After Woolwich, what next?

In a typically self-righteous English way, I have always tended to look askance at the American attachment to the death penalty. I remember the  revulsion when Carroll Chessman was executed in around 1960 after being in the slammer for about 20 years; there is something particularly repellent in putting a man to death after locking him up for longer than a life sentence here.

 

It seems unenviable to be right up there with Saudi Arabia and China in the Premier League.

 

And yet…………

 

In the wake of the Woolwich butchery, how the hell do we find a punishment that fits a crime that is unprecedented on the streets of London for its sheer barbarity?

 

Its perpetrators are savages, semi-detached members of the human race. What do we do with them?

 

My guess is that even in this limp-wristed age they will be banged-up for the rest of their lives. They will probably serve much of their time in solitary for their own safety; a visit to the showers might be brief and terminal. Never mind; they will have their mobile phones and TV to while-away the years

 

But it all seems very inadequate. Perhaps it would have been better if the Police had shot to kill, but cold logic says that they had to be preserved for intelligence reasons. There is no news as to whether the pair had a jihadist connection or whether they were merely privateers.

 

So what will happen now, apart from the usual breast-beating and pontificating by media and politicians?

 

Nothing. Zilch. Bugger-all.

 

If , after 20 years, we can’t boot out a suspected terrorist and hate-preacher who came here illegally on a forged passport we are quite powerless to tackle the enemy within.

 

The Lib-Dems are lukewarm about security. Baroness Warsi consorts with an organisation that hosts hate-preachers. The Civil Service is supine. Mrs May is helpless before the ECHR.

 

Of course, the UK could follow the example of the French and Italians who simply ignore the ECHR.

 

It’s not going to happen!