Thursday, 4 October 2012

The crumbling facade of trusted institutions


The last day or two have seen something like a tsunami beginning to build. The previously formidable apparently untouchable great institutions of the land are showing their dilapidated moral fibre under the crumbling trustable facade that has been presented to the public for so long.

Here is just a brief list:

The UK civil service bungling £40 million of a railway contract, that  now has to be revisited.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/city-news/west-coast-main-line-governments-1358596

The BBC who covered up what they knew of the unacceptable and illegal behaviour of a star performer.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-bbcs-lack-of-action-over-jimmy-savile-abuse-accusations-amounts-to-a-coverup-8196247.html

The Attorney General in the Isle of Man facing charges of acting against public justice!!
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-19812316


A magistrate in Jersey in court today for sentencing for fraud.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-jersey-19826792

A chief inspector in Jersey  suspended today.
http://www.channelonline.tv/channelonline_jerseynews/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=501712


If you want to know why the public have lost faith, why turnouts decline election by election, why trust has evaporated, read the list and weep. Just imagine if the AG here were acting against the public interest he would have to determine whether to prosecute himself, or perhaps decide it really wasn't in the public interest to do so. And that decision not challengeable!


It may be simply coincidence of course.  Perhaps though it is symptomatic of an altogether seismic change.  No longer does a coterie of  well connected key people at the top of a handful of  central organisations have total command of the situation. No longer can that clique rely on the others in their circle to think and behave as the club would expect.  We have enquiring minds in the public with skills to test the consistency and coherency of the evidence and action, coupled with the means to rapidly communicate that to a wide public.  That fact must be dawning on the minds of those who inhabit the rarefied heights of those institutions, surely?


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7 comments:

  1. Anonymous4 October 2012 at 20:28

    Hillsborough, although not current, is worth remembering in this context. I suggest blogging has a key role in this tsunami. No wonder the Jersey goverment and their mouthpiece BBC Jersey, have until very recently, been utterly scathing about bloggers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mark Forskitt4 October 2012 at 20:42

    Yes I am certain blogging has a key role too.

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  3. Anonymous5 October 2012 at 10:10

    With the wide media interest in the JS allegations, surely Jersey must have the most comprehensive COI and anyone voting against it may well be viewed as part of a cover up and then if more evidence popped up, they would surely have to resign!!

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  4. Anonymous5 October 2012 at 12:15

    Another great analysis and write up Mark, weaving the threads together.

    I think you should also have brought in the thread [rope] of global banking fraud/collapse.
    The banks also illustrate the ability of institutions to use their power to recover and rebuild themselves while the powerless public watch in disbelief and foot the bill.

    My favourite bit of your post was "Just imagine if the AG here were acting against the public interest he would have to determine whether to prosecute himself, or perhaps decide it really wasn't in the public interest to do so. And that decision not challengeable!"

    Regret that constant vigilance is required - if you want a garden you cannot let the weeds get out of hand.........

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  5. Anonymous5 October 2012 at 12:55

    "if the AG here were acting against the public interest he would have to determine whether to prosecute himself"

    What a scandalous and disrespectful thing to say. Don't you realise that these people have taken a solemn oath in front of God?

    Just like Jurat Le Breton ................

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    Replies
    1. Mark Forskitt5 October 2012 at 14:15

      Like Jurat Le Breton I was at Victoria College, though only as a pupil. Does that not give me immunity to scandalise with impunity?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5 October 2012 at 15:50

      Victoria College, really, I did not know - but I think you will find the scandalous impunity is on the other side.

      The sharp report first appeared on the Syvret blog and is now available at :

      http://www.no2abuse.com/index.php/news/comments/the-sharp-report-jersey-abuse-download/

      Those naughty bloggers leaking confidential information.

      You would not catch the ministry of truth acting like that.

      Delete

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