NOT QUITE EXPECTED! A TORY M.P. DEFENDS HOMELESS MAN FROM ATTACK
By Stephen Wilson, one of our reporters abroad
You never know what to expect!
Life is abundant with unanticipated events which endlessly challenges our assumptions. For instance, who would have thought, given the poor track record of the Conservative government on the homeless that one of their politicians would intervene to defend a homeless person being beaten to death on the streets by some thugs? But people can often be better than their words.
A Tory member of parliament, David Davis, who is an ex-S.A.S soldier, seeing a homeless man being brutally assaulted by two thugs outside Westminster, London, intervened to repel the attackers. The attackers appear to have been under the influence of the drug “spice.” David Davis took the homeless person back to his Westminster flat, cleaned him up, let him stay the night on his sofa, and then had to take him to hospital as Gareth's bleeding had not ceased. Davis recalled, "He was absolutely covered with blood, and we cleaned him up."
However, this is not the first time that David Davis had intervened to help people under violent assault.
About twenty years ago he got involved in repelling attackers. In those attacks he suffered a broken nose and some broken teeth. Fortunately, he got lucky this time. He suffered no injuries. The attackers were no match for the ex-soldier who was a member of one of the most well-trained military elites of the British army.
The Special Air Services was formed in July 1941 by Colonel David Stirling and his comrade Lieutenant Colonel Robert Paddy Mayne. The main idea was for a highly trained elite to carry out covert surveillance and special sabotage operations behind enemy lines in North Africa.
SAS founder Colonel David Stirling.
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In November 1942, General Montgomery described one of the founders, Stirling, as mad. Montgomery stated, "The boy Stirling is quite mad, quite, quite mad. However, in a war there is often a place for mad people."
I recall getting into a silly argument with an Irish friend on whether it was an Irish man or Scot who founded the S.A.S. It turns out it was founded by an Irishman and Scot not to mention a person called John Lewes. But does it really matter you may ask?
One can't help comparing the response of the politician to the intervention of ex-marine Daniel Perry, who choked to death Jordan Neely in an American Subway car, on the 1st May 2023. In contrast, an ex-soldier in London used his military skills to help rather than endanger the homeless person.
This is not the only sad aspect about this case in Britain. One wonders why the Conservative party which David Davis belongs to does not extend this decisive resolute intervention to helping the homeless at a higher government policy level? Why doesn't the Conservative government radically introduce emergency action to get people off the streets and into homes? They can do this! After all, the British state accomplished this during the pandemic. If they had the will and determination they could do this again. If they did, they would surely save the lives of some homeless people who are in danger.
The brutal assault this Tory politician witnessed starkly shows the dangers which those homeless people can face.
We are now witnessing what is a critical emergency situation. And we are not being hysterical or dramatizing the situation is indicated by appalling statistics. The charity organization “Shelter” states an extra 40,000 people will be homeless this Christmas. They also state that as many as 309,000 homeless in England are set to spend Christmas in tiny hostel rooms or freezing doorways. There is a 14 % increase in people spending Christmas in hotels, bed and breakfast hotels and other temporary accommodation. This accommodation is often cold, damp and in deep disrepair. Bugs will be visiting them than Santa Claus. We have a shameful situation where 140,000 children are living in temporary accommodation in England.
The reasons for the soaring numbers of homeless are clear. Housing benefits have been frozen over the past four years, real wages have been slashed while rents have often doubled, and the no-fault eviction law 21 deprives tenants of any protection.
The bill to scrap this law, introduced from 2019 has always been delayed. Some claim that this is due to the fact that many Tory politicians are landlords who benefit from this law! They have a vested interest in continually boosting rent and getting rid of unwanted tenants who can't afford all this.
However, social housing, that is cheap and more accessible accommodation provided to tenants by the state, has been drastically undermined by a government bent on an austerity policy without end. They adhere to a dogmatic monetarist policy which sees state protection and investment as the deadliest sin. It is clearly a worse sin in their eyes than how some religious people view suicide. The Tory government counters those accusations by claiming they are going to invest 2 billion pounds in helping the homeless and are building some new homes.
If this is the case, then why are people who have won refugee status in Britain being given just 7 days’ notice to leave their homes?
How can anyone find a place within this short space of time? Why are we seeing more and more homeless refugees on the streets? I can't say I fully admire or condone every action of the S.A.S. Far from it. But I do like their slogan 'Who dares, wins.' For you need much audacity and boldness to fight homelessness.
But how long can we wait for the bold?