Insidious Subtlety

Mindful as ever that domestic dissent is most effectively squashed under the weight of a real or fictitious international conflict, His Majesty's Loyal Opposition has been squealing with patriotic indignation over the Crown Prosecution Service dropping charges against two men whom the previous administration accused of spying for the Heathen Chinee. One Conservative squealed that "given the gravity of the charges" it was astonishing that they should have been withdrawn, since obviously an accusation becomes more true the more grave it happens to be. Another Conservative squealed that dropping the charges would "embolden our enemies and make us look unwilling to defend our own nation even when attacked," even though we are not being attacked and have in fact spent most of the last few decades using self-defence as a ramshackle rubric for attacking other countries. For its own part, the CPS has simply said that it will not offer any evidence in the case; but by disturbing contrast with other cases where national security has been invoked in place of evidence, it does not appear that the Government will be expecting a guilty verdict anyway.