Freedom, power and personal responsibility

The dismissal of an Eton master for insisting on his right to free speech is just one worm that has escaped from the can.

Others include some alumni of Cambridge University objecting to the drawing up of a code of conduct on respecting others; bullying Government ministers and senior Government advisers being let off; the reluctance to have the Covid inoculation.

They are all connected by those in power not wanting to acknowledge that their actions asserting personal freedoms are not free, someone has to pay.

Be it women, those discriminated against, the bullied, respecters of experts and the law – we all suffer as a result as the social cohesion of society breaks down. Compassion and democracy itself are diminished to a point where hate and mistrust prevail.

Individuals with power have the upper hand and those without have nowhere to go. Society needs to ask the question – do we want to pursue the Trumpian way?

I suspect not, in which case the powerful must defer to the rule of law and show respect and compassion to those not as powerful as themselves.

The hallmark of a civilised society.

ROY REEVES Policy Officer, Windsor Labour Party