I told you so

I hate saying I told you so - mainly because Im an optimistic cynic; which generally means that when I'm saying it I'm being proven right about something that negatively affects the majority of us (I'll explain that conclusion another time...)

In the first months of Labours first term they cancelled two contracts, with the defence contract cancelled "because they could without penalty". At the time I raised that this was incredibly dangerous precendent, not least because all contracts can.
OK - this is the bit I actually don't like explaining, because it is probably better that most people do not know or understand it. Breach of contract is a civil not crimial matter. Civil law does not allow for punitive damages - only restoration. This means all the damages clauses in contracts are unenforceable, and whether there is one or not a person / organisation can only ever get back what they have provably lost as a result of the breach.

In other words people being bound to contracts is actually more about convention than law. And the Labour party in its first few weeks declared two things explicitly and loudly through these acts:

1) They have no regard for convention;
2) They will gladly choose to break the law where the perceived benefit is greater than the potential penalty.

I warned at the time both through print and radio - and was generally derided at the time. However look again at the two things declared above and apply this to:

Bus stop advertising
"Paintergate"
$450,000 pledge card spending
"Corngate"
etc (feel free to list the rest yourselves)

I told you so.