Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Aid for Haiti

It is very distressing that basic aid of food and water has taken so long to get through to the people of Haiti. Surely it was possible to do better in the aftermath? Maybe not. Maybe it was just an impossible task from the start to get help to those in need quickly.

This is another difficult moment for the U.S. It must make sure that its overwhelming logistical capability with all its  organisational structure does not overwhelm the relief effort.  There are already mutterings among some pretty experienced people, who know what is going on.

Goldman Sachs 

Clearly the point is not yet driven home. The partners at Goldman Sachs have decided to limit their incomes for this year to £1million each. Where it not for our money these people would all be bust. This gratuitous insult to the rest of the working population shows the totally unreal world these people have built for themselves. In a society where there is so much deprivation and where so many go without because of the fantasy world these people built which fell about their ears, where even the poorest among us had to sacrifice to rescue them, nobody, absolutely nobody, should earn more than tenth of that until the economy is restructured and every taxpayer penny is repaid.

We remember the rampant trades unions of the post war period who broke the back of our competitiveness with endless demands for increased pay without increased production. No government had the guts to take them on until a certain lady came to power. Enough is enough she said. And that was that.

Now I have many discomforts about the benefits and consequences of that lady’s long tenure of the keys of Number Ten, but I did see that when the time has come, the time has come. We have to halt this alchemy, stop this hoovering of resources from the poor to the rich, re-structure the economy to create a more socially just and inclusive model and end the dominance of the City of London.

Nationalise the clearing banks, cut the investment or clearing arms off, recall their taxpayer bailout and let them all go bust. Yes it would cost us electronic money in the short term but the profit to the long term wealth of the country would be every bit as great as Thatcher’s creaming of Scargill. The only politician getting near to this is Vince Cable.

Defending our Homes.

Paul Mendelle Q.C., Chairman of the Criminal Bar Association is a very distinguished lawyer. But his views on Tory plans to protect householders who set about, burglars, kidnappers and assassins who burst into their homes uninvited are wrong. He fears disproportionate force will be used, vigilantism will break out and people will take the law into their own hands.

He is on the wrong tack altogether. Once a law abiding citizen finds his home invaded and his person and perhaps his (or her) family under threat, the ‘law ‘ has already broken down and failed. He  is now on his own. If in fear, panic or rage he injures or even kills the intruder, so be it. A few more dead burglars would lead to fewer burglaries. It should be a rule of law that once you intrude upon someone else’s property uninvited with hostile intent, unless with a warrant, your human rights are suspended and you are subject to whatever wild response your victims may apply. 

There is another thing. Generals do not make political policy. They carry out orders. Lawyers should have nothing to do with law making. Their job starts once the people have decided.

Afghanistan

Over the last few days there have been signals coming from this inflamed country that negotiations with the Taliban are in the frame. I heard the words from President Karzai in a TV interview with the  BBC’s  John Simpson. Now General McChrystal has talked of negotiations. ‘ There has been enough fighting ‘, he said. You are so right General, you are so right.

Many people ask, should there have been any? Or any involving us? I know my views and have expressed them often enough. In the end it will be history which judges. History is proving a pretty hard judge on Iraq. Quite right too.