One law for them??

The U.K. news during the past week has featured at least two major stories that seem to suggest that British law is a multi-faceted entity.

Much has been made of the sexual shenanigans of the (now former) captain of the English national footbal team. This gentleman, it has been alleged, has been in an encounter of the very close kind with the former girlfriend of one of his national team-mates. This, in my old-fashioned type of morality, is adultery, and I am not going to make any attempt to defend Mr Terry's activity. However, it is interesting to note that he has had the English team captaincy taken from him - a punishment, I imagine, that means a lot more to him than it would to me!

Now, let's take just one example from the world of the rest of the rich and famous. On Remembrance Day 2008, senior Labour Party politician Nigel Griffiths smuggled a woman - who was not his wife - into the House of Commons, and not only had a 'sexual romp' with her, but actually filmed the hour-long encounter. And what was the punishment that this (dis) honourable gentleman had to face? As far as I can make out, there was nothing (someone please correct me if I am wrong). It is true that he has intimated his intention to stand down from his Edinburgh Parliamentary seat at the forthcoming General Election but, even then, he will do so with a handsome financial severance package, and a pension that will make mine look like pocket-money!

The other issue to hit the headlines was the ongoing saga of members', and Lords', expenses. Only three members of the House of Commons, and one from the House of Lords, have been formally charged with fraudulent activity. However, I seem to recall that there were a lot more than 3+1 who were guilty of similar "creative accounting". I am no more of an apologist for Livingston MP Jim Devine - one of the three - than for John Terry, but his misdemeanour seems to fade into relative insignificance when compared to that of, for example, Barbara Follett, a former Labour government minister who is being told to repay more than £42,000 that was wrongly claimed for items such as security and insurance.

So what is wrong with British justice, and our fabled "sense of fair play"? I am reminded of the wise saying in the Old Testament book of Proverbs: "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people." (14:34) It is to be hoped that, at the Election, with so many 'standing down' (rather than face the ignominy of losing their seats - with the resultant loss of that severance package!), that the corridors of power at Westminster will be filled with a new breed of politician - those who are men and women of faith and integrity, and who put the Lord at the centre of their lives. Perhaps, then, we might see this nation return to the paths of righteousness from which it has so long departed.