Douglas Carswell's Blog

The state is dysfunctional, Ma'am

The Queen, we are told, personally raised the issue of Abu Hamza's extradition with the Home Secretary. Apparently she asked why somebody inciting violence had not been arrested.

What I find so shocking about this is not that Her Majesty raised the issue. But that our head of state, who has for years steered clear of politics, should feel the need to do so.

What does this say about the state of the country?  What does it say about the way we are governed that it should take a hereditary monarch to prod ministers to find out why the state does not seem capable of fulfilling its elementary functions?

So beholden to human rights law and human rights lawyers have we become, ministers tie themselves in knots dealing with a single individual intent on stirring up trouble. And despite all the pre-election promises, nothing has been done to sort the human rights mess out.

A few years ago, as the credit bubble went pop, the Queen famously asked why no one saw it coming.

Putting power in the hands of experts and unaccountable rule makers does not mean we are ruled wisely.  It makes the state dysfunctional.

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