At last, the British government has shown some compassion and released the dying former train robber Ronnie Biggs.
But some people aren't happy.
I remember watching Question Time a few weeks back and seeing the politician Iain Duncan-Smith oppose the release of Biggs. Biggs was a serious criminal, the law should be obeyed, people should always serve their sentence etc, etc, he went on. I wonder if this was the same 'IDS' who was an enthusiastic supporter of the illegal Iraq war- which has been responsible for the deaths of up to 1m people? The Nuremburg judgement held that "to initiate a war of aggression...is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime" - but it was a crime that IDS supported.
So too Simon Heffer.
In today’s DT Heffer expresses indignation that Biggs has been released.
His release ‘exemplifies the moral destitution of our society’
The best comments under his obnoxious piece come from
'Christine M'
I think its heartless to complain about a dying man being given freedom. The right thing has happened. What does it show about our country if we cannot show compassion? we should be proud of the fact.
And 'Noodles':
How sad and twisted Simon Heffer is. For years he has bleated on from an elevated, privileged position and always with an indignant, self righteous tone
Heffer …continues to be a part of the establishment whose arrogance knows no bounds and has little or no time for compassion,instead preferring to take these so called ' higher moral ground ' and completely missing the humanitarian aspects of the case.
The morality of 'IDS' and Heffer is simple. A man who takes part in a robbery is more of a criminal than someone who launches an illegal war against a sovereign state which causes enormous loss of life.
The fact that people who hold such views are still prominent in our public life ‘exemplifies the moral destitution of our society’, far more than the release of an 80-year old man dying from pneumonia.
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