Don’t bother worrying about the creeping onset of the police state, it’s already here.

…consists of these six words:

Tony Blair Middle East Peace Envoy.

Hmm.

So, according to our man in Kabul, Britain can expect to be entangled in Afghanistan for the next 30 years. Leaving aside the hopelessly optimistic spin (with all the might of the Red Army, the Soviet Union couldn’t last a decade in the same place), who the hell will benefit from that?

It doesn’t take a diplomatic expert to conclude that even two more years of the Brits in Afghanistan will result in more hatred heaped on the British worldwide, more dead soldiers and civilians on both sides.

The lesson to draw from Iraq and Afghanistan is that you can’t engineer a revolution. The only “regime changes” that stick are the ones brought about when that country’s people are so utterly sick of violence and injustice that the do it for themselves. So if the Afghans want to stick to their ancient system of tribal rule and a social code that belongs in the Dark Ages, let ‘em.

Perhaps someday, there’ll be enough enlightened free-thinkers in that region to bring about true democracy and universal suffrage. But until there are, the only alternative appears to a lethal, imperialistic quagmire.

The recent firago about First Direct bank’s plan to charge its poorer customers £10 a month for the privilege of using their money (disclosure: my wife is a customer though unaffected by the move) re-focussed my mind on something which has been bugging me for some time.

It’s this: just exactly when was it decided that a company is somehow failing if it doesn’t increase its profit margin, year on year, by some obscene percentage?

These are not poor companies. These are businesses whose profits are measured in millions of pounds. Their shareholders already earn substantial amounts on their investment.

What’s more, this is an unsustainable expectation which is totally out of touch with common sense. Does the owner of a vineyard expect a vintage harvest every year, each better than the last? Of course not!

Yet somewhere in the rarified atmosphere of global finance there are greedy, amoral and corrupt idiots feeding the fires of such expectations.

We all know what the results of these pressures are - continued “cost-cutting”, with thousands of people thrown out of gainful employment and those “lucky” enough to be left in work facing such pressures that are unrealistic, unfair and highly damaging to their health and happiness, to their families and to society in general. The “ASBO culture” isn’t a societal accident - it has deep roots and causes.

When Christmas starts on November 3 (the earliest I can ever recall seeing a “festive” TV ad) what hope for those caught in the great machine?

Times like this, you think Lenin had a point…

Just in case you were left in any doubt, proof positive that this government wants to control every moment of our lives. What next, Ofsted inspectors on the maternity wards? Pass the sick bag, Alice.

Are we in danger of losing the gift of forgiveness?

How many times, I wonder, have I clumsily knocked over my drink, omitted to perform some trivial chore, or forgotten to get in touch with someone I promised to phone? What can I say? You couldn’t begin to count them. That’s because I’m careless.

We all are. Some more so than others, but carelessness is part of our humanity, part of our frailty.

If our children carelessly knock over and break something precious or valuable we might well get angry. We might even insist that they make restitution by paying for a replacement. But we’d be pretty harsh to spank them. Because there was no intent. It was an accident.

Unfortunately, in the increasingly secular, litigation-rich world in which we live there’s no such thing as an accident. Everything is somebody’s fault. We all need to descend on the offender like a pack of wolves and rip them apart. We need to smell blood.

For an illustration of this, look no further than the Government’s announcement of a new offence of causing death by careless driving, for which drivers could face up to five years in prison.

Let me say at once that I do not approve of those who drive dangerously, nor those who drink while doing so. But we are not talking here about aggressive driving or downing eight pints before getting behind the wheel. We are talking of a moment’s inattention or misjudgment ending in tragedy.

I understand the anger of victims. If a careless driver knocked down my wife, hanging would be too good for them. When someone dies suddenly, tragically, there is the constant ache of opportunities missed, potential not fulfilled, days not lived. Yes, I would be red with anger. But victims make very poor lawmakers, for that very reason.

Victim support groups are right to make people aware of the pain and anguish their members suffer. All too often, however, their calls for “justice” suggest a very different, far uglier word. Vengeance.

If you have accidentally taken someone else’s life, how must that feel? If you are anywhere near being a decent, sentient human being, you won’t need me to provide the answer. Will anything be made any better by splitting up another family? There can be no argument of deterrent. Look in the mirror. This could happen to you, someone you know, someone you love. Tomorrow, perhaps.

Of course there should be natural consequences. A heavy fine. A lengthy driving ban. All that sounds like justice to me. But prison? That sounds like vengeance.

And a society built on vengeance will eventually tear itself to shreds.

The last time this sort of thing broke out, my late brother was in the thick of it, trying to keep the nutters apart as they ran amok down Thornhill Road. Brought back a few memories…

If the events in Lozells have done anything, they have exploded the myth of racism being a disease only afflicting white people. The animosity between the black and Asian populations of our inner cities has been widely known for years, yet it has remained neatly swept under the carpet. This weekend, the carpet was brutally ripped from the floor.

Maybe it will prompt the authorities to acknowledge and deal with the problem. Maybe our glorious leaders will be forced to stop pussyfooting around these “communities” and start encouraging them to join the one, the only “community”.

Just don’t hold your breath.

Is Avian Flu the new Sars? Seems like only yesterday that the world’s politicians were predicting thousands of deaths and the more impressionable were wandering around with those little Michael Jackson masks on.

Now there’s a similar flap (rimshot) about Avian Flu, despite the fact there is no evidence yet of it passing from human to human. God knows how much is being spent on research, emergency plans and advisory pamphlets. Whatever you do, don’t adopt a goose.

Meanwhile, thousands more look likely to die in Pakistan simply because the world can’t be bothered to buy a few tents. You can help here.

We’ve already lost double jeopardy, the presumption of innocence and - effectively, soon - habeas corpus.

Now, it seems, the introduction of ID cards will happen with barely a whimper of protest from our politicians.

First we were told the idea of the card was to help cut crime and illegal immigration. Then it was revealed that it wouldn’t be compulsory to carry the card, which punched a huge hole in that argument.

Then we were told ID cards would combat terrorism - until it was pointed out that it wouldn’t have done a thing to prevent either the 9/11 or 7/7 bombings.

Finally, we were told it would fight identity theft. Forgive me, how does an expensive piece of plastic stop some bovine idiot from serenely stumbling into the next phishing expedition or pitching his unshredded credit card statements straight into the dustbin?

The arguments have more holes than Emmental, the technology is expensive and unreliable and the government’s unspoken vision is for ever greater surveillance and control of our private lives, thanks to “feature creep” in the card’s remit.

Where is the anger? Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought terrible wars to defend the freedoms this legislation will inevitably erase. We should hang our heads in shame.

Update: What are we to think when even Microsoft warns of potentially massive security holes in the ID cards system?