The lunatics really are running the asylum

[Suff]

A year or so ago I, semi sarcastically, suggested that if we were going to be totally "diverse" in our legal/policing system; that we should include the criminals. As they are totally underrepresented and, for the sake of "diversity" we should be including them.

So, when I read the article claiming that People with criminal records urged to become magistrates, I did not, quite, put my head in my hands and groan.

I don't care if the conviction is "Old" or that it is "minor". The moment you start down that path the absolute nature of NO convictions becomes the subjective nature of "not bad enough to bar". After all, at what time does a spent conviction for murder become "spent" enough to allow the murderer to become a magistrate??

To hear this from within the profession itself just shows how totally barking mad they have all become.

Forget the sensible common man. let's all be insane then we won't notice....

[AliasAggers]

To hear this from within the profession itself just shows how totally barking mad they have all become.

I quite agree, but I am not surprised. I think there are so many people who have recently gone "totally barking mad".
There have been many examples of stupidity in high places in recent years, such as Gay Marriages, changing sex, etc.
My answer to all these things is "Don't be so bloody daft".

Can anyone suggest why so many people who aught to know better are making such stupid statements?

[cromwell]

The world has gone mad.
"Diversity" is the be all and end all. In what way is diversity automatically better than uniformity?
In this country today very few people would even dare ask the question because it would bring forth an explosion of rage.
Probably incoherent rage too, as many people would struggle to answer the question.

[TheOstrich]

Completely agree - barking.

And the horrifying thing is, it appears to be contagious.

I do sometimes wonder if there wasn't more to that CJD / Mad Cow scare backalong than we realised. I cannot find any other rational explanation why a whole society has lost all sense of proportion and reason …...

[cruiser2]

In today's paper there is an article about a posh school where a transgender boy is going to be allowed to use the girls toilets and changing rooms.
A lot of parents are objecting. No consultation. Seemingly one pupil's needs outway the rest of the pupils and staff.
It is "diversity".
Not needed when I was at school. Had mixed classes, but separate toilets and changing rooms. There was even an unmarked line in the school playground which we could not cross. It could be seen from the male teacher's common room.

[Workingman]

Is all this "new" or is it just restating the guidance extant for many years?

There was a whole new raft of crime and justice related Acts back in 2009 or thereabouts. When I thought to apply some years ago I remember the guidance was that those guilty of a serious crime or numerous minor offences, including driving bans, as well as undischarged bankrupts, would not be considered.

Maybe the lunatics have been in charge for longer than we knew, or perhaps they were being pragmatic.

[Suff]

Maybe the lunatics have been in charge for longer than we knew, or perhaps they were being pragmatic.

Not sure but the statement was that people shouldn't be barred if they had a conviction and we could start at "old minor".

It doesn't sound like they were allowed, but, then again, the law may have allowed for it. I would not put anything past the Blair/Brown government.