Informing On Friends And Colleagues.

[Khandro]

It is now being claimed that Vince Cable and others had been told earlier by Vicky Price of the points swapping. It is being suggest (article in today's Telegraph) that if he had this knowledge, he is somehow guilty because he should have given this information to the police. Is this fair?

[mikey4444]

Wasn't it Edmund Burke that said "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing"

A lot has been said about this whole Pryce-Huhne affair. But no one mentions that Pryce, by lying to the courts, allowed her husband to continue driving when the evidence would seem to show that he was not a fit person to be behind the wheel of a car.

What if he had been driving so fast that he had run over and killed a child....how would his wife had faced that, knowing that she allowed him to keep his licence ?

A pox on them both. If there was any justice in the world then the Judge would award them both a few years in prison.....in the same cell !

[ayupduck]

mikey4444 is right. What I cannot understand is the amount of sympathy for both of them from politicians and journalists, maybe it is one rule for them and different for the rest of us.

[buildersmate]

In politics (and in other walks of life) there unfortunately seems to be a difference between what a leader is told 'officially' and what he/she may have been told/found out 'unofficially' which can then be denied later. An earlier example could have been the Blair 'Arms of Mass Destruction' or not fiasco. This is perhaps another example.
The key difference is whether there is any evidence to rake up that can link to the unofficial knowledge.

[Khandro]

ayupduck; I too haven't any sympathy for either of them (well perhaps a little for him). If you knew a friend or colleague had committed a minor offence would you go and report it to the police?

[anotheoldgit]

Fore mentioned Telegraph article.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/liberaldemocrats/9919685/Chris-Huhne-brands-Vicky-Pryce-a-liar-over-abortion-claims.html

[Gromit]

I know a couple who swapped points. I am sure it is quite common. The couple had two young children and he needed to have a driving license to work and support them. He was working, rushing between jobs when he was photographed. I knew at the time she took the points what they had done, but I never thought for one moment about telling on them.

Would you have?

[sandyRoe]

No. Impeaching people somehow doesn't seem the British way.

[Khandro]

Not long ago, and maybe still, there were plenty of impoverished students with clean licenses happy for a fee to say they were driving your car. I think the going rate was about £100. Councils don't really care who was guilty as long as they get the dosh. Of course the crime in this case isn't the swap it's perverting the course of justice. My question refers to the culpability or otherwise of a friend with this knowledge not informing the police.

[modeller]

khandro #If you knew a friend or colleague had committed a minor offence would you go and report it to the police? #
Sympathy ?
Bear in mind this was not his first ' minor 'offence , he had already been pinched several times and this last time would have taken him over the top.

[Khandro]

modeller; I ask you directly, would you go to the police and inform them of a minor offence of a friend?