For victims, another week of high farce at the UK ranch isn't funny

In Couzens’s case, there seemed to have been a wilful disregard of offending like ­exposing himself. A damning report from former Scottish Lord Advocate Lady ­Elish Angiolini detailed the many and varied times Couzens got high-profile policing jobs with minimal checks. Is there another Couzens hiding in plain sight, she queried.

In Packer’s, former police detectives queued up to say they had been told by the senior investigating officer not to bring him in despite his being a more than credible suspect in Miss Caldwell’s murder.

READ MORE: UK Government 'in era of ministerial irresponsibility’

Cue more hand-wringing from the ­current Home Secretary but no firm proposals for sorting out a clearly inadequate vetting ­system.

Also in the spotlight was the UK ­Government’s dirty little habit of ­appointing people to top jobs then trashing them when they fail to toe the party line.

Thus out went Henry Staunton, ­erstwhile chair of the scandal-ridden Post Office and currently in an unseemly slanging match with UK Business Secretary Kemi ­Badenoch (below).

She’s currently top of some of the Tory pops, but then so was a certain Liz Truss for a while. Be sure the Tory faithful have an unerring eye for unsuitable heroines.

Part of the problem is the UK ­Government’s ­approach to publicising its own research when it tells a sorry tale of ineptitude. David Neal, former head of the Border Force, was booted out when he ­complained to the media that none of his 15 reports had been published.

After Neal’s dismissal, the Home Office did put them out. In a oner, on the day that the Couzens report came out. As they say, a good day to bury bad news.

But perhaps, in a week replete with many villains and too few heroes, the top prize for dilatory behaviour goes to the leaders of political parties in the UK and USA, who can’t bring themselves to believe the ­evidence of their own eyes.

They’d rather buy the pronouncements of the Israeli Defence Force who have historically had a somewhat tenuous ­relationship to the truth.

Every time there is yet another ­outrage – yet more evidence of what the UN ­general secretary called “collective ­punishment” of the Palestinians – the IDF’s stock ­response is “it wisnae us and if it wis, someone/something else caused the deaths in question”.

Every time we witness the victims of some asymmetric conflict, world leaders intone that never again will they stand idly by and observe a wholesale slaughter.

Yet they did in the Balkans. They did in Rwanda. They’re doing it right now in Ukraine and Gaza. Everyone on the ­frontline in Gaza talks of ­unparalleled ­levels of mass starvation, of babies and toddlers dying of malnutrition.

How else can anyone define “collective ­punishment”?

It’s bizarre to dismiss any of this as antisemitism. That’s wilfully confusing the Jewish community with the ­hardline, right-wing cabinet on whom the ­odious Benjamin Netanyahu relies to keep him in business.

Many prominent Jews have bravely ­condemned this Israeli government and its increasingly hollow promise that it wants above all else to free the hostages who remain victims of the catastrophic horrors of October 7.

The Netanyahu regime claims that it has still to root out and kill the remaining Hamas units they say are hiding in Rafah.

Maybe they are. But so too are one-and-a-half million people who have been ­shunted all over their tiny sliver of ­homeland and – if a ground invasion is mounted – will be the equivalent of human fish shot in a barrel.

Leaders in the UK and USA say that they are beavering away in the ­diplomatic background to effect some kind of ­ceasefire. The latest deaths of starving adults killed as they sought food for their children seem to have blown that fond hope out of the water.

In any case, even on the most ­optimistic timetable, there could be a pause in ­hostilities only after some 30,000 people have already been killed – two-thirds of them women and children.

After children have been orphaned as well as mutilated. After the infrastructure over most of the strip has been razed to the ground. The people cowering in tents in Rafah quite literally have no homes to go to.

Evidence is mounting that leaders who trail behind public opinion will be ­punished. Joe Biden’s victory in the ­Michigan primary was notable for the huge numbers who declared themselves uncommitted because of his stance on the Middle East.

Just last week, the US yet again vetoed a security council motion critical of the Israeli government.

The UK, brave to the last, usually just abstains. If nothing else, it underlines the futility of a council which still boasts permanent members. Which means that nice Mr Putin and cuddly President Xi can veto anything they fancy. And why the UK still has a veto is anyone’s guess. Global Britain? Do me a favour!

READ MORE: SNP depute leader: ‘Let’s consider withdrawing MPs from Westminster’

At least in Scotland the Government – whatever its failings elsewhere – has ­steadfastly called for an immediate ­ceasefire. Not just Humza Yousaf who has family skin in the game, but Stephen Flynn who has come on to an impressive game in the Commons. Ask the Speaker!

Ah yes, the Speaker. Actually, I don’t think his vacillation on the Gaza vote was because he originally hailed from the ­Labour family. It’s worse than that. He didn’t fancy turning a deaf ear to the pleas of a man he,and most of the ­population think will become the next prime minister.

Perhaps we may find out in the fullness of time how many of Sir Keir’s troops also had a quiet word in the Hoyle ­shell-like. We already know that the Labour leader and the Labour chief whip were ­permitted a private chat with no Commons clerks present.

In the event, the SNP and Flynn ­became collateral damage. Some of the commentariat suggested the terms of their motion were devised to ­highlight ­Labour divisions. Actually, the ­terminology ­echoed that of the United Nations. Are they also fixated on the state of the ­Labour Party’s electoral health? You rather doubt it.

Which brings us to Rochdale, and George “Lazarus” Galloway. As he is ­notably litigious – from which he’s made a fair few bob over the years – I’ll ­merely note that Labour largely became the ­architects of their own misfortune.

READ MORE: John Curtice: What George Galloway's by-election win means for Labour

They rushed into a date, rushed into a candidate, and then were forced to back off when the chap in question decided to recycle one of the more lurid conspiracy theories bouncing around social media.

The upshot of which was fourth place in a poll from which they’d effectively ­abdicated and the election of Galloway who’s barely halfway through his, err, nine lives.

The real losers, however, were the good folks of Rochdale whose choices in a ­curtailed ballot meant that a local businessman took second-top spot, and another previous Labour MP was bottom.

Since he was now standing for Reform (proprietor N Farage), we should not ­expend too many tears.

Plus Simon Danczuk, a father of four, is now married to a Rwandan beauty ­therapist some 28 years his junior. A lady who encountered no little difficulty ­obtaining a visa to live in the UK.

We learned recently that Rwanda – favoured exile spot of the Home Office as it tries to deport asylum seekers there – has ­already cost hundreds of millions without a ­single plane taking off. If one ever does, the ­calculation is that 300 deportees will have cost £1.8m each.

Arithmetic’s not my strong suit, but strikes me that could buy an awful lot of hotel accommodation back at the UK ranch.