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?

BBC Interview with Stuart Syvret

Courtesy of the BBC I have an mp3 and permission to post so the usual week limit on iplayer can be overcome. This interview with Simon Jupp was given 29th June following the series of articles in the Guardian newspaper, particularly this secrecy culture

If the player does not show, try this link: Stuart Syvret BBC interview