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..posted by a good friend of mine on Facebook, thought I'd share it on here. He's a former professional footballer (briefly for Birmingham City) and a former copper, working mainly out of Camden police station. He grew up in Kilburn/Queens Park. He's now a writer (among other things).
Worth a read I think, hope you enjoy, whether you agree with him or not, even when he veers off-topic...
"Thoughts of the Week (part 1)
Let’s start with a subheading. ‘Dear, oh dear Diane Abbot!’
In the upcoming General Election campaign and apart from the ‘Leader’ (no, not Gary Glitter) no one is more important for the Labour Party campaign than the Shadow Home Secretary. Why’s this? You ask. The reason is obvious: Theresa May —the strong woman, Ms subtle, but steely - was the former Home Secretary. A position which she used to inflict near terminal ravages of the nation’s police forces. Under her auspices we saw numbers cut, benefits cut and police stations closed willy-nilly to cash in, short-term, on the booming (especially in London) property market.
The short-sightedness of this policy is astounding. No matter the so-called austerity budget (which only seems to apply to the working classes, while the privileged elite continue to live the life of Riley) the question must be asked as to what will happen when there’s some serious social unrest — and you can feel it stirring. Remember 2011 when the riots broke out? We had anarchy and nihilism on the streets and the police force didn’t cope with it at all. Instead we had a grand mopping up campaign. Suddenly all those poor silly students who had been demonised as hard-core criminals after they smashed the windows of the Tory HQ — and received ridiculously harsh prison sentences for what were in the main first offences - were kicked out of the pokey and replaced by the new batch of rioters. The Criminal Justice system ground to a halt, the prison’s overflowed. The courts were as ram-jam packed as a back-in-the-day David Rodigan dance. In response what did the great Theresa May do? She further decimated the police force. She did the same to the prison service. The vaunted Border Force, our first defence, is comically short of manpower and morale as they attempt to hire staff on Mickey-Mouse contracts. Labour should be slaughtering Theresa May on what she’s done. Instead we got that car crash of an interview on LBC.
To be honest I resisted calls to listen to it for a time. Some of my more right-leaning pals were raving about it, but I thought they were overreacting due to a general contempt for the Hackney MP. I was wrong. When I actually got round to listening to it I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was stunningly incompetent, mind-blowingly nonsensical, embarrassing and shocking. Is this the Shadow Home Secretary who’s going to lead the challenge to Theresa May’s record? She should have stood down immediately and if not the great leader should have forced her hand, no matter past rendezvous in the sack. Of course it didn’t happen and Labour under Jeremy Corbyn has no hope in this election. What a shame it all is because there are loads of issues that they should be taking the government to task on. Just look at that bumbling Tommy Cooper impersonator of a Foreign Secretary, a million miles removed from a serious statesman: Mr Retraction — an embarrassment to the nation.
I’m voting Labour in the coming election, but not for Jeremy, more for the thought of the millions of people who are going to suffer under the coming five years of Tory rule: the working men and women who haven’t seen their wages rise, in real terms, for the last thirty years, while the fat cats, sharks and speculators are minted; the students starting out life saddled with debt; the millions who’ll never be able to afford a home; and in honour of the National Health Service, soon to be dismantled further, but remaining the brightest light in the nation’s modern history. What a rotten, unfair and unbalanced society we’ve become.
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 09:30 - Jun 5 by 2Thomas2Bowles
It's commonplace that the interviewer talks over, you see it all the time on the BBC
Well when politicians are ignoring the question and just answering the one they wish they'd been asked instead that's fair enough but that lad was trying to explain from a position of personal experience and never got to finish a sentence. TBF to the presenters they'll have been told they had three minutes for that slot and they'll have some aggressive EP in their ear shouting out how long is left and questions that still need to be asked.
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 09:40 - Jun 5 with 2138 views
I almost surprised that none of the resident lefties on this board has complained about the latest political U-turn, this time not by May but by Corbyn with his change of heart on shoot to kill. Took his time but I guess that the rest of the u-turns will come if he gets power, u-turn on Trident, (you watch a review occur before the next party conference, u-turn on tax on earners below £80,000, they will have to because the top 1% who pay 25% of income tax will find ways to reduce their bills, increases in IHT with a lowering of the limit which will make the so-called Tory dementia tax a much more popular proposition, and this by the way would continue not to affect the richest who will make sure that multiple layers of trusts would protect their wealth, u-turn on public sector pay, because they will have no money and in any case a good number of these people will be much worse off once the cost of borrowing escalates in line with the cost of government borrowing, along with inflation. Will be interesting times if this happens and I will predict one thing that by the end of the next parliament the people who will have suffered the most financially will still be the poorest. They always do, they always will.
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 10:00 - Jun 5 by DWQPR
I almost surprised that none of the resident lefties on this board has complained about the latest political U-turn, this time not by May but by Corbyn with his change of heart on shoot to kill. Took his time but I guess that the rest of the u-turns will come if he gets power, u-turn on Trident, (you watch a review occur before the next party conference, u-turn on tax on earners below £80,000, they will have to because the top 1% who pay 25% of income tax will find ways to reduce their bills, increases in IHT with a lowering of the limit which will make the so-called Tory dementia tax a much more popular proposition, and this by the way would continue not to affect the richest who will make sure that multiple layers of trusts would protect their wealth, u-turn on public sector pay, because they will have no money and in any case a good number of these people will be much worse off once the cost of borrowing escalates in line with the cost of government borrowing, along with inflation. Will be interesting times if this happens and I will predict one thing that by the end of the next parliament the people who will have suffered the most financially will still be the poorest. They always do, they always will.
Yeah avoid the damning posts on May ( you know the person who was the head of home office) and her cuts and switch it to Corbyn
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 09:05 - Jun 5 by wood_hoop
Interesting, certainly opened my eyes.
So nothing to do with foreign policy then as some argue.
How you stop these attacks is another matter. An Imam on the radio this morning was saying that Prevent is a strategy that is working but it is certain Ismalic groups/people (and now some policiticans) that are trying to hinder it. To me, I"'d be sticking more money into Prevent rather than the simplistic (and trying to make political gain) argument that you fix by putting more police on the street.
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:17 - Jun 5 with 1968 views
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:11 - Jun 5 by JamesB1979
So nothing to do with foreign policy then as some argue.
How you stop these attacks is another matter. An Imam on the radio this morning was saying that Prevent is a strategy that is working but it is certain Ismalic groups/people (and now some policiticans) that are trying to hinder it. To me, I"'d be sticking more money into Prevent rather than the simplistic (and trying to make political gain) argument that you fix by putting more police on the street.
Bit of spin there, no one has said the only answer is more police on the streets but you can't hide from the fact that the cuts to police spending is a factor.
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:17 - Jun 5 by 2Thomas2Bowles
Bit of spin there, no one has said the only answer is more police on the streets but you can't hide from the fact that the cuts to police spending is a factor.
Hardly spin. It''s about where the money should be spent. Who's to say the police numbers we have now is the right number? Or should we have 50,000 more....why 20,000. The only reason 20,000 is used as a number is because 2009 was the peak. Numbers today are in line with number in 2003. That doesn't get mentioned. That's spin.
People should be talking about where money should be spent best. In my view, Prevent is way to go.
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:22 - Jun 5 with 1956 views
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:11 - Jun 5 by JamesB1979
So nothing to do with foreign policy then as some argue.
How you stop these attacks is another matter. An Imam on the radio this morning was saying that Prevent is a strategy that is working but it is certain Ismalic groups/people (and now some policiticans) that are trying to hinder it. To me, I"'d be sticking more money into Prevent rather than the simplistic (and trying to make political gain) argument that you fix by putting more police on the street.
But just (to paraphrase); "sticking more money into Prevent rather than putting more police on the street." is a single simplistic answer to a complex nuanced issue in itself isn't it?
Why wouldn't / couldn't you do a combination (and other things like more resources to intelligence services too)?
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:22 - Jun 5 with 1950 views
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:22 - Jun 5 by BasingstokeR
But just (to paraphrase); "sticking more money into Prevent rather than putting more police on the street." is a single simplistic answer to a complex nuanced issue in itself isn't it?
Why wouldn't / couldn't you do a combination (and other things like more resources to intelligence services too)?
for reason i gave above.
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:25 - Jun 5 with 1940 views
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:21 - Jun 5 by JamesB1979
Hardly spin. It''s about where the money should be spent. Who's to say the police numbers we have now is the right number? Or should we have 50,000 more....why 20,000. The only reason 20,000 is used as a number is because 2009 was the peak. Numbers today are in line with number in 2003. That doesn't get mentioned. That's spin.
People should be talking about where money should be spent best. In my view, Prevent is way to go.
What price would you put on your kids safety as you seem to feel saving money is the issue here
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:27 - Jun 5 by 2Thomas2Bowles
What price would you put on your kids safety as you seem to feel saving money is the issue here
[Post edited 5 Jun 2017 11:27]
No I'm for spending the money in the right areas. That was what I was saying. Just sticking 20,000 more police on street may not be the answer or even part of it. You've also picked on one sentence I made. What about where the 20,000 comes from?
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:31 - Jun 5 with 1897 views
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:25 - Jun 5 by Northernr
May up giving a speech, very deliberately trying to wrestle the whole conversation back to Brexit negotiations.
Yep, that's definitely their strategy - move the conversation away from domestic issues.
Anecdotally, from the canvassing I've done Brexit really doesn't come up on the doorstep as much as you'd imagine from the national level conversation.
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:32 - Jun 5 with 1891 views
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:31 - Jun 5 by FDC
Yep, that's definitely their strategy - move the conversation away from domestic issues.
Anecdotally, from the canvassing I've done Brexit really doesn't come up on the doorstep as much as you'd imagine from the national level conversation.
It'll drag on, it'll cost loads, it won't be as bad as people are making out nor as wonderful as others think it will. Much more important stuff around hospitals, police and security services that needs prioritising now.
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:36 - Jun 5 with 1872 views
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:33 - Jun 5 by Northernr
It'll drag on, it'll cost loads, it won't be as bad as people are making out nor as wonderful as others think it will. Much more important stuff around hospitals, police and security services that needs prioritising now.
I think most people are just resigned to pretty much that.
The Us v Them, spirit-of-Churchill, "Corbyn isn't strong enough" stuff is aimed squarely at UKIP voters I think, which is understandable. Whether or not it's enough to persuade a big enough bloc over to Conservative to cancel out first-time youth voters is probably what will decide the election.
[Post edited 5 Jun 2017 11:38]
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 11:37 - Jun 5 with 1871 views
Manchester bomber was known to authorities. Westminster bridge killer known to authorities. Latest lot known to authorities. They're always known to the authorities. How comes no one draws the conclusion that maybe the authorities are to blame? These people are allowed to flourish in our midst because it suits the authorities.
Here's some information to get your heads around:
"The suicide bomber, Salman Abedi, was part of an extremist group, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, that thrived in Manchester and was cultivated and used by MI5 for more than 20 years.
The LIFG is proscribed by Britain as a terrorist organisation which seeks a "hardline Islamic state" in Libya and "is part of the wider global Islamist extremist movement, as inspired by al-Qaida".
The "smoking gun" is that when Theresa May was Home Secretary, LIFG jihadists were allowed to travel unhindered across Europe and encouraged to engage in "battle": first to remove Mu'ammar Gadaffi in Libya, then to join al-Qaida affiliated groups in Syria.
Last year, the FBI reportedly placed Abedi on a "terrorist watch list" and warned MI5 that his group was looking for a "political target" in Britain. Why wasn't he apprehended and the network around him prevented from planning and executing the atrocity on 22 May?
These questions arise because of an FBI leak that demolished the "lone wolf" spin in the wake of the 22 May attack - thus, the panicky, uncharacteristic outrage directed at Washington from London and Donald Trump's apology."
Critical question:
"Why did the security service MI5 maintain terrorist "assets" in Manchester and why did the government did not warn the public of the threat in their midst?"
This question "remains unanswered, deflected by the promise of an internal "review".
"In 2011, according to Middle East Eye, the LIFG in Manchester were known as the "Manchester boys". Implacably opposed to Mu'ammar Gaddafi, they were considered high risk and a number were under Home Office control orders - house arrest - when anti-Gaddafi demonstrations broke out in Libya, a country forged from myriad tribal enmities.
Suddenly the control orders were lifted. "I was allowed to go, no questions asked," said one LIFG member. MI5 returned their passports and counter-terrorism police at Heathrow airport were told to let them board their flights."
Edit: just seen Lytham's posted very similarly and quoted the excellent John Pilger article in the London Bridge thread. Well I think it's equally pertinent here too, but sorry for the dupe.
Why does it suit the authorities for these people to flourish in our society? Moan about the Tories all you want but to say they're almost complicit in these attacks is ridiculous.
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 12:12 - Jun 5 with 1791 views
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 09:22 - Jun 5 by Northernr
With those two over-paid chumps would stop interrupting him and let him explain.
He was on again this morning, can't find the linky thing to put up, very much blamed Wahhabism or the Saudi's for want of a clearer description.
Oops, not allowed to infere they are in the middle of so much Ismalist terror, think of all the jobs and May's mates being not being able to pay the club fees.
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 12:40 - Jun 5 with 1757 views
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 12:04 - Jun 5 by JamesB1979
Why does it suit the authorities for these people to flourish in our society? Moan about the Tories all you want but to say they're almost complicit in these attacks is ridiculous.
You've been saying the same on WATRB I think James. I didn't say the Tories are complicit, but I did say their policies have contributed to the problem. Big difference. The authorities are definitely complicit. Why does it suit them? Divide and rule old chap. Plus of course, as Pilger points out, they use these radicalized nutters in their proxy wars. Exactly what happened with the Manchester cell. In security parlance, they're assets.
On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 12:40 - Jun 5 by hubble
You've been saying the same on WATRB I think James. I didn't say the Tories are complicit, but I did say their policies have contributed to the problem. Big difference. The authorities are definitely complicit. Why does it suit them? Divide and rule old chap. Plus of course, as Pilger points out, they use these radicalized nutters in their proxy wars. Exactly what happened with the Manchester cell. In security parlance, they're assets.
It is clear from the arrests that many people were known to the authorities but knowing and doing something are two different things. What could the authorities have done with the information?
Take the known persons off the streets. Internment is frowned upon Arrest them. Would have to be released if not charged Charge them. With what Tag known suspects. Really
Can a civilised society protect itself while still retaining those practises that make it civilised
[Post edited 5 Jun 2017 13:23]
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On Diane Abbot, why we should vote Labour anyway, and more... on 13:30 - Jun 5 with 1690 views
Back on the subject of the General Election - the BBC's election tracker 'Poll Of Polls' (loud tympany roll followed by dramatic cymbal crash) has the gap narrowing quickly:
The Tory vote looks like it is melting but the first past the post system will probably still see them voted in. I have banged on about PR before and will no doubt do it again. Probably on Friday morning.
In North Dorset, the Tories have been notable by their absence. Seriously. A few large signs kicking about the place (generally on farm land - none in the towns strangely enough). Had a big push from Labour last week and another from the Greens. Both making themselves heard in Shaftesbury and quite positive reactions from what I saw. The Lib Dem campaign has been quite muted but they have done more leaflet drops than anyone else - this is irritating because they tactical anti-Tory vote in this here shire is Lib Dem. I would have expected a huge drive on their part but this is, and always has been, safe Tory country. In other news, Bessie's udders have settled down after they used that cream and several braying chinless types have been seen in the bar of the Arse & Feckitt. They were dealt with in the usual way.
That is all.
'What do we want? We don't know! When do we want it? Now!'
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