Militarisation

Every time I read the government's policies I think: not only is that disgraceful, it just cannot work. And then I find that the policy will work because I have not been able to imagine that the Conservative government could move so far to the right. Take for example law and order.

The vicious cuts in public spending will inevitably lead to civil unrest. This is understandable because there will be some people losing their livelihood, others losing their homes and others who frankly cannot stand by when plainly unfair policies are being imposed on blameless people. The conventional thinking would be: cut everything except the police, we need the police to protect us while we are cutting. But this is not what Cameron is doing. Rather bizarrely he is cutting the police. For example, West Midlands Police intend to cut the number of officers by 12%. Wow. Doesn't this sound bonkers? When there are riots on the streets of Birmingham and Coventry how will the authorities maintain law an order? Clearly cutting the police is unworkable, right?

Wrong! Yes, Theresa May will cut the budget, but she will also redirect the remaining budget towards the shadowy private security firms. This is from the Observer referring to the NUS march:

As police face continued criticism for failing to control the march, the Observer has learned that defence firms are working closely with UK armed forces and contemplating a "militarisation" strategy to counter the threat of civil disorder. The trade group representing the military and security industry says firms are in negotiation with senior officers over possible orders for armoured vehicles, body scanners and better surveillance equipment.

This starts to get sinister. armoured vehicles on the streets of Britain? militarisation? It really looks like we are moving toward a right wing dictatorship.