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.