| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Amplification | |
| Posted by: | Chantal Blake-Milton | |
| Date/Time: | 04/11/13 13:00:00 |
| Sadly Andy, I now doubt most pillars of our Society, as many do. I would like to feel differently, and with regard to the Police, despite the Plebgate nonsense, I am very happy to have the Police Force we have, hard-working, unarmed, and for the most part really helpful and caring. First on the front-line, and first on the murder scene - a very tough job, which they get right most of the time, we just don't get to read about it. Everyone will have a bad police tale to tell, or a bad doctor story, but all our relationships in this world are based on trust, and we trust our own judgement to know that most press stories are grossly manipulated. Years ago the Daily Mail launched a vicious campaign against Social Workers, specific mistakes made in a specific area. At that time I was working in the NHS, and the impact this negativity had on hard-working low paid "do-gooders" was incalculable, diluting their powers, and resulting in such horrors as the Baby P Case. The same goes for the Police today, my friends in the force are so over-scrutinised they can barely do the job they are meant to perform, particularly when, having brought a criminal in front of the law courts, after hours of paper-work, they are undermined by the Court system itself. Morale is low, and that in itself is a concern. Many good officers are leaving the force to earn more in private security firms. G4S's gain is our loss. Politicians put themselves forward for election. Once elected they have enormous power, whether nationally, or locally. Once trust is broken, it is gone forever. Mr Morritt may be a small local issue, but it highlights a problem where the local press are informing us of a misdemeanour of some magnitude - (£60,000 to me is a lot of money) but there is no follow-up or comment from those we expect to deal with the problem. It is not the amount, or the political detail that matters here, but that a person in charge of local decisions, and financial scrutiny of public funds on our behalf, has clearly done something which renders him untrustworthy. An employee who steals from his firm, is sacked, or held to account or both. Why should a local politician be immune from the same scrutiny and corrective procedures? Of course we all know the answer, and can continue being cynical, but to me, acceptance of this wrongdoing, unchallenged, is unacceptable. I was born when MacMillan was in Downing Street, and watched Churchill's funeral. Politicians had a sense of honour and duty then, which has been eroded over the years by a Society and Media that accepts expense-fiddling and dodgy deals. That acceptance does not make it right. It sets a poor example for those wishing to stand as Councillors, and does not bode well for the rest of us. |