cutting justice

In the government's long feared and much leaked spending review, the powers that be have cut the Ministry of Justice £9.5bn budget by 23%. Only £1bn of that is spent on courts, which actually have a purpose in dealing with perpetrators of crime and identifying those who have been wrongly arrested and charged. But the powers think £1bn is too much. And they are worried that courts may spend their money in sending serious criminals to prisons which are getting rather full (although short prison sentences are decreasing) and nobody will build more.

Compare that £1bn to the £40bn that was spent on bailing out Lloyds Bank & RBS, who have survived (bless them) so they could pay out more obscene bonuses to the incompetent, greedy, odious bankers who brought about the economic mess we are now wading through.

Have a glance too at the £7bn which will continue to be spent on international aid, to countries some of which can afford nuclear weapons and massive purchases of arms and fighter aircraft (eg MIGs from Russia) whilst letting their own people die from starvation, easily controllable disease or flooding; countries that can afford to stage major international sporting events and even engage in a space programme.