Galloping anarchy

In the good old days when businessmen would settle for a reasonable profit on goods and services, most of us could afford to live more or less comfortably, both financially and politically, guided by cost-plus and the democratic process.

Somehow what now passes for civilisation has become a contest to see who can grab the most money and fancy toys.

Not content with, or unable to compete for, fiscal superiority, some groups have become fixated on political power for its own sake. What will they do with it when they have it?

Anarchist groups such as the Taliban, having gained power, now have responsibility for running their country. The rabid American right is busy dismantling the US democratic process which, sadly, has stumbled along from the very beginning.

Now that attempting to disarm an armed thug is seen in law as an attempt to wound or injure him, anarchic groups will feel free to use that defence if their resistance to legitimate control is put down.

The idiotic vocal resistance to vaccination by a noisy infectious minority is anarchy which could have a negative outcome.

It is time for many people to regain their balance and realise that the democratic process, while far from perfect, relies on the common sense and goodwill of us all. Clive Shaw Timaru