Power corrupts

Lord Acton famously once said that power corrupts - and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. This isn't a piece about Ken Livingstone, albeit Conservative Home raises an interesting point about the way Livingstone has run his self-described fiefdom and what will happen if/when he loses power tomorrow.

Instead I want to focus on the way that our fellow citizens wield power over us in a manner that suggests a warped level of pleasure whenever someone can be punished for some minor transgression, wholly at variance to any notion of common sense.

First, a confession. I was appointed a house prefect at school and I handed out a record 400 punishments over 14 months for a variety of offences, most of them trivial. In doing so, I recognise that in many instances I abused my power. I take this opportunity, in particular, to apologise for the large punishments handed out to Ben Gummer, son of the former Tory cabinet minister and now PPC for Ipswich!

I feel compelled, however, to focus on the corrupting nature of power because of this story in The Daily Mail. The decision to fine a rail commuter in these circumstances is self-evidently, one would have thought, pointless. But it is not the only time that someone in a position of power has acted over-zealously. Last week it was a local resident whose bin was too full. We have also read of residents whose bins were too far away from the curb not having their rubbish collected.

Of the many things that frustrate ordinary voters, political correctness and a wholesale lack of common sense shown by those wielding power of them are, I think, right up there. How it's tackled I am not sure - it can hardly be tackled by legislation. I suspect that the solution lies in the hands of managers. But will they be prepared to take on a fellow jobsworth?