Those who know the Bible will have been horrified by the massacre of the innocents, which took place when Herod the Great, King of Judea, orders the execution of all male children two years old and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem, in an attempt to kill the infant Messiah. Today we see a different sort of slaughter which targets the innocent.

As a Catholic I naturally abhor the killing of so many unborn babies, as every excuse is made to allow this to happen, despite all the promises made at the time abortion was made legal. However, for the moment I will reserve that argument for a different occasion, and concentrate on the deaths of those already born.

I am sure that I am not alone in feeling a sick anger at the murder of poor little Arthur Labinjo-Hughes. As so often the authorities, despite warnings from concerned relatives, ignored the obvious abuse, but no one should forget that it was the evil perpetrators who are fully responsible for this terrible crime. When I think that this little boy is recorded as saying “Nobody loves me, no one is going to feed me” I am consumed with fury that an innocent should die convinced that this was true.

Now we have the equally awful case of the sweet little girl Star Hobson, who was murdered at the age of 16 months by her mother’s female ‘partner’ while the mother herself stood by and did nothing. Indeed, while any normal person would, if they heard a child crying, try to help them, these two sub humans just laughed. As usual the useless social workers allowed these scum to talk their way out of it, but this time it is reported that, because they were lesbians, decided to treat the warnings from the family as being motivated by an anti-gay prejudice.

When my late mother was in her fifties, and after having raised two sons, she, as a convinced Christian, volunteered to work as a social worker looking after the less fortunate, including children. Many of her colleagues had a similar background. Suddenly they were all told that their services were no longer required, as all social workers were now required to have a university degree, so they were all dismissed, to be replaced by bits of kids, who had no practical knowledge of bringing up children, and, worse, had been through left wing indoctrination by the so called lecturers in the so called subject of sociology, so they were obsessed with applying the nostrums of the Left, rather than dealing with the real world. As a consequence middle class white parents are treated as guilty until proved innocent, while those whom the Left love to consider victims by virtue of their ethnicity or sexual orientation are excused time and time again.

However, despite the deserved condemnation of these useless ideologues one must reserve one’s true detestation for the actual perpetrators. I wonder if those liberals, from Sydney Silverman, and Roy Jenkins, onwards, who liked to virtue signal by opposing the death penalty, ever thought of the blameless victims, who might have been saved if vile criminals, such as these killers, knew that they would pay the ultimate penalty for their actions. Even if in some cases it would not be a deterrent, it would nevertheless be just what they deserve.

I anticipate that such liberals will respond by raising the danger of executing the wrong person as has happened in the past, but of course one must be absolutely sure that the conviction is sound, and in these days of advanced forensic science, with DNA testing etc., this is likely to be true. Any doubt should ensure that the death penalty would not apply. From all that we know about these particular cases, from previous cases such as Victoria Climbie, and from those of many other children murdered by those who should be caring from them, no such doubt exists.

This is all part of the wider crisis we face regarding law and order. I recall that, when capital punishment was abolished, we were promised that 'life will mean life' for murderers, yet this has proved to be a lie. On a daily basis we hear of fatal stabbing, and even shootings, in London and other urban centres, and while the liberals try and conceal the extent of the carnage by redefining murders as manslaughter whenever they can, the true scale is obvious to anyone who examines the daily reports. Additionally, so often when innocent children are killed by those who should be caring for them, or left to die of starvation by feckless adults, the perpetrators frequently get away with reduced charges, and pathetic sentences. When one adds to all this the fact that jail sentences are rarely completed in full, most criminals being released after only half has been served, it is certain that lawbreakers are being appeased, not punished. The principle to follow should be that advocated by Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado "make the punishment fit the crime", as deprivation of liberty is not the only sanction that can be applied. Of course much more severe punishments must also be applied to those whose actions aid the criminals, such as middle class cocaine users.

I recall seeing a cartoon in the late 1950s in which a woman was being beaten to the ground by a group of teddy boys, and a psychologist was rushing over saying “there are some young men here in need of help”. This sums up the pathetic attitude of those who have been allowed to dominate the justice system for decades. Although they no longer do so, at one time opinion polls were held on the subject of capital punishment, always showing large majorities in favour of its use, but still the ‘we know better’ brigade has had their way. The blood of countless innocents is on their head.

Perhaps one day we will have a true populist government, which will replace the current set of social workers with those who can recognize evil when they encounter it, and heed the demand that the merciless killers of innocents pay the ultimate penalty, but I am not holding my breath.