Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Usually when people use the word corruption they think of bribes and kickbacks. There is another use which implies a decay, dysfunction and a loss of integrity. This disturbing pall now hangs menacingly over the governing establishment of our country and permeates through the very institutions, the police, the judiciary, the press and the politicians, upon whom everyone else relies for example, for fairness, for justice and for truth. We know the earlier inquiry into Bloody Sunday was wrong, that the Scott inquiry appeared to exonerate those involved in the Arms for Iraq scandal when the public evidence suggested guilt and that some of the Hutton conclusions were literally incredible. Now we learn that all that we had been told about Hillsborough, by every official organ and channel, was not only wrong but based on lies and fabrications.

The Prime Minister gave the relatives of the victims a full, gracious and unstinting apology in a Commons performance yesterday, which rose to a shocking occasion with dignity and authority. A new inquest or inquests and criminal prosecutions seem now a certainty. What is less certain is whether what this blog calls the governing establishment are learning that no longer can this form of national management be sustained. A people in 24/7 communication by every available device and medium do not readily bow to the manipulation of authority as was once the case.

A lot of people in high place have a lot of thinking to do. Failure to set new standards for themselves and their institutions will lead them to a catastrophic fall. Arab Springs do not have to be Arab, or happen in Spring, or be accompanied by violence. They come in many forms but when they happen they leave no doubt, nor do they show mercy upon those  upon the focus of public outrage sets.

We await Leveson and Chilcot. Lets us hope they can restore integrity to a badly shaken system.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 14th, 2012 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Malcolm Blair Robinson. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.