To quit or not to quit, that is the question

Peter Hitchens on the Andrew Marr show today [23rd Jan] made a passing remark about Andy Coulson where I think he said there was a growing tendency for top people to quit before they had been proved guilty of any wrongdoing. If I heard him correctly then how indeed things have changed. When I became an adult in the 1950's I feel sure I remember top people just accepting responsibility for what went on in the organisations for which they were responsible and just resigned as the right & proper thing to do. Nowadays, apparently, if you don't hang on & hope that you won't be forced out you are a silly billy. If Coulson didn't know what was going on he was incompetent. If he did know then he is guilty. Either way when he resigned from the News of the World he should have stayed away from media jobs. Ed Milliband said it calls into question Camerons judgment. Brilliantly original Ed. Did you come up with it all by yourself or did Alistair Campbell help you?

Safety engineering for banks

The Financial Times magazine on Saturday 15th January ran a fascinating feature discussing how the disciplines of safety engineering for nuclear power stations could and should be applied to the kind of financial engineering that provoked the financial meltdown. It was a persuasive thesis. But there is a a fundamental difference. If you are in charge of a nuclear reactor that goes haywire, then, guilty or not, you are likely to suffer serious personal consequences - even death. If you are in charge of a failed bank - even if you are guilty as hell, you will emerge richly rewarded.

Evenhandedness

Lifted from the 'Stop the War Coalition' supporters Email is "SATURDAY MARCH 12TH: CONFRONTING ANTI MUSLIM HATRED, A CONFERENCE WITH SPEAKERS FROM BRITAIN, EUROPE AND THE US. Speakers include Tariq Ramadam, Robert Lambert, Mehdi Hassan, Salma Yaqoob, Peter Oborne, Lindsey German and leading Muslim and anti racist activists from France, Germany, Scandinavia and the USA.10 –5pm March 12th, London Muslim Centre, 92 Whitechapel Road, E1 1JX. As a supporter of this organisation I'm all for this initiative but it MUST go hand in hand with an initiative - led by the vast majority of those in the UK Muslim community - which unequivocally also condemns the hatred of fanatical Muslims for Christians and anyone else with whom they disagree. If traditional British tolerance is to be sustained to the widest number of cultures and faiths it is not acceptable for 'leaders' to make excuses for transgressors of basic civilised behaviour on the basis of religion & culture. No exceptions.