Part of the problem is that ordinary people were

MANY of the institutions that underpin our democracy are failing. But, much more worryingly, the checks and balances that are supposed to hold these institutions to account are failing.

The NHS is a patchwork quilt. Where it is good, it is very good but where it is bad it is awful. Yet the various agencies and management boards that are supposed to monitor the NHS and hold it to account are failing to do their job.

The same applies to the police force. Whether it be Hillsborough or the Stephen Lawrence murder, or many other such examples, bad practice has been rife in parts of the force. Yet much of this has not been picked up and/or overlooked.

I can remember being harrassed by the police in the 1980s for supporting such wild, fringe groups as the Anti-Apartheid movement. On the surface we were harassed and asked to move on whenever and wherever we were picketing or leafletting or whatever. The Thatcher Government of the time, the one who considered Mandela a terrorist and Pinochet a friend, brought in a new law to prevent more than ten people congregating in one place at one time, to hamper peaceful protest.

It was also relatively common for plain clothes police officers to infiltrate our meetings, no doubt to ascertain our intentions to overthrow the state.

It was considered par for the course, as the police had been politicised to be less the upholders of law and order but more the defenders of a slightly dodgy capitalist system. And it seems for some, the world has not moved on and Life on Mars is still the reality in some parts of the force. And there is no proper accountability.

It has been suggested that in future any covert action, of the kind apparently taken against the family of Stephen Lawrence, should first gain court approval.

That bastion of working people’s sense of justice will hardly ease our minds. In Parliament the expenses scandal is accepted, if at all, very grudgingly by most MPs. Still attempts are being made to circumvent the new rules, as though they hardly matter. And, of course, the press has not been immune. Parts of the press behaved very badly and broke standards, rules, and laws.

Yet the upholders and defenders of these standards and rules did little or nothing to prevent or expose these failings and crimes. So we have an inquiry, led by a judge, which, despite months of hearing, seems to be going nowhere. What is lacking in this society is the belief that when an organ of the state, or an institution there to uphold democracy, fails, redress can be sought by the countless watchdogs there to do just that.

Part of the problem is that ordinary people were, in the main, removed form any such watchdogs, boards, committees etc, to be replaced by professionals.

Professionals have a different view: they are paid and are part of the system, not outside it.

At a local level, people still come to us for help, and if we can we will support those treated badly and unjustly by the organs of the state. But that is not the whole solution, as people should expect, and receive, proper resolution to their complaints and should expect to be treated decently by those allegedly helping them.

The only alternatives become protesting on the street and whistleblowers. If we have to uphold our rights in this way, what’s the point of democracy?