Justice in England; Delayed, and Demeaning

It has been a while since I picked on The Brits (those stalwart defenders of the Bastions of Anti-Gun Laws).   I must be getting soft.

There's so much to abhor in The Late Great British Empire, it's sometimes hard to choose.  Fortunately, my attention was drawn today to an article I wrote in May, 2005 titled "Yob Meat".  About halfway through it, I presented a 'sidebar' instance of one Linda Walker from Manchester.  Her home and family were being harrassed by a gang of YOBs ("BOY", spelled backwards; we call them Hooligans or Juvenile Delinquents a half-century ago) and finally attempted to drive them away during a front-stoop confrontation by firing a pellet-gun at the sidewalk.

Nobody was injured, but as a consequence the teacher Walker was fired from her job and imprisoned!

(Go read the original article for the details;  the "SCOTSMAN" link is still active, although the current date is cited rather than the original date of publication).

While I reread my own article, I wondered .. just what happened to Linda Walker?

According to a 2008 BBC article, they released her from prison:

At a General Teaching Council hearing she was given a reprimand which she must disclose to any employer inquiring about her registration status.
The reprimand will last for two years.
'Learnt her lesson'
Speaking after the hearing, Mrs Walker said: "I am thrilled to bits."
She added that she now wanted to teach adults and hoped to put the incident behind her.
Nadine Bristow, chairwoman of the General Teaching Council committee, said: "The reprimand is appropriate because Mrs Walker has shown insight and remorse into her behaviour - she has said she is ashamed of her conduct."
She said Mrs Walker "appeared to have learnt her lesson".
Mrs Walker taught children with behavioural problems at New Park High School in Eccles, Salford, when the gun incident happened.
She was jailed for six months for possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, and affray.
The appeal court later quashed her jail sentence, replacing it with a 12-month conditional discharge. 

DELAYED:
The woman was trying to defend hearth and home and family .. with a pellet gun against a gang  ... and it took four years for England to 'rehabilitate' her back to active status at her chosen occupation (teaching).

DEMEANING:
The council hearing was not convened until  it was 'appropriate':

Nadine Bristow, chairwoman of the General Teaching Council committee, said: "The reprimand is appropriate because Mrs Walker has shown insight and remorse into her behaviour - she has said she is ashamed of her conduct."
She said Mrs Walker "appeared to have learnt her lesson".


Yes, Mrs Walker has learnt her lesson.  She now knows that the only way she can earn a living in her native country is to kowtow to absurd judicial mandate.  She must hang her head, allow her government to shame her publicly for years until she is completely broken.

I'm reminded of Les Miserables and the plight of Jean Valjean, who stole a loaf of bread to feed his family and was sentence to years as a galley slave, rowing ships back and forth while being whipped by overseers.

Okay, that was a little melodramatic.  Not, perhaps, an entirely inappropriate comparison, but over the top anyway.

LESSON LEARNED?:

If anything, I'm personally grateful to George Washington, Nathan Hale, et al, who broke the chains of British rule a couple hundred years ago.  I'm sure that "Oh, to be in England in the Spring" was an appropriate sentiment for British Soldiers in India during "The Raj", but it would break the heart of any 19th Century Tommy who looked at England today.

I've often commented on the British tendency to turn Citizens into Subjects; but in retrospect this looks far to much like being broken by the whip.

Oh .. "1984", that classic novel by George Orwell ..  wasn't Orwell British?  Didn't that have something to do with complete subjugation of the populace by a dictatorial government?  Apparently, Orwell wasn't all that far wrong.  He was only 20 years early in his timeline.  Well, The Brits have always been "conservative" on social issues, haven't they?



There is a lesson here, for America.