The government has an honours forfeiture committee! Wow, who'd have remembered. The few times that the infamously wicked have been stripped of their honours most of us will have forgotten the how of it. It should be said that those who have lost their titles in the past have done so for deeds much more nefarious than Mr Goodwin, usually involving people dying and or being tortured. But the government seemed to think that the public wanted him further punished, and this was about the only thing they could legally and swiftly do without asking anyone else's leave, save of course Her Majesty's. But they have surely opened up a can of worms here. Everyone who is commenting thoughtfully on this is bringing up the question of all the others whose behaviour also helped get us into the financial mess. Will we, for the sake of moral consistency, see others pulled down too? No pressure from them was publicly forthcoming for Stephen Hester. What will this year's round of Bankers Bonuses' reveal I wonder?
More interesting however, is a comparison between the government's treatment of this, and their active involvement in forcing massive pay cuts on the Police Force. The Government won't interfere with publicly funded Bankers' bonuses, but when it comes to any other public body, they are swift to put the boot in. I am unable to believe that here is a government that really has the interests of the low paid, the disadvantaged, the marginalised, at heart. I hope I will see things which make me change my mind, for I do not want to be sucked into a stereotypical anti Tory myth about their bias to the well off, but that belief was certainly one of the things that made me vote labour to get Blair in, and abandon my more liberal normal voting instincts so that I could put my voting shoulder to the wheel as it were. I do believe that when the Tories came to power they had to be firm to resolve the debt crisis, and have gone along with some of their austerity package. But they could give just a little bit more to those whose need is greatest, and they could take more from those who do not need at all, and perhaps in the process, stem the tide of uncertainty and insecurity surrounding those treasures of British life, our NHS and our education system.
More interesting however, is a comparison between the government's treatment of this, and their active involvement in forcing massive pay cuts on the Police Force. The Government won't interfere with publicly funded Bankers' bonuses, but when it comes to any other public body, they are swift to put the boot in. I am unable to believe that here is a government that really has the interests of the low paid, the disadvantaged, the marginalised, at heart. I hope I will see things which make me change my mind, for I do not want to be sucked into a stereotypical anti Tory myth about their bias to the well off, but that belief was certainly one of the things that made me vote labour to get Blair in, and abandon my more liberal normal voting instincts so that I could put my voting shoulder to the wheel as it were. I do believe that when the Tories came to power they had to be firm to resolve the debt crisis, and have gone along with some of their austerity package. But they could give just a little bit more to those whose need is greatest, and they could take more from those who do not need at all, and perhaps in the process, stem the tide of uncertainty and insecurity surrounding those treasures of British life, our NHS and our education system.
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