As the wonderful celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee draw to a resoundingly successful finale, a moment to ponder the ramifications and thoughts for the future.

The Queen came to the throne when I was 4 years old and I knew little about it at the time. I have now lived and served her in public service in the Army and Police Service for 35 years and feel as loyal and honoured to have done so since I first took the oath of allegiance. At no point did I ever feel that she had let me or the country down in any way. She fully deserves our acknowledgement and appreciation for a life of selfless service and duty that she has given throughout her life to us and the nation.

As a product of Empire, created by Empire for the continuance of Empire all people in the now Commonwealth consistently have demonstrated their loyalty and allegiance to her.It has been a very personal relationship. However loyalty is not blinded by deference and times change. Was it right for Gary Barlow a kid from a humble background in Manchester to place his hand on the Queen’s arm to steady her as she crossed the stage at the concert? Yes of course it was.What polite young man would not assist an elderley lady across the road if he saw her struggling?

The Queen has adapted and her position over the years is still ostensibly a benign one,at the whim of politicians who elected by us, ask her to sit down to lunch or invite into her home the most odious characters from around the world in the interests of our country. Uncomplainingly she does it. 

She of course recognises this and knowing that her forefather Charles was beheaded, understands her position can be precarious at times, but she remains the rudder that steadies us in rough seas and the jib that catches the following wind and keeps us all on the track to the future. She is a consummate politician and since a young woman in awe of Winston Churchill when new to the job, she now steers the crop of bright young things in the House of Commons with adeptness. She intuitively adapts to the wishes of her people, albeit with reluctance at times as she demonstrated when being behind the curve over the death of the Princess of Wales. However she always learns from the experience which is the mark of a person who is a great leader.

What of the future? do we really need a “firm” as extensive as it currently is and all the Lords a leaping and Princesses by the bucketful? I don’t think we do. A slimmed down Family is inevitable. We have three generations in place of succession and I am sure that the newly marrieds will soon produce an heir to the throne. It is no longer necessary for the public purse to support those with little chance of succession and perhaps they could best serve us in another way either in business or public service. Deference is dead.

One thing which now troubles me is the lack of diverse people surrounding her. All the froth and bubbles of many diverse people in her sphere of influence are all on the periphery,her close advisers and people close to the family are all people from the establishment,who were formed by the establishment and perhaps give the same advice that she wants to or they think she wants to hear.All the Queens horses and all the Queen’s men are of one ilk. She along with the rest of the family tend to dip in and out of the communities they serve. Lots and lots of excellent charity work is done I know, however look at the honours system. I really don’t see the need to honour a person for being the Queen’s bedchamber person when many people who have fostered literally hundreds of children and saved them by their intervention from a wasted life of sloth are not honoured for instance. I would certainly nominate the couple on the recent 56 UP programme who have done exactly that.

Her Bodyguard, The Household Division and Senior people in the Civil Service, Foreign Office and all the other establishments of government are overwhelmingly mainstream whether they are female or male and certain groups of society tend to dominate.

I urge the Queen to now, in the evening of her reign, to once again adapt the monarchy and recognise that disadvantaged kids and people  all need to see in a proportionate way people like themselves in her service and that there is a chance for them in the new civitas to be given the same opportunities as all other people in her dominion.

Congratulations Your Majesty on your “Diamond Jubilee” and long may you serve us all.

So after 18 years two people have been brought to book for this heinous crime and all because of the overturning of the “double jeopardy” rule.

Initially I was against the rewriting of this cornerstone of British justice as I thought it may lead to trial by the media and public opinion, but times and technology change and in order to keep pace with this, surely it is right, that given strict safeguards, if it means more people being brought to justice for their crimes, then it is generally a good thing.The fact that it is based on new evidence leads me to believe that the sureness of a safe trial is of paramount importance. Did the defendants receive a fair trial? on balance I believe they did.

In any crime there are only 3 types of evidence:-

Forensic, Witness and Admissions and all evidence which is gathered will always fall into one of these categories. There may tend to be an overreliance on Forensic nowadays and we should always remember that this evidence only places the person at the scene, it does not allow us to know what they did whilst there. Hence the “contamination defence” in this trial as the defendants never explained the forensic link to the scene, pursuing instead a now proven lie supported by others that “they were not there”

We have now been fortunate as a society with this trial to have shone a chink of light through an open door into the dark and murky world of racist thuggery, which still exists in our society and is demonstrated by many contingent instances. As recently as this festive season and in the form of the murder of an Indian student in Salford for no apparent reason other than he came from a different cultural background. Let us continue to force the door open to expose this awful crime to the world and demonstrate how we as a nation deal with those who peddle this hate filled animosity to others of a different background.

As the good people of this country demonstrated after the riots, by clearing the detritus of riot from our streets, let’s do the same for racist thuggery. There may not be any forensic evidence now to link others to  this crime due to the time delay or lack of forensic ability, but it is inconceivable that arrogant and ignorant young men such as the other people who participated in this vile act have not boasted to others of their deed and now is the time for the police to use all means at their disposal to help overcome the fear or misguided loyalties of people who know what happened and help them to come forward as witnesses and say so in open court and convict the others involved and shine the light fully so that justice is seen to be done and the Lawrences’ as a family can grieve at last for their son.

Times have changed and these racist and xenophobic views are diminishing day by day but we must never be complacent because like any pandemic they can metamorphasise, gain credence and momentum and return at any time.

Winston Churchill was a visionary of his time who saw that the future of Europe lay in a united Europe free from any more wars. The original reason may have receded in the youth of today, particularly those politicians and movers and shakers who have no memory of great war, but dutifully apply their poppies once a year to remember.

We now find ourselves in the position where our Prime Minister is appearing in Europe to lecture and harangue the leading players of the continent in how to run the Eurozone.Quite rightly he has been told to “butt out”. He is only doing this as a response to the fact that the eurozone scoops up 40% of our exports and any tragedy to this currency will be a disaster for us and throw all this governments policies to overcome the debt crisis into disarray. None of this is lost on our european partners.

Lets look at the long term greater reasons for a successful euro and our place in it.

You cannot buck the market and increasingly it is playing a bigger and bigger part in global politics,hence the cosying up by the west previously to such nauseous people like Saddam Hussein, Gaddaffi and others.If money is the root of all evil then it can also be a force for good. Britain is no longer a world power and we are belatedly beginning to recognise it . So how can we exercise influence and power in the modern world and I believe it is as part of a strong Europe in a single currency. How often can USA, China and an emerging India ignore a trading bloc which will also have the ability through it’s trading power to influence world policy.

No longer will those other major powers be able to ignore Britain’s wishes if we place them at the heart of a united Europe. The only thing keeping us out is our deep xenophobia and fear of foreigners which manifests itself regularly in our press, sport,  politics other areas of national life.

Now is not the time to draw away but to draw closer and demonstrate our committment by not standing on the sidelines and telling them what we want but becoming part of a pan-european currency which allows us to have a place in the world in waiting. Failure to do so will mean we will gradually become less and less relevant and go back to The Sick Man of Europe and eventual inconsequence. It is no coincidence that Germany is now the strongest of european nations. Think long and hard as to why.

I find the current situation very interesting,firstly from the point of view that not one politician seems to be dealing with it very well and also the huge difficulties that we as a nation and as a continent(Europe) are facing seems to be bringing us to quarrel and argue based on self interest without any consideration for the utilitarian perspective of the greater good.

Democracy is being virtually suspended in Europe(Italy and Greece now have an unelected CEO) and the criteria for leading well seems to be set in a very narrow sphere of experience, i.e. a financial background. We really are in big trouble on a global scale but it does not appear to be being dealt with on that basis. Also in my limited understanding, this all came about because the gambling bearpit of the sub prime was allowed to go on unhindered without  interference by those who govern, because it assured them of the next ticket into power. (A little tongue in cheek, I  grant you, but not much I suspect)

So it seems to me that the check and balance which was needed was the stabilising influence of public ownership.I am not suggesting a return to the bad old days of union interference in government policy or those who remember beer and sandwiches at Number 10, but I am suggesting that if all businesses had a less than 30% public ownership would that enable a hand on the tiller which still allowed entrepreneurial growth but  also prevented the excesses that we have seen over the last 10 years and which has almost brought us to our knees.

Perhaps in the same way that jury trials still maintain some semblance of ownership for the common man and woman in the street over the excesses of the judiciary perhaps a similar thing might have prevented the bright young things in the banking world bringing us to our knees with their unbridled enthusiasm for making money and bonuses,in that order.

It’s a thought not yet fully formed but one about which I would value your views.I know it is a little off the wall but hey! nobody else seems to be playing the long game, just let’s get through it all and then we can go back- To what? what will be normal in the future?