Posterity will judge us by how we treat the vulnerable
The sheer scale of what is being unfolded in the press about Jimmy Savile's alleged sexual abuse of vulnerable people is both shocking and depressing. It is scarcely possible to believe that those responsible at Broadmoor, Stoke Mandeville and the BBC were entirely unaware of what was happening.
What makes the whole saga doubly depressing, however, is that this comes after a sequence of events over the past few years that have damaged beyond repair our trust in the pillars of society. Arguably it all started with the disclosures about paedophilia - first in the Catholic church and then in children's homes. The most depressing aspect of this, for cradle Catholics such as myself, was the way in which the Catholic hierarchy had covered up what they knew. It destroyed my confidence in the socalled princes of the church.
Then there was the phone-hacking scandal. We all knew that the tabloid press were devoid of morals, but the subsequent Leveson enquiry uncovered rather too cosy a relationship between the press, MPs and the police. Just as our confidence in the police was being eroded, the Hillsborough scandal broke, revealing the full extent of the police cover-up.
We live now in a largely post-Christian society. The Christian framework of values, which has been the backbone of our society for centuries, has been swept away. However, without a backbone the body collapses. Tinkering with well-meaning reforms and human rights does not appear to be a solution. These are constraints externally imposed, rather than beliefs intimately held. In this changing scheme of things it is the vulnerable in our society - the poor, the old, the disabled - who are most at risk. When their guardians - the clergy, the police and government - are shown to be lacking in the essential qualities they need, the future is bleak.
Antony Mair
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