DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Woke civil servants are warping justice
DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Woke civil servants are warping justice
Another day, another example of the justice system making itself a complete laughing stock.
This time civil servants have ordered that inmates – including murderers and rapists – mustn’t be referred to as ‘convicts’.
And upon release, offenders aren’t to be called ‘ex-cons’. Rather, they should be described as ‘people with lived experience’.
Penpushers at HM Prison Service are no doubt sensitive souls who don’t want those behind bars to feel affronted or stigmatised.
But did they stop to consider the ‘lived experience’ of the victims whose lives have been ruined – the elderly woman robbed in the street, for example, or the parents whose child died in a knife attack?
(File Photo: HMP Cookham Wood) Penpushers at HM Prison Service are no doubt sensitive souls who don’t want those behind bars to feel affronted or stigmatised
Britain’s prisons are full to bursting point, awash with drugs, and reoffending rates are frighteningly high. Isn’t this where civil servants should focus their attention? Not spending their working days manipulating the English language to fit their politically correct world-view.
Prisons are there to act as a punishment and deterrent. Instead, they are becoming a la-la land, where offenders’ rights trump public safety.
Sadly, the Prison Service’s warped priorities reflect Whitehall’s broader failings. The Civil Service is supposed to be the engine of government, implementing policies drawn up by elected politicians.
Yet, ingrained with wokery and resistant to anything even remotely Tory, it increasingly seeks to dictate how the nation is governed. This troubling situation is aggravated by the apparent feebleness of ministers to implement policy.
Only last year, justice ministers instructed prison staff to ditch politically correct language. So why is the opposite happening?
From bans on sales of zombie knives to freeing up GP appointments, too many announcements turn out to be hot air.
There is still a chance for the PM to wrest control back from the Whitehall Blob. But it will require decisive action, not promises which are never fulfilled.
Plea for pragmatism
For many Brexiteers, a ‘bonfire’ of Brussels red tape is totemic – proof of Britain taking back control.
So the PM has inevitably made enemies among Tory backbenchers by ditching his promise to scrap all remaining EU laws by the end of this year. Only around 600 will be revoked, rather than the 5,000 pledged.
Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch is right to be pragmatic. Alignment with EU laws should not be a problem so long as we can axe them whenever we wish
Many fear this will allow the Brexit-hating Civil Service to thwart our extrication from the bloc – making us less competitive.
But Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch is right to be pragmatic. Alignment with EU laws should not be a problem so long as we can axe them whenever we wish.
Rules that work, cost nothing to retain and are familiar can be left alone – for now. Those that are pointless, unpopular and hold us back can be jettisoned.
Let’s leave ideological purity to the EU. This is a huge and complicated task.
To gain the maximum possible economic and social benefits, divergence must done properly. Bodging this opportunity by rushing would be unforgivable.
Gaffe-prone governor
The latest interest rate rise, plus surging food prices, will leave millions of households asking when the financial pain will end.
With the Bank of England announcing a record upgrade to growth forecasts, however, the future looks brighter. But Andrew Bailey, the Bank’s benighted chief, should feel sheepish, not self-satisfied.
In any other job, gaffe-prone governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey would be fired. He must raise his game
As recently as November, he gloomily warned Britain faced the longest recession for 100 years. He has also presided over a series of failures, including letting inflation run riot. This has allowed Labour to claim the Tories have crashed the economy.
In any other job, this gaffe-prone governor would be fired. He must raise his game.
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