Page 30 w The Top


A View From


Welcome to my monthly column “A view from the top”. Hopefully you will find my rambling readable (maybe even enjoyable). You may agree or you may disagree with my views, I care not. These are my views long held and forged over a life time of work, travel and experience. Now that’s over let’s have a look at what is really winding me up.


Riots on the Streets of England


QF Focus Magazine


When the going gets tough the government always retreats into recalling parliament or announcing a public inquiry or holding a ministerial review or blah, blah, blah. What I want is action; not the crazy spectacle of senior police officers having a public spat with senior politicians. Reality check for England....


So some questions...Why do English students have to pay university fees in Scotland when the Scots and other EU nationals get educated for free? Why do English people in England have to pay medical prescription charges, when in Scotland such charges have all but been abolished?


Why does England not have its own decision-making body rather than have to pander to the whims or otherwise of persons who are free to foist upon the English homeland issues they do not want in their own semi sovereign states?


Issues of tax, work and of opportunity have to be addressed by an English legislative assembly... to solve the question of the “English Riots”.


The mention of Scotland is to make my case; Wales and Northern Ireland have similar initiatives in place.


The breakup of the United Kingdom is going on as I write this missive...it’s happening not under our noses, it’s happening in full view under the stewardship of David Cameron and his partners.


My complaint is simply that if this fracture is indeed occurring then why oh why are the English seemingly the last to be told?


On Radio Four recently David Cameron said “People no longer have moral boundaries”. My response is to say that how on earth can people be expected to have moral boundaries when the people who lead them show a remarkable lack of such boundaries themselves.


The events of early August when rioters took to the streets of firstly Tottenham, then on subsequent nights in Clapham, Ealing, Croydon and other towns and cities across England have been much discussed and debated by all and sundry over the past few weeks.


My take on the issue is somewhat different from the view that no matter what the circumstances, they (the offenders), should all be made an example of.


Punishment of course should and must be meted out... but... and it’s a big but. The punishment must be determined by the statutes and tariffs that existed at the time of the offences. I do take objection to the prime minister trying to dictate “on the hoof” to the judicial service of England. It is not his (the PM’s) place to


make up laws and sentences as he sees fit.


The role of parliament cannot be circumvented by one man’s desire to look tough in the face of adversity. An interesting aside to the riots could be seen in the matter of local community groups banding together to declare that “they will defend their community”. Whilst at first glance this type of action may appear to be laudable, in truth can a society allow local vigilante groups to flourish and grow? What next? Christian or Muslim or Black or indeed White-only groups defending what they deem to be their own local ground? In reality the climate in England is ripe for more of the same... that’s why we live here.... Successive governments have been guilty of not keeping up with the demands of everyday society.


Bankers with their hands in the tax payers pockets, politicians papering over the parliamentary expenses scandal and the press seemingly ignorant of people’s right to privacy.


My forecast is that more trouble is on the horizon in England... just wait until the real cost of the economic measures currently being undertaken really bite home.


Watch this space. Wootton Bassett


Those of you who bother to read my monthly outpourings will by now have an idea of where I come from in a political sense... and may have detected my opposition to Britain’s foreign policy and its involvement in overseas conflicts.


That said I would like to place on record my admiration for the town of Wootton Bassett and its people for the way they have welcomed home the bodies of our fallen heroes.


The honour of being titled “Royal Wootton Bassett” is well deseved. Long may the town thrive and grow.


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