Tuesday 16 August 2011

The Old Bill

Today, I read of the case of a Jamaican criminal whose sentence has been set at eleven months for one reason only; twelve months at Her Majesty's pleasure would trigger deportation proceedings. The predictable cries are to replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights. What possible good would that achieve?

A bill, an act, whatever you wish to call it, would simply replicate the whole misguided menu of entitlement. Why not instead - when I am King - replace the whole lot with a form of behavioral contract, something like this:

You agree to behave in a responsible manner, decently towards others and obey the laws of the realm. Easy enough, you must surely concur?

In return, the state agrees to leave you to it, not to intervene in your petty squabbles, to levy tax at a fair and transparent rate and not to spend the money thus collected in meaningless human-rights related claptrap.The state will protect you from invasion, maintain decent standards of hygiene, safety and amenity, fairly represent your views on the world stage and - so far as is reasonable - let you get on with your life.

Fall foul of the contract and you forfeit your basic rights pretty swiftly, including your right not to be summarily executed by a member of the state machinery going about his business. Any lawyer arguing about your criminality and punishment on the grounds of your 'rights' will be invited to share your sentence.

No need to thank me; I get to be King and that's thanks enough. :o)

No comments:

Post a Comment