THE
RE-SHUFFLE
APRIL
5th 2006
While
the adjustment of John Prescott's profile is necessary as a visible
response to his indulgence of private pleasures in office time,
premises and
property, the removal of Clarke from the Home Office can best be
understood as a sop to David Cameron's perception that (I paraphrase)
"This is the right thing to do, the important thing now is that his
replacement finds all those nasty people and makes sure they are all
locked up". Cameron should have his nappies put back on and be tucked
up in bed. He is not yet ready for the world. The shuffle is a
waste of valuable time and experience and the last thing that is needed
at this precise moment.
Those who know what Clarke was really up
against must be in a state of exasperation. However, we get what the
public and the media who pull its strings, and respond to it noisiest
idiots, demand. As usual, the British public
ensure that perception becomes reality, prophecies self-fulfill, and
when these are negative they think they have solved a problem by facing
the appalling facts. In reality they are avoiding yet again taking
responsibility for messes they have actively prevented anyone
from tackling for a very long time.
Unbelievably, media interviewers are still asking why, if Charles
Clarke was the man to sort out the mess, he has been removed from
the job now. The PM has removed him because for any Home Secretary to
get on with the job he has to be free from half-arsed people asking him
stupid questions about matters they don't, and probably never will,
understand. Since any crime committed by anyone released from prison
during Clarke's tenure at the Home Office is now likely to cause more
bleating from the mathematically, legally and politically challenged,
the only way to allow anyone to get on with their job is to change the
minister.
Please understand, I am not defending the way this country is
'governed'. It is just that none of the critics we hear from would have
a hope in hell of improving the processes without being able to recruit
huge numbers of informed, educated and capable people into key
positions to completely revise the ethos and capability of some of our
key institutions at the 'coal face' where they interface with 'the real
world'. This pool of potential recruits does not exist. They have other
personal plans, and I don't blame them.
The public must be protected, we hear thec cry! From whom? Why from
itself of course!
If any government tried seriously to protect the public from its
appalling self it would be instantly destroyed by liberals,
conservatives, socialists, nationalists, internationalists and all the
other devotees of -isms who believe they have a moat-free view of
existence and an understanding of life, the universe and everything.