Once again, life writes stranger stories than any fiction would invent: Maurice went to pick up some of his files that he had taken to France for safety.

But: his house was squatted, the squatters had used his antique furniture as firewood and his attempt to complain to the ‘gendarmerie’ resulted in him being arrested – with the intention to lock him up in a mental hospital.

First he made this call, then his account appeared on his website, witnessed by a friend…

Having observed maybe some 100 case of white collar crimes by now, my conclusion is:

1. ‘the system’ of official institutions is ALWAYS by far worse than whatever any individual may have done wrongly
2. the individual experiences an accumulation of ‘shock treatments’, while ‘the system’ includes oodles of people from many organisations and departments who don’t accept any responsibility for their irresponsible behaviour
3. organisations always outlive individuals who die away, proud to have fought, but without any justice or compensation.

Furthermore,

• the system always covers up instead of admitting to any mistake
• the system never says “I’m sorry”
• the system always errs on the punitive side.

I just wonder how much worse things have to get! At the hearing of Norman Scarth – in his absence – the issue is the necessity to Abolish the Ban on Recording Court Proceedings. Reading the comments by signers of the petition, is like reading Maurice’s experiences, too…

I would have thought that

• officials must realise that they can’t hide behind the veil of secrecy forever
• the appearance of ‘prim and proper’ is out of the window, ever since Hillsborough, Savile and paedophilia became topical
• the pretence of ‘fair and just’ is a complete farce, given our experiences.

The only way out seems to be an amnesty / jubilee, with the Government as Compensator of Last Resort.

For the only ‘justice’ is the conscience of the perpetrators who also will have to relive what they did when they die… There is a great account of a near death experience by Anita Moorjani who wrote the book Dying to be Me as a result.