Viewpoint: Manchester Concert Explosion.

My first thoughts in this situation, are the same this time as they always are, they are with the families and friends of the victims. There are no words right now, that will soothe their pain, or ease them through what will be one of the hardest, toughest times they will ever go through.

My second thought is the same one I have every time somebody uses one of the T words in this kind of situation.  The T words being terror, terrorist and terrorism.  Whether the crime fits the definition of terrorism or not, I will not used the T words to describe it.  This was a crime, an act of premeditated murder.  Even describing it that way is emotive enough.  The fact that the perpetrator committed suicide in the act, just means that it saves the expense of a trial and the ongoing cost of keeping him in prison.  Rather than face human justice, the perpetrator convicted himself in the highest court of all, and all he did in the process was to allow the gods and goddesses to send him into his eternal damnation much sooner than originally planned.

My last thought here is simply this.  Carry on as normal today.  Don't let this or any other criminal act of this magnitude change who you are or what you do.

Instant Karma

This story comes from Bogota, Columbia and is just more example of why crime doesn't pay.  Fortunately, the victim got her phone back.

The would-be robber, suffered minor injuries in his run in with the bus.  He's lucky he didn't suffer much worse injuries.  His victim even helped him out from under the bus.  He was detained by police.  Something tells me he won't be committing any more crimes every again, after that incident.

PCC Elections: Time to make voting mandatory.

In the aftermath of the Police and Crime Commissioner Elections, we're hearing people say that they weren't interested, didn't know who to vote for, etc.

The translation of all this is quite simple. 85% of the UK electorate didn't want to bother to work something out for themselves, but rely on someone or something else to tell them what to do.

It seems that many people have forgotten what citizenship really means. It means you have both rights and responsibilities. Apparently many people just want the rights, not the responsibilities.

Crime affects everyone. Shoplifting is not a victimless crime, as it raises prices for all of us. Any of us could be victims of crime at any time.

I think it's time to consider making voting mandatory, like they do in Australia.