Priorities, Priorities

Well, here's an interesting juxtaposition of stories that weirdly ties in to the previous post on Britain's National Health Service. Because it shows the priorities the British authorities are operating from.

The Daily Mail reports that the theft of iPods during street robberies has skyrocketed in the past year. Insurance companies report that more iPods are stolen in these muggings than any other electronic device.

Insurance experts said they received more claims for iPods than any other item, including mobile phones, digital cameras and laptops.

The distinctive MP3 player with white headphones have been blamed for fuelling a sharp rise in street robbery and providing easy pickings for criminals.

Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair has said the digital music players make it easy for thieves to spot someone carrying one.

Robberies in England and Wales rocketed by more than eight per cent last year to 98,204, Home Office figures have shown.

And according to Privilege Insurance firm, it is iPods which are top of the list for criminals.

Incidentally, if the iPod is stolen, so is the music stored on it. A large percentage of people who have been robbed have not had that music backed up and lost an average of £257 - even higher for younger people.

But not to worry says the Telegraph. For British police have their real priorities all in a row. The are sending their officers to videotape fox hunts to look for violations.

The scene could hardly be more traditionally English: the hunt gathering on Boxing Day, stirrup cups raised, surrounded by eager supporters.

But only yards away the police were filming the entire event as the Avon Vale prepared to ride out from Lacock, Wilts, on one of the sport's busiest-ever days, with 320,000 people attending meets.

Two officers, leaning from a window, used a hand-held video camera to film the gathering. The meeting, like hundreds of others, passed without incident but Wiltshire police insisted that the filming was standard practice in case things got "out of hand".

Insp Roger Bull said: "This is a major hunt meeting. It is quite normal for us to use evidence-gathering facilities of this nature. There is always the potential for some people to allow matters to get out of hand."

Hunts claimed it was their best Boxing Day ever and animal rights campaigners are now planning to target them with anti-social behaviour orders following the failure of the Hunting Act to curb the sport.

I have always been somewhat of an Anglophile. I am not so sure that I should be any longer. These two stories together with the previous post point to a rot within the society that appears to be spreading rapidly. I hope they can reverse this. Because it will be a very bad place to live in just a few years if they do not.