Zero Tolerance for All

In the wake of the big heist (now reported as £40m), there's speculation about their getting caught and the very long sentences they can expect. Obviously they would get some years in prison for using guns and the threat of death (they didn't shoot anyone).

The sentence, though, would undoubtedly be set extra high as payback for the embarrassment caused by their taking such a large sum; and for doing it so efficiently. ("What affrontery, how dare they show us up like that!")

There's criticism of any public sympathy for the robbers (the 'Robin Hood' effect): an enlightened government would look at why this could be. I believe it comes about because the public sees that justice is not even-handed. Miscreants at the lower end of society are regularly subjected to the same Zero Tolerance treatment that the robbers would receive.

But, when people at the top rob pension funds without punishment; when top executives cock up whole companies, then leave with a golden handshake; when hypocritical MPs grin on about Christian values and 'family' values, but still lie and cheat as it suits; when absolute incompetence costing millions in the civil service is quite acceptable as long as the Head apologises; then what else could one expect but sympathy (empathy, even) for those who might successfully get one back for the suckered public. After all, the thieves are only going out and getting what the rest of us are persistently, numbingly, encouraged to hope for from the Lottery.

So, if we're gonna whack big-time thieves, let's apply Zero Tolerance to all of them - including the oily, creepy, sly, polished ones.

(Zero Tolerance too, of course, for the current incompetents: those AT THE TOP of the Bank of England responsible for security of OUR money and their employees. And getting paid bloody well for it!)

Added next day:
Here's the latest on the case from the Independent, with lots of good tips for robbers.
A piece from the Times.
One from the Observer, with more tips for launderers.