Daily Express Wednesday, August 7, 2019 13

DX1ST

Ann

Widdecombe

Incivility

reigns, or

so it seems

APRIL FOOL’S DAY has
come early. Portraits of
the Queen have been
removed from
government offices in
Belfast because a civil
servant was awarded
£10,000 for breach of his
human rights by having to
walk past them.
The Queen reigns over
all the UK and that
includes Northern Ireland.
The republic is on the
other side of the border

so maybe he should go
and live there.
Anyway, the duty of a
civil servant is to serve
the crown so he must be
in the wrong job. The
most worrying aspect of
all is that an official body
could award him ten
pence let alone ten
thousand pounds.
Meanwhile, students
demand the removal of
statues of major college
benefactors because it
upsets them to see
images of slave traders or
imperialists.
It is fortunate for them
that previous generations
were tougher or the
statues might be those of
Hitler and Goebbels.

Still so many

Brexit riddles

BEWARE Halloween! On
October 31, we are
supposed to leave the EU.
I’ll believe it when
I see it but meanwhile
we should not be
bewitched by the
backstop to the
point of thinking
that all else is
well with the
May surrender
deal and that if
we can get
concessions on
that, the rest is
okay. It isn’t.
Will it be trick or
treaty? As Nigel Farage
is fond of asking. Will it
be treaty or surrender?
Union Jack or white flag?
Independence or still
ruled by EU law?
A real Brexit or Brexit
in name only?
That is why we still
need the Brexit Party and
why we will go on
needing it until Britain is
genuinely free.

THE

UK’s oldest

man, Alf Smith, has

died at 111. Apparently

when he was 100, he bought

a new washing machine and

took out a 10-year extended

warranty. That is the very

definition of optimism and

a positive outlook.

He put his long life down to

porridge. It’s time to buy

another packet of

Flahavan’s!

■

HARRY and

Meghan believe

that limiting the

numbers of children

will save the planet.

Really? Who is

going to keep the

country going when

there are 500,

centenarians?

Yes, that really is

the statisticians’

projection for 2075.

Who will be

working to pay for

care or providing the

care directly? How

many NHS workers

will we have? The

problem is not the

birth rate, but

longevity.

This royal pair

may be woke but

they are not awake.

FOYLE’S War, with

Michael Kitchen and

Honeysuckle Weeks, left,

is the programme most

people would like to see

brought back, according

to a recent poll.

What are TV bosses

waiting for? They are

probably reeling in shock

that viewers might want

to see shows without

swearing, sex, shouting

and graphic violence.

A Foyle to usual

kitchen-sinkers

P

RITI Patel says criminals should feel terror

at the thought of breaking the law and fear

the police. She is quite right and the

announcement of another 20,000 police is

welcome but if she wants to deliver real

change it will mean extra resources

throughout the entire justice system.

Someone who puts a knife in a pocket or handbag

does so because there are no consequences to

fear. The first step therefore is that such people

must fear stop and search and that is where the

extra police will be useful, but there must also be a

concentrated effort to increase stop and search to

the point where the knife-carrier thinks it more

likely to happen than not. That means deploying

officers in droves.

The next step is that there must be a consequence

to having a knife, beyond mere confiscation. Carriers

must be arrested on the spot which means having

sufficient cells and processing facilities.

Then the penalties need to be rigorously enforced

which means more court time available and more

prison places.

And that is only knife crime. For too long now

the police have been inactive over burglary, which

citizens are supposed to take in their stride as an

occupational hazard of living in this country.

T

HE boys in blue will come if you are a

woman alone in a house with an intruder

on the premises but otherwise they con-

sider their duty done by issuing a crime number.

Whatever sort of deterrent is that?

When, some years ago, my shed was burgled and

electrical garden equipment stolen, the police said

that several outbuildings on the far

edges of the hamlet had been tar-

geted that night, yet there was

no dusting for fingerprints.

Instead I was offered coun-

selling. For the loss of a

strimmer!

Knife crime. Burglary. As

for shoplifting, it is now

thought of as merely a

nuisance. Wolf whistling

however is deemed serious.

So the direction of travel

indicated by the new Home

Secretary is welcome but it

will take a lot more than rhetoric

to deliver it.

Time to throw the

book at criminals

MONEY-MAKING SPEED CAMERAS LACK THE HUMAN TOUCH

SPEED cameras have become as

much about money as they are

about safety. The revelation that

motorists are now being fined at the

rate of £200k per hour says it all.

When it was down to the police

themselves there was sense and

discretion. A limit which made

perfect sense during the working

week might be pointless on a

quiet Sunday afternoon.

A small excess might matter

hugely outside a school but be

insignificant on an empty dual

carriageway.

Now, impersonal cameras do the

job so there is no proportionality.

Ceasing to use the hapless motorist

as a cash cow would mean a big

drop in income for police, local

councils and parking enforcement

companies among others.

That is what cameras are really

about.

Pictures: GETTY; ITV

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