POLICE TARGETS

A few months ago I was caught by police for not wearing a seat-belt on a short trip to get the morning paper (I normally walk but not this day). They filled in the documentation and drove back to base to collect their points and I went to the council to pay the fine. I refrained from asking why they weren't out chasing "real" criminals. But after they left a passer-by said that he had been in the town a few evenings earlier and a large group of youngsters were creating mayhem. Not a copper in sight. Possibly just a simple, small police presence was all that was needed.
Yesterday the head of the Police Federation hit the nail on the head when she said that government targets mean that some forces will make a playground incident between children a statistical "crime" (when in the past a quiet word would have done the trick, assuming police were involved at all). She said there is a growing perception that police are targetting "middle England" (and polite geriatrics) rather than dealing with more serious crimes (and proper thugs). How right she is. As she says there is nothing wrong with targets per se but they have to be the right targets.

And I'm certainly not saying that police shouldn't pull up people who are not wearing a seat-belt. Just that it's beginning to look as if police priorities are skewed towards dealing with this sort of offence at the expense of others. Jan Berry, the head in question, made a comment to the effect that police were "spending too much time inside counting things instead of outside doing things"

BBC AND THE QUEEN

Reports in yesterday's press claim that the BBC is preparing for the death of Elizabeth II by seeking out people who will be prepared to mount a critical attack on her on the night of her death. I am pleased to say they are not having much success so far. It seems even some famous people well known for a republican political stance are refusing either because of the personal qualities of our present monarch or because they find the timing distasteful. Perhaps they judge the likely mood of her people better than those smug BBC apparatniks. For myself I believe she has served this country well. I think Charles will do the same. President Tony with Presidentess Cherie would not only be a disaster but also a very expensive one.

VISTA

Just had to buy a new PC as a result of a major crash. Fortunately almost all my data was backed up and I lost only a few bits and pieces. Naturally the new one came with Vista. My God! — is it slow!! The old one under XP was much faster even though the new one has twice the RAM (about 2GB).

HEALTH AND SAFETY TALIBAN

The boss of West Yorkshire Police has raised a few hackles by references to the Health and Safety Taliban. He believes that H and S concerns can make it easier for police to do nothing in a crisis. Talking about the recent Menezes case when the Metropolitan force were prosecuted for H and S offences he described the trial as "a triumph for health and safety, a lucrative new territory for lawyers, and a disaster for common sense". He suggests that the armchair H and S Taliban are creating doubt in situation where there was once certainty.
Lisa Fowlie, one of the Taliban leaders (actually President of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health), claims they are making the country a safer place.
The rest of us can only be thankful that West Yorkshire have a man of sense at the helm.

HSE

An Aberdeenshire landowner gave a pensioner friend permission to cut down a dead tree for firewood. The tree fell badly killing the old man. His children, who were with him, his widow and the police all say it was an unfortunate accident. The widow does not hold the landowner in any way responsible. But Health and Safety Executive are still investigating, at great expense, and may prosecute. Perhaps if they have staff to waste on this tragic event they should transfer some to Maidstone where people are dying by the busload in local hospitals.

TOY GUNS

I have no problem with police arresting and throwing in clink people, including teenagers, who threaten people with imitation firearms in circumstances where the weapon could be taken to be real. But if it's black and orange plastic wielded outside his home by an 8-year-old it's probably better to call it a toy gun — unless gunmakers are now switching to orange as a fashion statement. Which didn't stop an officer of the Wiltshire force from ordering Samuel England (age 8) to smash his toy or be arrested. In the end that fate was averted when his stepfather smashed the toy for him. But the copper left only for 5 minutes before returning to order Samuel's 6-year-old sister Sophie not to ride her barbie car on the pavement. I blame the parents — why can't they send the children up to their bedroom to surf the internet like every other self-respecting child? Of course if the officer had for one second suspected the toy could be the real thing he would have hidden behind a hedge a mile away whilst he called in bomber command for backup. And if youngsters still play with "action man" dolls I trust the range doesn't include a copper as many of the men in blue don't qualify for such a title.

CHILD CRIMINALS

So a 10-year-old in Rawtenstall (Lancashire) got fingerprinted by police and fined £40 for writing on a neighbour's wall in crayon. Well she was a naughty little girl to do that but hardly a criminal. I'm all in favour of stopping children, even 10-year-olds, from messing up their neighbour's property. But all it needs is a good tongue-lashing, which her mother says she got, or a spanking. I'd need to know more about the girl to decide which was appropriate. When I lived very many years ago not far from that Rossendale town nobody, had I committed such a crime, would have been upset if the neighbour had punished me or made me rub it off. But now with policemen and social services alert to every touch, neighbours tend to grit their teeth and keep hands off. Seems like overkill to me.

Perhaps not entirely unconnected is a report that Jacqui Smith, Home Secretary in Gordy's new broom government wanted to toughen up police targets to increase the number of arrests for serious offences. I don't pretend to know how the targets operate but basically at present a policemen gets as many points for arresting a 10-year-old girl as for dealing with a 17-year-old lad on the streets with a knife. Given the choice which would you choose? In fairness it seems some officers would rather deal with "real" crime and feel they are being let down by management. And though the targets may apply in reality to the force, rather than individuals, they must generate pressures from command levels which feed down to men on the beat. In any case it's all academic because Jack Straw has said he can't agree to a policy which would put more people in jail because there isn't room. So the law and order aspect of Gordy's new broom is just a sham.

CHEEK

A 10-year old just outside a primary school in Chatham threw a blackberry at a young woman. She chased after him, caught him, and gave him a good walloping. Excellent — that'll teach him how to behave. Normally nowadays the police arrest and charge adults who so much as glare at a child but this woman was a Slovak.

STREET SCENE

Vehicle parked on pavement on a fairly busy road on outskirts of Dystopia. A lot of people walk into town this way. Quite a few with a pushchair or buggy with small children. This person leaves them no choice but to leave the footpath and go on the road. As you can see it's just after a bend. An accident waiting to happen.

CARRIER BAG CRIME

A hardened dangerous criminal was sentenced at Swindon after police charged him with criminal damage. The 16 year old boy had torn the handles of a fellow pupil's carrier bag which she was using to carry PE kit. The report claims the value of the bag as a penny. Glad to know the police are following up these incidents with such zeal.

POLICE AND HEALTH and SAFETY

The drowning of Jordan Lyon has stirred up quite a lot of comment, much of it uncomplimentary to the PCSOs involved. Greater Manchester police continue to insist that for reasons of Health and Safety the PCSOs took the right action in not entering the water as they are not trained for it. Apparently this applies to many real policemen as well. Some letters to the press have pointed out that they had a duty as human beings. It's also only fair to say that accounts of what happened seem rather vague at times but it appears that by the time the PCSOs arrived on the scene that Jordan was already under water. A Sergeant Craig Lippitt who stripped off and dived in had also not been trained in water rescue. Greater Manchester say they will not discipline him for this breach of discipline so he's better off than Tam Brown, a firefighter I referred to in previous post, who was reprimanded after rescuing a woman from the Tay. I suspect that Sergeant Lippitt is one of many thousands of decent officers who want to get on with doing the job like the blogger David Copperfield. David Copperfield has recently "come out" and given his real name. He's off to police Canada. I wish him the best in his future life but he's the sort of officer we can ill afford to lose.

BRAVERY & UNBRAVERY

Jordan Lyon, a 10-year old, rescued his younger sister Bethany from a pond. The deputy coroner at the inquest drew attention to his bravery. Why an inquest? Because Jordan himself got into difficulties and drowned whilst two PCSOs (Police Community Support Officers) looked on and didn't enter the water. He died in hospital after being pulled out of the water by his stepfather and another man. The police force are supporting the PCSOs as it seems they are not "trained to deal with that sort of situation". They haven't done the "jump in water course" but I'm sure they've done the "put on bright yellow macho jacket" course that enables them to go round harassing ordinary peace-loving members of the public.
And it's only a few months ago that a Scottish fireman was disciplined for entering a swollen river to help a woman. I should have thought he deserved a "mention in despatches" or whatever the fire-service equivalent is but it seems the fire service have rules about that sort of thing (entering water without authorisation). Perhaps he should get a job as a PCSO and the two PCSOs could work in the fire-brigade and then all will be well.

PARKING

Saturday and a large car park full. Some parkers are totally moronic and lacking in consideration.

RECIPE BOOKS

Wednesday's Daily Telegraph had a story that a government study has found that some recipe books are easier to read than others. The Department of Innovation, Universities and skills has found that some recipes with long sentences and complicated words mean that users need to be equipped with GCSE standard reading skills.
Well isn't that what children are supposed to finish up with these days? Or do their "civic" lessons not leave enough time on the timetable to master reading? Anyway the implication seems to be "Nigella bad, Gordon and Nigel good". Haven't the government got better things to do? When I buy a cookery book it is nice to get one with easy straightforward dishes. And for the process of cooking to be described in a way I can understand. Some writers can make anything complicated — just don't buy a cook book written by a man whose normal job is writing manuals for video recorders. But I don't need the government to interfere. Why stick at recipes anyway? What about novels? Lets see how Salmon Rushdie compares with Agatha Christie. And that guy Chaucer has a lot to answer for — but it's too late to rap his knuckles.

POLICE AGAIN

There has been correspondence on the letters page about children's outdoor play. One yesterday from a Janet Norton (of London) says that when she takes her children to the local park the playground has often been vandalised and beer cans and worse (her word) are strewn around.
On Monday a Mark Fenton from Lancashire relates that he passed a children's play area whilst walking his dogs. A group of about 10 youths were drinking alcohol and smashing bottles so that the area was strewn with broken glass. Walking on a short distance he came across a policeman sitting in his car and told him what was going on. The officer basically told him to go away and report it to the council. The officer remained in his car for another 15 minutes. Anything for an easy life. There is, I believe, a connection between these two stories.

AIRGUNS

The Scottish Executive are proposing a ban on airguns. To some extent this is political posturing as weapons control is at present a matter which is reserved to Westminster. A ban would have minimal effect. Restrictions on firearms were tightened after Hungerford and again after Dunblane when it became illegal to possess a pistol/revolver/automatic weapon/rifle. Nevertheless as we have seen in the past three weeks a large number of teenagers seem to have no problems in getting hold of one. I expect the illegality just increases the value as a "status" object. Unless the police make a determined effort to prosecute anyone they find with such a weapon, and the men in red dressing gowns send them to prison, new laws are a waste of time.

BEAT BOBBIES

For several days now the press and TV have been reporting on the search for the teenage killer of Rhys Jones an 11 year old boy. Arrests have been made of several teenagers who were then released. Once again police have been appealing for witnesses and/or information that could lead to the killer. Of course if there had been bobbies on the beat, as some in the community had requested, they might have built up a rapport and known what was happening on their patch. As things stand police seem to zoom into an area after disaster strikes and might as well be men from Mars.

EMIGRATION

So the latest figures show that record numbers of Britons are leaving the country. Not too hard to see why as the country under Labour and Blair has turned into a shambles. Labour being aided by the police, the men in red dressing gowns, others in the legal profession, and miscellaneous human rights activists. In the last fortnight we have seen two ordinary decent people murdered by teenage yobs. One got out of his sister's car to remonstrate when youths threw chocolate into the car. He didn't get out to start a fight — just to ask why the lad had done it. He was killed. And in Warrington a family man was killed when he went out to speak to a gang who were vandalising a mechanical digger. In the second case it seems that gangs of youths were a frequent problem as they are in many areas. The police do a good job of catching murderers (I'm often surprised at their success rate) but if they were more pro-active in dealing with "yobbery" there wouldn't be as many murders.
The other case that has been in the headlines is that of the Italian murderer of Stephen Lawrence who may be released next year but is unlikely to be deported. This is a result of an EU directive and, more marginally, the Human Rights Act. On release he will be able to join Afghan hijackers who are also at liberty to remain in this country. Apparently if they were deported they might not be treated very nicely. There is a massive legal industry devoted to helping the dregs of humanity. The two judges on the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal that decided Chindamo's case earn around £100,000 a year (there was also a lay member). But there is an army of solicitors and barristers working in these areas, all paid for out of legal aid — ie by the taxpayer.

BBC

The BBC sinks further into the gutter by the hour. Earlier this week it was announced they had been fined £50,000 for rigging a children's phone-in show. As a letter to the press pointed out no-one got sacked and the fine comes out of licence money. The great British Public has to pay for the sins of this wretched corporation. The latest scandal was a film of a Year with the Queen. One episode dealt with a photo shoot by Annie Leibowitz. A trailer was produced to market the film. Peter Fincham, Controller of BBC, had the trailer shown to press and sure enough the next day the UK papers had images/stories of the Queen stomping out of the session in high dudgeon after Annie had suggested she remove her crown. Except the trailer was in the wrong sequence. Queen complaining about heavy, hot, ceremonial dress came before she met Annie. Of course Peter doesn't regard it as a resigning matter — why should he when he's on such a cushy number? The BBC just don't get it: nobody trusts them as impartial purveyors of truth any more.

SCHOOL CURRICULUM

A recent report by Civitas notes the harmful effects of increased political interference in the school curriculum. This is partly through attempts to make education anti-elitist and to make it more relevant to children. Examples given include history where children studying for GCSE often learn next to nothing about British history in the past but discuss more modern themes such as Hitler, Stalin and present-day terrorism. Some would say they are learning a methodology rather than 'facts'. In science they may discuss the virtues of GM crops, genetic engineering, nuclear power, and environment ('green') issues. My own feeling is that:-
1. Many children do not have a wide range of knowledge on many issues. If you do not have a good grasp of the scientific facts (in the case of the last topics mentioned) you are not really in a position to discuss them. Many pupils who do not read at home, do not have parents who talk about these matters, will need to be 'led' which brings me to point 2.
2. A politically motivated teacher or one with a 'cause' can put forward a distorted view. Or present controversial theories as gospel truth.

LONDON 2012

So it now appears that the much criticised logo for London2012 which cost £400,000 may actually net quite a lot more for its producers when it appears as an element in letterheads and other materials. All this so a few prima donnas in T-shirts and short shorts can jump up and down at cost of millions to the hard-working public.

DIANA

So Channel4 decide to screen their documentary of the fatal crash of Diana, once Princess of Wales. On the BBC a speaker for one of the political parties stated that there had been several inquiries but there were still unanswered questions. Doubtless he thought this tacky programme would solve the issues once and for all. Why do we bother with coroner's inquests. In future deaths let us just hand footage of the accident or moment of death (if available) to C4 together with close-ups of the autopsy/post-mortem and let the viewers phone in and vote. Rather than costing money it will probably make money.