Anarchy is no way to fight just causes

THERE can be a massive difference between a cause and a movement which supports it. I believe in much firmer control of immigration but that does not mean I would give the time of day to the BNP, any more than I would to Tommy Robinson’s thugs just because I want to free Britain from the EU. Thus, I have no hesitation in saying that no sensible person should support Black Lives Matter just because he or she is concerned about racism.

The BLM fundraising site is quite specific.The movement believes in “dismantling capitalism” and elsewhere it lists among its aims “defunding the police”. In short, it is a Marxist and anarchist organisation.

Against that background it is alarming that the most senior civil servant in the Ministry of Defence, the Permanent Secretary, Stephen Lovegrove, has circulated all staff and signed himself off with the hashtag #blacklivesmatter.

What the heck is someone charged with managing the defence of the realm doing promoting a movement devoted to anarchy? The mind boggles.

UNSURPRISINGLY the circular provoked a backlash with MOD workers posting dissenting comments within the department. Apparently quite a few chose to do so anonymously. That is scarcely any wonder as the next communication from Lovegrove threatened disciplinary action. No freedom of speech, then, in the very department charged with defending the country and its freedoms?

Now, I may be hopelessly deluded but I would have thought that the Perm Sec at the MoD had other things to worry about such as the shortage of frigates or the inadequacy of equipment in the armed services but apparently not.

Black lives matter is a punchy slogan: I used it myself on this page in April, when I was lamenting the dismissive atttude towards the effects of coronavirus in Africa, but I shall not use it again because it connotes a movement which I consider lawless and dangerous.

All lives matter: black and white, old and young, gay and straight, male and female, born and unborn and none is protected by anarchy.