Plans to go to Efford to visit Ma´s grave were shifted due to ropey health but I still went out to light a candle for her - at a church in Southampton where she and I once went. In my beliefs, her soul is free, so visiting a grave is just a courtesy. I can tune in to her anywhere. The car´s battery, however, did need a bit of run - hence Southampton.
Watching @BBCQT on iPlayer, a comment by Will Self caught my attention. That the public have no right to know anything about Jon Venables. He explained that being on licence meant he could be returned to prison at any time and for any minor infringement of the law. Having got the audience on his side by sneering at politicians and mostly the Conservatives, his comment carried a bit more weight.
But he is wrong.
If Venables had indeed only committed a minor infringement, then why not tell the public and let people feel at ease that a potentially vicious killer (in their minds) was not in their midst. If indeed he had been returned for something petty, it would also prove the law was sound. Justice was seen to be working. We do not need to know his name or location. Just the misdeed.
Thus if someone is released under licence and can be returned to prison for even a minor infringement, the original sentence and subsequent `freedom´ would be viewed favourably by the public.
The mob mind, quite naturally, might assume a child torturer/murderer may have done something similar.
If it is just a parking ticket, then Venables might actually get some sympathy, since that is something most of us have actually received. (To avoid one today, despite paying £7.30, I moved my car as there was no receipt, and will now have to wait for my credit card bill to come in to see if I was indeed charged! Chewed the ear off someone at Southampton City Council till he made me laugh.)
Like Self, Brian Masters also opted to stand up for Venables - and why not? Someone has to.
However, while Venables may no longer be the vicious little boy who tortured and butchered a toddler, Brian Masters is in danger of sanctifiying him in order to nullify the mob invective.
Masters was being disingenuous given the leaks coming out that Venables had, allegedly, been in several scrapes since gaining a new identity and freedom. He mentioned nothing at all about spending those years of expensive rehab and freedom making good any previous wrong.
Presumably his comment about "two frightened little boys" probably tweaked the uber-liberal conscience, and he emphasised that by insinuating that the more cynical of us (ie me) were focused on the child and not the man he is now -a different person altogether.
Wrong and wrong. In my case, at least.
It is the man I am focused on. A man who may or may not have got into several scrapes since that expensive rehab. And we may yet have to fork out again for someone who seems to be proving himself to be a rather unworthy specimen.
So it is less about Venables and more about how we punish social transgressions given the loosening moral authority previously enjoyed through our Judaeo-Christian heritage.
PS As tweeted, Brian Masters felt no sense of ‘unease’ with the boys but then he didn´t with mass murderer Dennis Nilsen. Somewhat flaky inner tuning fork, eh?
Euphrosene Labon Mind Body Spirit Artist Author Writer
Euphrosene´s Gallery of Contemporary Spiritual Art & Cartoons
The last two weeks of Ma´s life were a total roller coaster of emotions: being with her when she was taken into Worthing Hospital and really thinking she would pass on that night. Yet, a few hours later, she was beaming widely, kissing the hands of the nurses who looked after her.
There´s a view that technology responds in kind to its owners mental state. Last month, the battery in my car had to be replaced. Today, the car failed to start again.
90%
3%
1%
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