Getting Away with It: What Has Happened to Rule of Law?

by Douglas Murray • May 19, 2015 at 5:00 am

But the question that hangs over Rotherham -- and which even the latest independent review could not answer -- is why so many people got away with these crimes for so long. It was left to a few intrepid journalists and four private citizens to uphold the law.
"It appears inevitable that Mr. Rahman will denounce this judgement as yet another instance of the racism and Islamophobia that have hounded him. ... It is nothing of the sort. The law must apply fairly and equally to everyone. Otherwise we are lost." — Judge Richard Mawrey QC.
Bad people do bad things, but when all the institutions of state fail to stop them, that is a problem for us all.

Lutfur Rahman was last month removed by a court from his position as Mayor of Tower Hamlets, after being found guilty of electoral fraud and other illegal practices. (Image source: ITV News video screenshot)

A veteran of the 1968 protest movements of 1968 once confided what, looking back, troubled him about his generation's rebellion. "All young people rebel." he said. "What is strange is that our parents' generation gave in." It is a sentiment that could just as easily be applied to modern Britain, if not the West. It is not surprising that people do bad things. What is surprising is that so many institutions and authorities allow them to get away with it.