What does it take now to be hounded out of public life?

Published: 3 March, 2011

• I WAS interested to see the article about Cyril Joad (John Gulliver, February 17), the philosopher and broadcaster who was hounded out of public life in the 1940s for fare dodging. Indeed, given the decision reported some time ago not to adorn his dwelling with a blue plaque, it seems

that he’s still not forgiven decades after his death.

Contrast this with the way celebrities – and other motorists – defy parking and speeding regulations today and, if they’re caught, get away with a fine. 

Is defrauding London Transport more heinous than defrauding local authorities (especially in today’s financial climate) and endangering people’s lives?

One of Professor Joad’s complaints was against landowners who exclude the general public from the countryside. 

Now people are being excluded from the countryside in another way, by the mass withdrawal of rural transport following spending cuts (an issue that seems to be largely unknown to Londoners). 

This brings to mind that well known rhyme:

The law doth punish man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
But lets the greater felon loose
Who steals the common from the goose.

Somehow I don’t think that David Cameron, Philip Hammond and George Osborne will suffer the ignominy heaped upon of Professor Joad, any more than did Mrs Thatcher, Nicholas Ridley, Lord Beeching and Ernest Marples before them.

SIMON NORTON
Howitt Close, 
NW3