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One Good Man — Part Four: The Evil of Doing

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There is something else I have learned from watching institutions operate. We have been taught that doing something is better than doing nothing. Action is regarded as virtuous. Initiative is praised. Activity is treated as evidence of competence. We admire the person who takes charge, solves the problem and gets things moving. But what if that assumption is wrong? What if sometimes the most moral thing a person can do is nothing? The Virtue of Restraint There are circumstances in which action is obviously necessary. If somebody is in immediate danger, doing nothing may be unconscionable. If something is broken and needs repairing, somebody has to repair it. If an injustice is taking place in front of you, there may be a moral obligation to intervene. But there are other circumstances where the consequences of acting are uncertain. You do not have all the information. You do not understand the situation. You do not know what will happen if you interfere....
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One Good Man — Part Three: How Evil Works

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Perhaps one of the most important things I have learned from my experiences with the Jersey justice system is that evil does not necessarily look like evil. That may sound like an obvious statement. But it is not. We tend to imagine evil as something obvious. We imagine somebody who knows that what they are doing is wrong and does it anyway. We imagine cruelty. We imagine hatred. We imagine somebody deliberately setting out to cause harm. But I have come to believe that some of the most dangerous forms of evil arise when people genuinely believe that what they are doing is good. The Good Person Most people do not wake up in the morning and decide that they are going to do something evil. They wake up believing that they are good people. They go to work. They do their jobs. They follow the procedures. They answer their emails. They attend their meetings. They make decisions. And they go home believing that they have done what was expected of them. They ...
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Location: St Clement, Jersey
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One Good Man — Part Two: The Warning Before Destruction

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There is another biblical story which has been occupying my thoughts. It is the story of Jonah and Nineveh. Unlike Abraham, Jonah is not negotiating with God over how many righteous people might be found within a wicked society. Jonah is given a much simpler task. He is told to go to Nineveh and warn its people that destruction is coming. Jonah does not want to do it. He runs away. But eventually Jonah finds himself back on the path that God has chosen for him, and he goes to Nineveh. He delivers the message. The city is going to be destroyed. And then something remarkable happens. The people listen. They recognise what they have been doing. They repent. And God does not destroy them. The Purpose of a Warning There is something important about this story which is very easily overlooked. If destruction had been the only objective, there would have been no need for Jonah. There would have been no need for a warning. There would have been no need for ...
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Location: St Clement, Jersey
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One Good Man — Part One: The One Good Man

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There is an old biblical question which has occupied my thoughts for some time. How many good people does it take to save a society? The question appears most famously in the story of Abraham and Sodom. Abraham stands before God and questions the justice of destroying an entire city. What if there are fifty righteous people within it? Would it really be right to destroy the righteous along with the wicked? God agrees that He would spare the city for the sake of the fifty. But Abraham continues. What about forty-five? Forty? Thirty? Twenty? Ten? And so Abraham gradually negotiates the number down, each time asking whether the existence of a smaller number of righteous people would be sufficient reason for the city to be spared. It is a remarkable conversation. It suggests that the moral character of a society cannot simply be separated from the actions of the individuals within it. The existence of goodness matters. The existence of people who are prepared to s...
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Location: St Clement, Jersey
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The Temptation of Power – Part 10: From the Summit of the Moral High Ground

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Every journey must eventually return to its beginning. This series began with a simple proposition. Every power creates opportunities for abuse. That principle has guided every article that followed. We have examined the growth of government. The decline of the household. The marketisation of care. The changing relationship between citizens and the state. The quiet effects of inflation. The immense authority exercised by the justice system. And the gradual transfer of society's expectations towards government itself. The purpose has never been to argue that government is evil. It is not. Nor has the purpose been to suggest that government is unnecessary. It clearly is. Civilisation requires laws. It requires courts. It requires police. It requires national defence. It requires public institutions capable of performing tasks that individuals cannot accomplish alone. The question has never been whether government should exist. The question has always been where its limits should lie....
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Location: St Clement, Jersey
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The Temptation of Power – Part 9: When Government Takes God's Place

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Every civilisation places its ultimate trust somewhere. Throughout history, many societies looked first to family. Others looked to tribe. Many looked to religion. In the Western world, Christianity taught that ultimate authority belonged to God. Kings possessed authority. Governments possessed authority. Judges possessed authority. Parents possessed authority. Yet every earthly authority remained limited. Each answered to something higher. This principle shaped the civilisation that emerged over many centuries. It reminded rulers that they were not supreme. It reminded citizens that obedience was not unlimited. It reminded society that no human institution should ever become absolute. Whether one accepts the religious belief itself is, in many respects, beside the point. The political consequence was profound. Government was never expected to become everything. Over time, however, something remarkable has happened. As many traditional institutions have weakened, government has steadil...
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Location: St Clement, Jersey
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The Temptation of Power – Part 8: Justice and the Machinery of Power

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No institution possesses greater authority over the individual than the justice system. It can arrest. It can search. It can seize property. It can prosecute. It can imprison. In some countries, it can even take life. These are extraordinary powers. They exist because society cannot function without law. Without courts, disputes remain unresolved. Without police, criminal violence flourishes. Without prisons, dangerous offenders remain free. Justice is one of the essential functions of any civilised society. Yet that is precisely why it deserves the closest scrutiny. The greater the power, the greater the opportunity for abuse. This principle does not begin with distrust of the police, the courts or prosecutors. It begins with a recognition of human nature. Judges are human. Police officers are human. Prosecutors are human. Witnesses are human. Complainants are human. Defendants are human. Jurors are human. Every participant possesses the same strengths and weaknesses found throughout ...
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Location: St Clement, Jersey
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