The systemic corruption in the UK's political 'organisation' (i.e. Parliament and MPs - and presumably the Civil Service too) is adversely affecting and undermining the work of anti-knife and gun crime campaigners, and those trying to tackle violence in our society.
By far the strongest illustration of this, as far as knife and other crime is concerned, is former (and disgraced) Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. Her perverse moral leadership (claiming huge sums of taxpayers money for a second home as well as the porn video fiasco) left the Home Office rudderless at a time when the anti-violence campaigners were building some momentum. I'm not saying that momentum has gone for good - but the behaviour of MPs like Jacqui Smith has hampered the work of so many families, crime victims etc at a time when they needed people with power to help them push for required change. This is much more than letting people down. Reflect on that Ms Smith and for God's sake... resign. Get a proper job and see how you get on there.
At the same time and for the same reasons, co-ordinated attempts, communications and PR efforts to highlight and tackle violent crime seem to have fallen by the wayside to some degree because politicians have demonstrated time and again that they are more interested in themselves, their salaries, commercial interests, etc, rather than those people suffering in the midst of a violent culture.
With the Government and opposition parties in disarray due to the corrupt parliamentarian compensation system they have been happy to be part of for years, these ego-centred MPs (I can't call them public servants - they haven't served, they have stolen) continue to demonstrate more interest in themselves than victims of crime and the issue of violent crime, sadly.
PM Gordon Brown recognised this when he said, "Never again should a Member of Parliament be more interested in the value of their allowances than the values of their constituents." And then this autumn Gordon Brown was ordered to pay back more than £12,000 of overpaid expenses.
All this goes beyond words - these people have lost sight of principles and morals. They have literally been "fiddling while Rome (the UK) burns". Are we seriously going to let any of these intrinsically corrupt people to administer our hard-earned taxes from now on?
This week there has been the publication of
more worrying knife crime statistics and a
terrible stabbing attack which further highlights a lack of impetus to tackle this key law and order issue.
A church volunteer was stabbed trying to protect children from a gang of marauding youths - awful that this can happen on UK streets. If this continues, I can see a rise of vigilantism in communities because there is insufficient capability to police - a problem Jackie Smith would normally be fixing - but she can't... she's lost any public mandate to address this.
So where are the country's leaders at this time? I don't think there are any good leaders now. Everyone's gone to ground trying to work out how to keep their jobs at the next election rather than tackle crime and violence. It's disgraceful. Someone needs to be pushing the police and law enforcement authorities to do more. Instead, we now have ineptitude and complacency creeping in.
Jackie Smith and her ilk need to reflect on facts like that when adopting an apologetic tone in front of cameras and the media. All their selfish, materialist grasping has led to a crisis that has undoubtedly led to more suffering for crime victims and those trying to tackle this scourge of violence around us. Now we have to wait while Alan Johnson gets up to speed - and I noticed today that he's winding up people already, making all the scientists walk out.
I'm beginning to wonder if Labour has much of a clue anymore. Lost touch with their grass roots certainly, I believe.
Jacqui Smith and others like her taking vast amounts of cash etc are a disgrace to hard working, honest citizens such as these. We don't need people like these in public life, we don't want to see them. Why are they hanging around? We just want them to f-ing clear off.
To my mind, having a vote at election time is not sufficient. The voters need to hold MPs to account more often and more effectively than at election time. Their complicit acceptance of a corrupt expenses and payment system over many years makes them unfit to govern.
Those MPs with a conscience need to re-appraise and better assess their priorities. Some are maybe trying to do this (ever the optimist) - but such change is hardly shining through the darkness, is it?
Probably though, better people who know how to serve the public are required. Or maybe things would be better if there was simply more power for the people?
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