Rules is Rules

"Rules are made to be broken", they say. Do they indeed?

On the way home this evening, a moron undertook a line of speed-limit-obeying traffic at a junction in a residential area. Then, with no indication whatsoever of his cretinous intent, he turned right, directly across my path, clearing my bonnet by just a few feet. I can't even begin to think how many traffic rules he must have broken, all of which individually had the potential to create a fatal situation. Very few people witnessing this utter disregard for the safety of others would have had much objection to a public flogging sentence; at the very least a lengthy driving ban. But he got away with it because nobody died and there was nobody in a position to stop him.

Members of Parliament also break rules. Often they have recently made the very same rules they break with impunity; maybe they think this is in the job description. It certainly seems that way to the electorate. Their broken rules cost the tax-payers millions, if not billions of pounds and yet they appear to get away with it all in broad daylight. And sometimes politicians broken rules can result in lives being lost, but still they get away with it because there is nobody there to stop them.

As with rules, so with promises. In fact, with politicians the phrase "promises are made to be broken" would appear to be a mantra beloved by many of both houses. Tonight's utterly despicable, outright betrayal of the numerous pledges to go to the people over the discredited European Experiment is seen by many as little short of treason. Before 1998 the act of treason was punishable by death, but that was changed, promising only a maximum term of life imprisonment.

If ever there was a promise made to be broken, that's the fella, right there.