08.00 .I missed the note making yesterday because of the revelations concerning the unprecedented statement of the Independent Police Complaints Commission and the endorsements of concerns by first the Home Secretary before the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee and then in answer to a question by the Prime Minister at PMQ’s which was immediately followed by a further statement on behalf of the IPCC which disclosed their knowledge that the draft report of the investigation supervised by that body had recommended that the three senior officers of the Police Federation should face misconduct charges.
It is now evident that all this has been known to key players for sometime and that three Chief Constable collectively decided that the report of the official investigation should reach the opposite conclusion for reason which they will give to the Home Affairs Committee next Wednesday.
They including Sir High Orde the head of the Association of Chief Constables all regard what the three senior officers of the Police Federation did when they immediate faced the press after their meeting with Andrew Mitchell, then still a Cabinet Minister and Chief Whip for the Tory Party led Government. was unacceptable and their reasoning why the men who had lied to the media and public opinion because their mission was to bring the Minister down and therefore can they be trusted not to lie when in Court giving evidence in criminal proceedings against he likes of you and me believing in the guilt but not with evidence available to prove guilt?
The Chief Constables will need to be convincing if their action is not to undermine national confidence in all police officers from this moment and this is not my conclusion from having monitored the media something I will continued to do and report.. In fact they are guilty of misconduct themselves and should resign had now become the central question many are asking.
While there are other developments which affect everyone of more everyday significance, the climbing down of fascist republicans in the USA attempting to effectively bring President Obama down over his Health care reforms for example and the British Gas hike in price which affects me, this matter goes to the heart of democracy and policing by public consent.
The BBC last night via Nick Robinson, summarised the issue as the right of the police to expect a different standard and approach towards their officers of whatever level when they do wrong from that applied to everyone else. I have some sympathy with this view in relation armed services and in fact anyone who has put their personal welfare and indeed their lives at risk in the genuine service to the wider community. However this does not mean cover up but an open admission that wrong has been done and then the judgement should take account of the circumstances and background of the individuals.
This is something which courts and tribunals do every day of every week. Sometimes the hands are tied because of the nature of the particular behaviour and sometimes because the wider issues or circumstances rules out acting with compassion. It is also important that those taking such decisions are not governed by the mob sense of justice.
In this instance account has also to be taken that the same the Police Federation had effectively declared war on the democratically elected government because of the reductions imposed on the overall expenditure budget with the requirement to change the conditions of service in terms of retirement ages, pensions and salary structures and conditions of service, something which the government is doing in relation to the public sector in general. Members supported by the leadership behaved like fascists pigs when the Home Secretary courageously went to the conference of the so called rank and file, so conspiring to bring down Andrew Mitchell, the Government Chief Whip and a cabinet Minister would have been regarded as a great trophy, the sacrifice to make palatable to their membership the reality that change had to be accepted. There would have been growing alarm at the intensity with which the Government appeared to be giving free reign in relation to Hillsborough, Leveson and other cases where the police had demonstrable not only done wrong but were not to be investigated, arrested, charged and prosecuted like the criminals they were employed to bring to justice. (I am also inclined to believe that some officer went on technical strike during the riots that followed the incident in Tottenham when a known but unproven in a court hard criminal was gunned to death). To counter balance the gunning down of two police women answering a call for assistance is fresh still in everyone’s minds, and I hope will always remain so.
It is also important to take account that without being allowed to function as a trade union and therefore the right to strike it is evident that the Police Federation felt they had to exploit whatever means they had at their disposal to express their discontent and in such circumstances, the heat of battle so to speak individuals will always go too far.
It is also important to place these events in the perspective of what happens in an all out war and more recently in the wars of intervention, ostensibly to aid the civilian population when they are incidents of blue on blue, or in the Tottenham case, one officer shot another, or hundreds and indeed thousands of civilians are killed and maimed in friendly fire or by each other as law and order, whether maintained by the military and civilian police breaks down and tribal, religious, political and just personal vendettas control the street with uncontrolled violence the order of the day. This is called collateral damage for the greater good of the cause,
The most significant aspect of the present matter is that the behaviour of the Federation brought down a Cabinet member and crucial political figure within the major party of the British Government although it also be argued that the Prime Minister if he believed what his Minister told him should have stood firmly by him at the time and refused to accept his resignation.
Keith Vas the Labour Party Chair of the Home Affairs Committee has behaved impeccably over the matter and indeed at least one prominent Labour Member has also said that he got the situation wrong at the time based on what the media and the Police has said. This is good and the Labour Opposition should set aside tribal political interests and approach next Wednesday on the basis that an orchestrated and in this instance successful attempt to bring down a Cabinet Members as a means of wounding the Government in an attempt to stop or change Government policy is not just wrong but a threat to the constitution and to good government in a balanced stable society, something which most people assumed the police would be at the forefront. The three Chief Constables appear not to have grasped this significance and is therefore even more vital that they grasp the significance when they appear at the court of public political opinion next week
The other extraordinary aspect which affects how we must view the three senior officers of the Police federation at centre of the current concern, as the Director of Public Prosecutions come to a decision about the five police officers and three civilians arrested over allegations they fabricated what was reported to have happened at the gates of Ten Downing Street when Mr Mitchell is alleged to have sworn at an officer, officers in a particular way, something he has always denied and which is also the subject of civil proceedings against the Sun Newspaper is that the reason they gave at the meeting with Mr Mitchell (and where the IPCC has published verbatim) for not accepting his explanation and moving forward was because he had accused the London officers of being rotten apples in the barrel, their expression, and that police integrity and honesty meant they had to pursue the matter. In effect they were saying we do not believe you and we believe out colleagues in London and then went straight outside and told the media he should resign because of this conviction. The three Police Chief Constables should have tested their legimate explanation of what they did and why through the internal disciplinary proceedings and letting common sense prevail.
In effect what seems to have happened is that the disciplinary investigation took place under the guise of the investigating whether there should be an investigation and although the evidence against the men was string as colleagues found, they exercised the compassion and common sense which in other circumstances most decent people, the men in the Clapham omnibus, jury of ten good more and women would all applaud. Now as the issue is ratcheted up with the nations media focussed on the meeting at the Commons on Wednesday not only is the future of the three men in force made impossible, but I cannot see how the three chief constables can avoid tendering their resignations unless they admit they were wrong, grovel and apologise.
Around 10 am I wrote that I completed part one of exercise and although I did two sessions yesterday still need to do more than 15 mins this afternoon evening to catch up on the half an hour a day average this week having missed one 15 session. Weight is holding which is not good considering the effort than has been made and to do good walking when it is fine in the next week or two if possible otherwise will need to target for annual review and worse still reset target for Christmas.
S.A, machine use down to 8,2 after two shorter session last couple of nights but still very good. Concluded Mah-Jong game with best of 7 games played this season at 17,3 something points I71 game run Patience but not yet commenced the long road back re chess level four having reached the 36 game yesterday. Will leave planning of next till later. Have sorted out food for weekend and fro sometime head with another visit to Asda yesterday but forgot to claim back the £1 from earlier in the week. Must do some cards and presents and then tidy room and vacuum ground floor, take car out and prepare to go out for lunch.
1749 Although there was a wind the sun was bright and warm when sheltered around 13.00 as I went to make a first visit to the Sambucco restaurant on the sea front opposite the Sea Hotel and the roadway to the pier walking. As I discovered as at North Shields there are two restaurants by the same company in close proximity with the second occupying the former harbour control centre at the start of the piers, both have the same excellent menu at £3.95 of Minestrone Soup or Potato skins as a starter, followed by and of the Pizza and Pasta’s all offered with Parmesan cheese and or Black pepper and followed by Coffee or ice cream. A small glass of coke or Pepsi cost £1,45 so with gratuity one is talking of £6 for meal. I will take the option of taking the Ferry over to North Shields and walking to Fish Quay. Afterwards I took the car to Mill Dam for a walk along the Riverside gardens and watched a large Spanish Transport ship leave North Tyneside docks and make its way to the sea along the High tide. The new Haven Point swimming and fitness centre will open on the 28th but with swimming times and daily charges still to be determined I will await until these are known or the centre open for inspection to decide on taking a six month subscription valid for 9 months to pay the individual charge. I need to be able to swim without splashing and having to make way for the speed merchants.
18 59 Good 43 minute exercise session which rounded the week to the 3 and half hours so next week the aim is 4 commencing at 90,02 hours since commencing and spanning 360 plus days although for a long spell the Wii sports took priority and I only did the body test on a daily basis. Until I see how the swimming goes I will continue the programme of two sessions a day and only recommence the sort out dish until just before Christmas when I am away and may find being challenged.
Now for some TV catch although if I watch Question Time I will record This week or both depending on how I feel as the evening progresses
20.00 The Newsroom is a series made by the same team that created The West which I watched most of the episodes over 7 seasons and plan to do so again this time on The DVD is which I bought at bargain price. The series has all the same fast moving talk and interactions and centre on a 24 hours channel which sets very high standards for integrity In this second season I am not sure for how many episodes we have been building up to the most recent viewed as recorded in which the Editor/ Controller in Chief. The Director and the News Front Man tender their resignations because of a set up by an influential source and the falsification of a crucial interview by a new man seeking a permanent position led the team after an investigation lasting nearly year that USA troops had used a chemical weapon when extracting two wounded individuals and which had killed uninvolved inhabitants.
At least two episodes with a third dealing with anther story but also covered the interrogation by the chief lawyer for the company plus other layers in playing the devils advocate in defence of a law suit by the instantly sacked man for £5 million dollars claiming he was the scapegoat for institutional negligence. The owner of the loss making anyway company, a female tycoon with several companies refused to accept the resignations or settle the law suit and brings in her top lawyer and this end the programme an explains the three previous ones n which she ad her team quiz the positions of everyone in the editorial team who participated in the decision taking about the story over the year before it was screened,
The important government source who had provided the station with confirmation on a number of important stories in the pat had a son who was hired by the company at one point, but was hired and then died of illegal drugs and the man blamed the company and his head and plotted his revenge which was to confirm a story he knew to have no official foundation. The man who edited a film to give the impression a retired general had said differently from his qualified statement came with a chip on shoulder about USA involvement in the war and government behaviour and when the assigned assistant was not allowed in the room by the former general the took the subsequent opportunity to edit and was only found out after the story fell apart when the programme director realised there was a time gap in a TV showing football game.
She and also concerns that she had led one of the other witnesses into confirming something he did not know and where it emerged he had sustained brain damage and memory loss for a subsequent incident about which he had been decorated, claiming he had for the award fir a different incident. Thus once the story was shown to have been false despite all the month of investigation and proofs the belief that the institution had failed rather than just the young man who had wilfully and dishonestly mislead, also gained ground..
22.00 There was also time to watch a programme screened previously to mark the 70th birthday of Mohammed Ali someone who is regarded by many in the UK as the greatest sportsman the world has seen both in terms of his ability with lightening fast reflexes as well as a personality with came to endear me and where he developed a support affection for the USA because of the loyalty and support which was maintained during the period when he was not allowed to box by the USA because of his political and religious view of being converted as a Muslim and changing his name from Casius Clay.
He is the only great sportsperson I have met albeit in passing when he came over to the table I was sharing with others and shook his hand at the Town Hall South Shields during a dinner reception to mark his visit to the Town where his marriage to his third wife was blessed at the Mosque attended by thousands of people who came to see him and given their support. His visit was in the same week that the Queen also visited as part of her UK tours to mark the 25th anniversary of coming to the throne and while she too was given a great reception at a gathering at the local stadium Gypsies Green however the natural charismatic charm of Ali had an effect on everyone that I have never witnessed before or since. It was not surprising that he was chosen to be one of those who stood with the Olympic Flag at the 2012 Olympics along with the other International figures selected.
I also went on to watch Question Time and This week where Diane Abbot was back to be reported next writing and also and watched the second health programme in which the need to stand and walk was emphasised to compensate for all the sitting down I do as well as how help someone who is choking.
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