Peter Reynolds

How many weeks on and we still have no progress on the police murder at the G20 protest?  What is the IPCC up to?

Brutal Assault

Now, again, we have crystal clear proof of outrageous, unjustified police assault.  It is a huge failure of leadership that the Chief Constable Of Nottingham has not already had the officers concerned in this scandal suspended and charged.   More than that, I believe that his failure to do so is a criminal offence in itself.  He is not just dithering, he is failing in his most fundamental duty – to protect the public.

Our tolerance level for this sort of police conduct is already terrifyingly high.  If he does not act then the Home Secretary should step in immediately.  This is not time for enquiries.  This is time for police thugs to be treated like any other lowlife pig and put in irons.

Mob Rule

In one of the most tightly policed locations in the country a mob is allowed to shout down, assault and drive off Nick Griffin, the new BNP MEP without any police intervention?   See the full story here.

I am very, very frightened by this.  Much more so than by the election of a couple of idiots to a stage where they will be able to make even bigger fools of themselves.

Sir Paul Stephenson! Are you a man or a mouse, a police officer or a political servant?

Man Or Mouse?

You seem to act under ruling party political direction when it is unnecessary – Damian Green.  You fail to act when it is crucial – banker robbers, MPs expenses, police violence and today’s blatant blind eye.

So are we supposed to be surprised that Gordon Brown is still clinging by his fingernails to the architrave at the door of number 10?  They couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery, an orgy in an whorehouse or a coup in the Labour Party.  Why?  Because they all have nothing  but their own interests at heart.  Their last year in office, their pensions, their resettlement grants.  These are not men.  They are manipulative, morally microscopic mice.

Phwooaar! Gerrumorrf darlin'!

Plod PR, the go-getting communications agency, wholly owned by the police with exclusively the police as clients summoned all its collective intelligence and wisdom to determine that last Friday, the day after the European and local elections would be a busy news day, a perfect occasion to bury their cowardly, disgraceful announcement that MPs will not be prosecuted.

In fact, the expenses scandal has now morphed into an excuse for poor performance in the elections.  This is a triumph of misinformation over truth.  Over the weekend, we were asked to sympathise over the “assault on MPs about their expenses”.  If what has happened has constitued assault then my feeling is that it’s time for some GBH with intent.

Everything has now been re-geared to enable them all to get away with it.  Perhaps even more worrying is that this marks a new development in the politicisation of the police.  Increasingly the police are being used to support and enforce the whim of government,  irrespective of the law or justice.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance is still chasing down MPs (see here) but what has happened to the Telegraph?  Have they had a visit in the middle of the night from the police or have big, fat, brown envelopes been distributed around Telegraph Towers – or both?

So I learned today that my own MP, Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, has his snout in the trough too.

He is one of several MPs who have claimed and been paid for tax advice from Dennis Bates, ex-Inland Revenue employee and wife of Labour MP, Meg Munn.  Mr Bates’ bill to Jim Knight explicitly stated “professional services in connection with your personal tax affairs”.

Scumbag Thief

No reasonable person can believe that claiming such an expense is legitimate.  I have therefore written today to the Chief Constable of Dorset, Martin Baker, making a complaint of dishonesty.  I take no pleasure in this.  I regard it as my duty.

Jim Knight states on his own website on the subject of MPs expenses: “…more serious abuses must be referred to the police and action taken that matches any other employment and any other citizen…”

Let us see what happens.

What exactly is it that entitles cabinet ministers to have their accountants’ fees paid for by the taxpayer?

All nine ministers must be sacked and the police brought in to investigate.  There is not the slightest excuse for this blatant thievery.

Scumbag Thief

This is perhaps the most disgraceful episode of all.  While you can argue (well you can try)  that duck houses and food bills have something to do with a second home which is necessitated by Parliamentary duties, claiming your accountants fees on expenses is nothing short of cheating the taxpayer.

Alistair Darling, Jacqui Smith, Hazel Blears, David Miliband, James Purnell, Douglas Alexander, Geoff Hoon and Hilary Benn – you are liars, cheats and thieves.  You should all be behind bars.

If your expenses do not pass that test then you have broken the rules.  It’s black and white.  Forget the background, the explanation, that you deserve a bigger salary, how busy you were at the time,  saying you were only obeying the rules (“orders” in the Nuremberg defence).  All these miscreant MPs must be brought to account and if the police are not going to have the courage to take the necessary steps then some other method must be devised by which to bring these cheats before the courts.

I believe in the media.  I think it’s a power for good.  OK, so The Daily Telegraph has turned into The News Of The World and there is much else that is crass and false and wrong but it is the media that reveals truth and brings about change.

There can be no option now but jail for some MPs, dismissal for some, resignation for many and shame for most.  Those dishonest and corrupt members of the House Of Lords deserve even worse.   I also wrote much the same a few weeks ago about the police after the disgrace of the G20 murder and assaults – and what has happened?  Nothing!  For anyone else charges would already have been brought.  Undoubtedly the violent policemen are free on bail and strings are being pulled to breaking point to keep them free.

Well let them break.  We all saw it with our own eyes as we have seen the crimes of our politicians.  We need no more prevarication.

This is the power of the media and I look forward to the day when we see these politicians, policemen and, yes, the bankers too, chained together as they are led into jail.

1. Why do we need an enquiry into the policing of demonstrations when all we are asking for is that all those  involved should obey the law?

2. Why were any files about Hillsborough secret in the first place?

3. Can you think of a more inappropriate person to be posting anything on YouTube than Alistair Darling?

There have always been bullies and violent individuals in the police.  Much has been done to reduce the problem but at the expense of overburdening all officers with paperwork.  The two brutal thugs who have been caught in the act of murder and assault at the G20 protests must be dealt with as severely as possible.  They are guilty not only of inexcusable violence but of breach of trust which hugely magnifies the seriousness of their crimes.

Yes, the enquiries must be allowed to run their course but no reasonable person can have any doubt that what we have seen on our television screens are crimes, both of which will require long prison sentences where, perhaps, these individuals will get the treatment they really deserve.

One of the most worrying aspects of both these cases is that both officers, against all the rules, appear to have removed their identifying numbers.  This indicates a premeditated intent to behave in a way that they do not want to be held accountable for.

This no time for the sort of weasel words and pathetic excuses which we are already seeing.  This is a case of  “THUG PLOD, STUPID PLOD, DUMB PLOD”.  The Tactical Support Group (TSG)  must be disbanded immediately.  Any unit that can demonstrate such inept, cynical, criminal behaviour must go and now!

I admit, I am not a 100% law abiding citizen.  I park on yellow lines.  I exceed the speed limit.  I smoke weed.  BUT I would describe myself as a strong supporter of the police.  Any society has to have rules and that means there has to be someone to enforce them.  I don’t envy the police in their responsibilities and I admire the way that many of them are fulfilled.  If you’ve ever been in a traffic accident and seen the way they deal with such chaos amidst the confusion, fear and danger, you have to admire their training and focus.  If you’ve ever lived in central London and experienced the little shits, wasters and a***holes who plague the streets then you have to admire their patience and persistence.

I think “institutional racism” was probably a fair criticism but then it was born out of the fact that the majority of street violence and crime was carried out by young black men – and still is.  If I was a policeman I’d probably be “stopping and searching” more blacks than whites.  It wouldn’t be my job to worry about the causes and the social whys and wherefores.  My job would be to protect the public.

There is another institution in the police though and its been there for years.  You can call it cynicism.  You can understand it by realising that they see themselves, inevitably, as separated from the rest of us – on another side.  You can appreciate how the ridiculous administrative load they are placed under grinds them down. BUT they can be their own worst enemies when they deal with people in a way that alienates and antagonises those that want to support them.

I had an experience with my local police in Havant recently that, at the end of the day, just makes me sad.  It’s a leadership issue really and whilst I feel pretty sore at the rather stupid young policewoman who tried to stitch me up, I don’t really blame her.  She’s a foot soldier, not gifted with huge intelligence and steeped in this destructive culture of “us and them”.

I had some property stolen from me in what you might call a “domestic” context.  In fact it wasn’t mine.  If it was I’d probably have let it go but I had to get it back and I had no option but to look to the police to do their job and enforce the law.

So, knowing all too well that if I telephoned it in or even went to the police station to report it, I’d just be brushed aside, I made a written complaint.

After two weeks I’d had no response at all so I managed (with extreme difficulty) to find an email address and sent a reminder.  It took several further emails and a number of telephone calls before, nearly six weeks after my initial complaint, a crime reference number was allocated.

Another week later I attended at Havant police station to make a statement.  I very much had the impression that the policewoman was just going through the motions and she was much more interested in any detail that would enable her to write the matter off as a “domestic” rather than deal with the real issue.  I did say to her that I felt I was entitled to rely on the police to take action but I didn’t think that was unreasonable.

Nevertheless, she took my statement and was pleasant enough.  She made some small talk and casually enquired how I had travelled to the police station and where I was parked.

As she showed me out of the police station we met two of her colleagues in the corridor who I held the door open for.  I returned to my car, drove less than 25 yards from my parking space and was suddenly and violently intercepted by a police van driving across in front of me.

The two colleagues I had met in the police station emerged from the van and told me that they proposed to breathalyse me.  They called another car in and I found myself on the pavement surrounded by four police officers being made to take a breath test – which I passed.

Draw your own conclusions.  Mine are that I have no confidence in Havant police at all, in their bona fides, good intentions, integrity, intelligence or even common sense.  I don’t blame the policewoman involved because she’s just a victim of the police culture that creates this sort of stupid, dumb, “us and them” culture.

In the higher echelons of the police force there are clearly some very clever people doing fantastic work on matters such as anti-terrorism and thank God they are.  Amongst the footsoldiers, as well as the heroes and those who understand their role as a public servants,  there are undoubtedly inadequate individuals who choose a uniform to bolster their own self image and who enjoy wielding authority that is beyond their ability.

It is a leadership issue.  If you antagonise, offend, upset and deal shabbily with those you are supposed to “protect and serve” then where do you expect your support to come from?