The world turned upside down

On its way to the USA

[Reprinted from Issues & Views October 22, 2001]

To anyone who pays attention to the cultural decline now underway in England, the publication of this new book is meaningful. The book, by libertarian Sean Gabb, is entitled, Dispatches From a Dying Country: Reflections on Modern England (Hampden Press). In it, Gabb documents the gradual deterioration of liberal traditions in the land where so many civil liberties were conceived.

The theme of Gabb's book and the facts of daily life as reported in England's newspapers complement each other. Consider, for example, the case of Ruby Barber, a 93-year-old woman, who lives in Northampton, whose home, over the years, has been broken into and burglarized several times. She and her son thought it wise to install barbed wire around vulnerable sections of the property to ward off future break-ins. Since the wire was installed two years ago, there have been no further burglaries of her home. One would consider this a problem solved, wouldn't one? Not so, says the local council, which has ordered Barber's son to remove the wire, "because it could injure someone who foolishly tries to climb it."

Now consider the case of a Norfolk farmer, Tony Martin, who is currently serving life in prison for shooting two thugs who invaded his home in 1999. One of the would-be robbers was killed and the other wounded in a leg. Before his trial, while out on bail, Martin could not return to his farm and was forced to live, instead, in "safe" houses. This was necessary, claims London's Telegraph, because it was well known that criminals had taken out a contract on his life as vengeance for his killing one of their own. Martin's 350-acre farm was protected and cared for by villagers who formed an advocacy group to support him through his tribulations. Several farmers, some traveling from long distances to the Martin farm, cooperated and gathered in the wheat harvest, which would have been ruined without their concern.

During Martin's trial, before the final verdict was known, the burglar who was wounded, Brendan Fearon, was officially consulted by the authorities as to how much parole time he, the burglar, thought that Martin deserved, if Martin were convicted. It seems that England's Home Office was following a law that a "victim," in this case the injured Fearon, has the right to have a say in the conditions of his offender's release, the "offender" being Martin. (Fearon, by the way had 34 previous convictions for burglary.)

Well, this was too much even for the balmy British, and a Member of Parliament called the ruling to consult Fearon "madness," exclaiming, "Whatever the rights and wrongs about the degree of force Tony Martin used, it's turning common sense upside down to consult a burglar about the liberty of his victim." By the way, after being encouraged to write a long dissertation chastising Martin for having killed his 16-year-old partner, whom he referred to as "a little boy," Fearon then complained that he had suffered "post-traumatic stress" as a result of the shooting.

Perhaps, along with the farmers who stood by Martin, one of the few sane people left in England is Joseph Fearon, the father of the wounded burglar. Mr. Fearon is quoted in the Telegraph saying that his son deserves to be in prison. Fearon's son is currently serving three years for the Martin burglary and has applied for early release. Upon learning this, the elder Fearon called on his son to give up his attempt at parole, stating, "Mr. Martin should not be in prison but you should. Shut your mouth and finish your time."

This case, coupled with dozens of similar ones, where common sense and normal decency are buried beneath mountains of multicultural psychobabble, offers further evidence of the social and moral decay of what was once the nation admired for its unique legal system. In fact, England's current state brings to mind a couple of dictionary definitions of the word "degenerate": to decline in physical, mental, or moral qualities; to deteriorate; one who has declined, as in morals or character, from a type or standard considered normal.

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