A Compliant Environment

Among the fascinating subtleties of the Ministry for Wog Control is the eternal question of where the border lies between the department's chronic incompetence and whatever happy commingling of Press-pleasing sadism and blithe indifference characterises any particular policy. In the case of the Windrush persecutions and the booting-out of the ghastly Euro-wogs, it seems clear that thuggery is the favoured option; in the case of the Home Office's ambitious strategy for dealing with modern slavery, it looks as if shruggery has prevailed. So ambitious was the Ministry's programme that nobody has bothered to implement the systems necessary to monitor its results, or managed to gather the data required to understand what kind of people are involved and where they come from. Of course, Her Majesty's Government has no real objections to modern slavery: the idea of forcing people to work for nothing, without being bothered by trade unions or heath and safety regulations, can hardly be unattractive to the modern Conservative Party. On the other hand, most associate it vaguely with dark-skinned migrant hordes, and many no doubt believe that human trafficking is the same thing as freedom of movement, and is thus obligatory under the monstrous EU constitution. Given that the first three years of effort led to prosecution in only six per cent of recorded cases, perhaps the lack of monitoring simply reflects a reluctance to get anyone into trouble.