Sir Ian Blair

It is 1910 hrs Thursday 2nd October 2008. I have just listened to a
news bulletin announcing the retirement of the Chief Officer of the
Metropolitan Police. There was never any prospect of Sir Ian continuing
in his post once the news of the shooting of 27 year old Brazilian, Mr
de Menezes erupted onto the front pages of our national newspapers.

And still we have failed to provide his family a single shred of
comfort, solace or the assurance that someone would be held
accountable. And as a nation we continue in this dreadful failure.

Earlier this evening the news reports of Sir Ian’s premature departure
stipulated that success in his (Sir Ian’s) position could only be
facilitated with the support of both the Mayor of London and that of
the Home Secretary; this is a complete falsehood. That success requires my approval and my consent.

Mr de Menezes, a young man at the beginning of his life, was a man upon
whose character lay no blemish; he was shot to death under the terms of
a shameful, if not criminal, policy of ‘shoot to kill’ initiated by
the senior management of the Metropolitan Police. Worse, much much
worse, was that it was done in my name, in the expediency of security.

Every human right that Mr de Menezes might have laid claim to was not
just ignored, they were trampled on in the interests of security. Mr de Menezes was actually under restraint by an off duty police officer when armed, uniformed police stormed the tube train and put him to death.

I say this to the people responsible: NOT in my name, NOT ever in my
name , a pox on your security; if my safety is dependent upon the
forfeiture of Mr de Menezes’ life then I would sooner give up my own
life. To those people who think that we are winning ‘the war on terror’
I would simply refer them to Philip Bobbitt’s admirable treatment of the
subject entitled ‘Terror and Consent’: The wars for the twenty first
century.

Having written these words I have no wish to remain anonymous, though I
would be greatly obliged if the police could somehow contrive not to
shoot me next time that I am carrying my camera and tripod in a public
place, my name is Peter Reid and I live in Sunderland in the UK.

A Pensionner’s Lot

Today, Friday 26th September 2008, Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said:

“It is deeply wrong that billions of pounds in benefits cash is failing to reach the
poorest pensioners at a time when thousands are feeling forced to cut
back on essentials such as food and fuel.”

 

What a complete shile of pite; the main purposes of governmental agencies is:

a) to interfere wherever there is no justification for interference
b) to stay at a safe distance whenever interference may actually help someone
c) to obfuscate to the nth degree whenever people apply for financial help
d) to develop immediate fluency in Swahili whenever people need rules and regs explaining

I write as a retired schoolteacher, I had a rather lovely letter from
Ruth Kelly marking the occasion. It is not only wrong it is a criminal
negligence that people of pensionable age who have given their lives to
producing profit for this nation are seemingly abandoned in their final
years. Years when they ought to have an entitlement to sunny days. A pox on this government – is anybody out there listening? Don’t be so bloody stupid.

Stockwell Tube Shooting

 

 

In a statement the IPCC confirmed that all disciplinary reviews in the case had now been concluded. It said that IPCC chairman Nick Hardwick had taken the decision after considering the views of Scotland Yard, the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) and the de Menezes family solicitor.

But Mr de Menezes’s cousin Vivian Figuierdo called the IPCC decision a "scandal" and said it was "entirely premature" to have made the announcement before an inquest which is expected next year.

She said: "The decision today is a scandal. It is entirely premature for the IPCC to do this before an inquest where vital evidence about the actions of these officers could come to light.

"Sadly we have come to expect this from the IPCC – they have done nothing to hold the police to account for the killing of an innocent man.

"Time after time they simply bow down to police pressure and protect the status quo.

"If the jury at the health and safety trial found the police guilty of catastrophic errors – why is it that no police officer is being held individually accountable?"

 

She is absolutely right to say this – exactly how many people have to die at the hands of the police before action is taken; our Members of Parliament, in their wisdom, have refused to grant the electorate of this country a referendum on the issue of the reintroduction of capital punishment. Why then, are the police allowed to behave in this manner; it is simply not good enough for them to say that they made a mistake and then to be, for all practical purposes, beyond accountability.

The East Coast Main Line

 

 

Yesterday, Wednesday 19^th December 2007, I found myself at Bank Top station, Darlington, putting my Mother on a train to Birmingham.

 

National Express was conducting what they euphemistically described as a revenue audit and the behaviour of their staff was first class in every way. However, the ancillary staff, employed by an outside contractor, were quite a different matter displaying a quite sullen and most unhelpful manner. When I complained about this the individuals concerned refused to identify themselves and it was only after the intervention of a member of the management team that they were persuaded to write down their names and company details.

 

This morning when I attempted to make contact with the outside contractor I discovered that the details given to me yesterday appeared to be fictitious.

 

It was in these circumstances that I telephoned “Customer Services” this morning, only to be told that they had no complaints mechanism that customers could access by telephone and that I would have to visit the station in question if I wished to discuss my concerns. The female supervisor advising me on that point was not in the least bit worried that that would entail a sixty five mile round trip.

 

After a further one and a quarter hours of facile and obstructive conversations with various members of “customer services” several things became apparent to me:

 

• Not a single individual at National Express was willing to take ownership of this problem.
• National Express appears to have little or no knowledge of the people who are sub contracting, and providing a passenger interface, at ECML stations.
• The security implications of my last point are truly staggering.
• Staff within the organisation continue to display a marked reluctance to properly identify themselves.
• Junior staff appear to think that their primary function is to prevent customers from gaining access to a level of management that has the capacity to deal with problems.

 

All this took place at 10 am this morning, at which time I was assured that someone would telephone me; it is now 4.15 pm and I am still waiting, though not with bated breath.

 

David Franks would do well to remember that his company does not have a monopoly on the ECML and that this experience is quite sufficient incentive for me to organise my next London trip with the opposition.

A Compleat Guide to Bollocks

 

 

so wearing a T Shirt with the slogan, "bollocks to Tony Blair" is now an offence (according to some members of the police service)..

 

there really is only one thing that one can say in response to such mind-numbing idiocy, "BOLLOCKS"..

 

  

·                           from today’s Mail on Sunday

 

 

sussex police have now apologised to the 82 year old arrested under S44 claiming that the Constable had no power to stop, only the power to ‘stop and search’…

 

 

what a total shile of pite…  what about the other 600 people who were ‘detained’…

 

 

·                          

 

So the authorities appear to be in favour of the building of special ‘units’ to house ‘problem’ families, with special security teams in place to keep order.

 

Last time this was tried was in 1936, I think.. yep and you’ve guessed it – they were using men in black shirts with machine guns..

 

·                          

 

this morning’s papers (sunday 13th November 2005) now appear to contradict our great Prime Minister – really, quel surprise !! So the police never really had any difficulty cracking codes, or heads, and had no need for a six month prison sentence without either trial or charge. Do these idiots really, really think that we were fooled for one minute..

 

to all the idiots in the world, my apologies for the slur on your good names.

 

 

·                          

 

lmao here…

 

just heard TB on radio 4 at 1.30 pm (14th Nov.) claiming that ‘the vast majority of people do support his policies/manifesto..

 

sorry?  what?  pardon?  I was under the impression that less than 40% of this country’s electorate put his government into office. Not by any stretch of the imagination do I call that a ‘vast majority’

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Cloughy again

Say Not The Struggle Naught Availeth

Say not the struggle naught availeth,

The labour and the wounds are vain,

The enemy faints not, nor faileth,

And as things have been, they remain.

 

If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;

It may be, in yon smoke conceal’d;

Your comrades e’en now the fliers,

And, but for you, possess the field.

 

For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,

Seem here no painful inch to gain,

Far back, through creeks and inlets making,

Comes silent, flooding in, the main.

 

And not by eastern windows only,

When daylight comes, comes in the light;

In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly!

But westward look, the land is bright!

Arthur Hugh Clough

 

A H Clough

  Noli Aemulari

In controversial foul impureness
The peace that is thy light to thee
Quench not: in faith and inner sureness
Possess thy soul and let it be.

No violence–perverse–persistent–
What cannot be can bring to be;
No zeal what is make more existent,
And strife but blinds the eyes that see.

What though in blood their souls embruing,
The great, the good and wise they curse,
Still sinning, what they know not doing;
Stand still, forbear, nor make it worse.

By curses, by denunciation,
The coming fate they cannot stay;
Nor thou, by fiery indignation,
Though just, accelerate the day.

Arthur Hugh Clough