top-down, tax-and-spend socialism.
Case in point being Reform Britain, a campaign group consisting of loads of big-brained luminaries who describe themselves thus:
Reform is an independent campaign to promote new directions for public policy based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, and individual liberty.
As I reflect upon the lowly and squalid state of public debate in this country over the last few years, the above words wash over me with all the fragrant and orgasmic tingle of a cool spring zephyr.
And, as if that was not enough, these wonderful people have launched a related website called ‘Down the Drain’, a perfectly appropriate domain name for a site which is devoted to disclosing just how much money HMG syphons off of its productive citizens every day and, more pointedly, where it all ends up.
Broadcast your seeds with gusto, you Great Sowers of Hope, and may those seeds be nurtured, fed, watered, grow and cover all the land with a golden harvest.
Your normal service of doom, gloom, despair, gnashing of teeth, wailing and general despondency will now be resumed. Thank you.
[My thanks to Stephen Pollard for the links.]
I recall reading an article a few months ago – I think it was either in the Guardian or the Independent, I’m not sure which- bemoaning the low standards of British TV comedy.
Neither am I able to remember precisely the conclusions drawn in said article or, indeed, if any conclusion was drawn at all. Personally, my prognosis is that British comedy is failing to inspire because life in Britain has surpassed any attempt at parody:
A convicted murderer who tried to attack a work colleague with an axe, while out of prison on licence, is to receive compensation for unfair dismissal.
James Robertson, 50, learned of the employment tribunal’s decision from jail, where he is now serving two life sentences.
On Wednesday, the tribunal ruled the council was wrong to sack Robertson without notice after the incident, and ordered the authority to pay him £800 compensation.
I wonder what type of ‘notice’ would have satisfied the Employment Tribunal?
“Dear Mr.Roberston,
It has come to our attention that you tried to murder one of your co-workers with an axe. We take the view that such behaviour is inappropriate and not conducive to a happy working environment.
We must ask you to refrain from such activities in the future, failing which we shall have no choice but to consider further disciplinary action.”
Or do you think that such a letter might be construed as too judgemental?
A trifling distraction in the scheme of things, but this is so hilarious that I just had to flag it up here.
It appears that a small group of British ‘indymedia’ squirts tried to halt a convoy of munitions by chaining themselves to the trucks. Turned out to be a very bad idea:
The convoy was successfully halted on the west bound slip road at Chievely junction (M4/A34) north of Newbury. One group blocked the lead vehicals [sic], whilst others attempted to lock on to the bomb transporters. Police and lorry drivers seem to be under orders to keep the convoy moving at all costs. Activists were forced to unlock as the lorries kept moving despite the drivers being told that there were people under their vehicals [sic].
Kumbaya, My Lord, Kumbayyyaaaaaa…stop…stop….aaaahhh…….
[My thanks to Little Green Footballs for the link]
I want to know how long Tony Blair reckons on dragging out this unjust and illegitimate war of aggression?
I am speaking, of course, about his war on British prosperity:
One in five firms is planning to get rid of staff to help pay for new rises in National Insurance Contributions, according to a business lobby.
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said that small and medium-sized companies would be hardest hit with one-third saying they expected job cuts as a direct result of the rise.
After years of being softened up by the constant bombardment, we are now about one week away from the ‘big push’. The government has maintained its tactic of destroying key strategic targets such as industry, manufacturing and finance.
“The Chancellor could not have picked a worse time to introduce this increase,” said BCC President Isabella Moore.
“Those companies that are not looking to cut jobs are intending to cut wages, investment or research. Their only other option is to increase debt.
“This could be the final nail in the coffin for some businesses,” she warned.
And quite right too! The British public simply cannot be trusted with these Weapons of Mass Distribution!
About one in 10 firms told the BCC they had considered or were considering relocating their operations to another country.
As predicted, large sections of the enemy forces are deserting. After all, who wants to fight just so they can keep some of the money they work hard to earn?
When asked what the government could do to improve productivity in the UK, most said that tax and regulation should be reduced.
TRAITORS!!! APOLOGISTS FOR SADDAM HUSSEIN!!
Meanwhile, a Whitehall spokesperson has denied reports that the government intends to continue prosecuting this war until the besieged British taxpayers realise that they cannot possibly win and just surrender en masse.
While we are furiously warblogging over at The Command Post, the statists at home have not been resting either. Two articles in the Telegraph, drawned by the Iraq war noises, report most worrying news. First about bailiffs allowed to break into homes.
Licensed enforcement agents will be authorised to break into people’s homes and seize property from debtors under new Government plans announced yesterday. They will also be given powers of arrest.
The article quotes a rather disturbing statement by Baroness Scotland, a minister at the Lord Chancellor’s Department:
Society wants those who owe money judgments to pay their dues but also wants to protect the vulnerable. So the system we propose will utilise the full weight of the law on those who won’t pay while at the same time safeguarding vulnerable individuals who simply can’t pay.
The second article reports on extension of police powers to keep DNA files:
Police powers to retain DNA samples and fingerprints taken from innocent people are to be extended, the Home Office announced yesterday. For the first time, they will be able to test people they arrest but do not charge and keep the DNA and the prints indefinitely.
It’s true what they say – the devil government never sleeps…
When Robin Cook resigned from the Cabinet last week in protest at Tony Blair’s decision to authorise military action without the backing of the United Nations, it was obvious he was positioning himself as the potential leader of the Labour Party. The calculation runs as follows:
- If Iraq turns into a political-military disaster and Blair’s political career is over, everyone will remember the noble Mr Cook resigning ‘on a point of principle’ and look to him for the kind of pseudo-moral stance Blair has managed to employ successfully in the early stages of his office. And at least, Gordon Brown will not be the only obvious, if unpopular choice.
- If Blair is vindicated and Saddam’s regime quashed, the process may be so bloody that it will eat away much of its political capital. With the end of Iraq war, the reality in Britain’s backyard will start to bite – the French, the EU, the crime, the schoolsandhospitals etc.
- The Labour Party has been having its rude awakening as to the nature of Blair’s leadership for some time and there is an increasing number of Labour MPs becoming more vociferious in their disagreement on a range of issues.
And they need a leader! – Mr Cook concludes and exactly a week after his ‘principled’ resignation he hints that “he is prepared to act as leader of centre-Left discontent in the Labour Party as he promised to fight for more ‘radical’ and ‘progressive’ policies from the backbenches”. How public spirited of him!
Cook says that Britain now finds itself in a diplomatic position ‘that it will come to regret’. Too close to America, too far away from Europe. This is his worldview:
Where should we be looking for the future direction of Britain’s strategic international relations, for me the answer is Europe, to make sure that we are a major player and we are passionate that Europe speaks with a strong voice which means we try and speak without a divided voice.
There are many reasons for that but the need to have an alternative pole, not a rival, but an alternative pole within international affairs is one of them. I have always been strongly committed to a multilateral system. We must respect international institutions.
We need to engage in an international community that can bring to international forums and state with clarity the type of European values that are certainly not shared by many of those in the Bush administration.
Firstly a respect for multilateral protocols, secondly if we are going to achieve a world governed by rules then we need to respect international process. There are two other European themes: a respect for global environmentalism and that the priorities of the international community reflect the massive priority of tackling poverty.
I smell a rat. Or a Tranzi. Oh, wait, it is the same thing…
image by the amazing Scrofula!
For years now the British soldier-in-the-field has been bitching about the crappy Light Support Weapon version of the bug-ridden SA-80 rifle that they have been saddled with.
So I was delighted to see picture after picture of British Army and Royal Marines using the excellent Fabrique National Minimi Squad Automatic Weapon. British soldiers deserve proper weapons and at last they seem to be getting them.
Soldier of the 1st bn Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in action in Iraq, using the FN Minimi SAW
The answer is when it comes to counting the numbers of people at a ‘peace protest’.
The Stop The War coalition claimed 500,000 people turned up for today’s protest in London (they later lowered their claims to 200,000) … yet the Metropolitan Police were quoted on SkyNews tonight as have said “less that 100,000 attended”.
Of course membership of the Stop The War coalition has considerable cross over with CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), a well known glove puppet of the old Soviet regime. During the Cold War, CND also used to vastly inflate the claimed attendance at its rallies, aided and abetted by the left wing BBC who would just report these claims as though they were incontrovertible. The fact CND & the BBC consistently inflated these numbers was exposed by Dr. Julian Lewis MP by using aerial photographs of CND protests.
The world may have moved on but the old Marxist left have not changed one iota.
Fortunately it is now it is easier than ever to ‘fact check their ass’.
I think my relationship with the BBC is finally settling into something quite satisfactory. Having been through the stages of disillusion, mistrust, contempt and loathing I now find that I have reached the point where I now regard the BBC as reasonably reliable reverse indicator.
For example, whenever the BBC presents an event as a spontaneous outburst of public feeling, I immediately turn my mind to the possibility that it is anything but.
A case to consider is this series of nationwide anti-war protests by schoolchildren:
Hundreds of children are among crowds protesting at Westminster.
School children have been played a big part in many demonstrations across the UK while others have staged their own protests at their schools.
Sixth-former Sam Beste, from Fortismere School in north London, has organised many protests against the war.
He is staging a demonstration with dozens of others in Muswell Hilll before heading for Westminster.
In Carlisle, the police were called to a school after hundreds of pupils staged an anti-war demonstration.
There were two separate demonstrations in Belfast with more than 1,000 students and schoolchildren mounting a sit-down protest, blocking the road outside Queen’s University.
In Nottinghamshire, more than 100 pupils walked out of lessons at West Bridgford School to stage a demonstration on a nearby playing field.
In Manchester, about 200 school children joined a big demonstration.
The article makes no specific claims but first impressions would lead one to believe that these pre-pubescent protests are just breaking out everywhere like typhoid. Who knows, maybe they are. I certainly cannot prove anything but, for me, this wave of teenybopper discontent bears all the hallmarks of orchestration. And, if that is so, who are the conductors?
Far be it from me to point the dirty end of the stick at their teachers and lecturers, but it would not be an entirely unreasonable inquiry to make. Just don’t expect anyone at the BBC to make it.
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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