Wednesday 3 June 2020

A Strong Sense of Déjà Vu

Now where have we encountered this before.  As recently as, oh, 2020.

In a foreign country, a ba-ad situation is developing.  There's no reason to believe we in the UK are immune from it.  Many of the same factors prevail here, too.  It's on our screens, every day and every night.  Hmm, we think, perhaps it won't spread to here - not to the good old United Kingdom ...

Boris doesn't seem to think so either (to the extent he ever engages his brain).  At least, not so you'd notice. 

Are any preparations being laid on just in case it does, though?

Hmmm?

ND

32 comments:

  1. Well the usual suspects are out there trying to whip it up, thank goodness for the rain.

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  2. I reckon after 2011 we filled any holes in our contingency plans
    Then for the past two years we've been watching France very carefully
    And I guess we have full stocks of baton rounds, CS gas and riot vehicles ready to roll

    Sadiq may regret flogging the water cannon Boris bought, though.

    I'm quietly confident. We may lose a few crinkly tin sheds full of trainers, but those trainers will come at a cost - about 2 years a pair, on 2011 tariffs ;)

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  3. Anonymous5:03 pm

    Hopefully Sadiq Khan will be obliged to be on the side of Laura Norder.

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  4. Anonymous5:17 pm

    I certainly hope so. In the States the calculation is that the rioting will surely kill off Trump2020, by showing him as weak if he leaves it to the states and murderous/racist if he uses the army.

    Trump was one half of the left disaster of 2016 (if only he'd been Candidate Trump while in office! No wall, so one sent back). Brexit is the other half. See how the people berating Dom outside his house are now linking arms in Trafalgar Square and social distancing is completely last week's thing (this is a double bind - if the Met go in strong-armed we have the "white racist" attack and if they don't we get the "second wave/black people most affected" attack. I see they're partying in Harlesden already, then we'll be told how bad be are when Momma keels over with CV19).

    Much time as I have for Dom, I do wonder if he realised up til recently what a war he (and we) are in. These people have no principles, are utterly dishonest, but have capital amd media on their side. Geordie Greig's Mail is a disgrace, and I just heard a nauseating 30 minute BBC chat with the Guardian editor where by the end you'd need a proctologist to remove him from her nethers.

    Stop Brexit = spread CV19 and hope the police kill a black guy.

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  5. Anonymous5:26 pm

    Forgot to say - George Osborne's Evening Standard are telling Londoners how to join the protests, and how they can donate to get US rioters out on bail.

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/george-floyd-protests-london-dates-routes-a4455976.html

    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/donate-black-lives-matter-george-floyd-death-a4456421.html

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  6. Anonymous7:28 pm

    "See how the people berating Dom outside his house are now linking arms in Trafalgar Square and social distancing is completely last week's thing "

    It is staggering. They are without self-awareness, and completely manipulated. They would have been hollering at people for not following unsocial distancing last week.

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  7. The BBC is outrageous on this. It allowed a full rant by Chris Kamara to applause by the presenters and you would imagine that Minnesota had happened in the UK.

    The BBC seem to be fomenting insurrection.

    This isn't about a death in America, it's the Left's way of gaining back what they couldn't get through the ballot box.

    How long before our PM is forced to get down on one knee ?

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  8. Last night the BBC had a full on rant about the racist UK (Minnesota) and then went on to have a 4 way chat between four celebs on Zoom.

    Maureen Lipman, Guy Brandreth, Martin Kemp and ... er... Martin Kemp's son.

    So I get the first three, all self made and well accomplished. Why was Kemp's son there ? What's he done except be Martin Kemp's son ?

    Though the BBC protesteth about lack of opportunities for blacks it still engages in the very worst nepotism for whites. Loads of it.

    What an opportunity that would have been for a young black man of talent and accomplishment. We simply have to get the luvvy whites (and their entitled kids) out of showbiz and give the blacks a chance.

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  9. Anonymous3:37 am

    I'm just wondering whether sane lefties realise that the Antifa crew are Bolsheviks in training?

    Are they oblivious to the history that the Bolsheviks killed more people in the 20 years following their glorious revolution than the Nazis did?

    As for the kneelers, consider this:

    The cops were kneeling at 4pm, they were getting their asses kicked at 6.

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  10. Anonymous7:32 am

    @ Raedwald 4.38

    I know you claim to be a professional optimist, but there is surely a limit.

    Whe the orders go out, how many Plods will mysteriously be self isolating?

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  11. I note that the police didn't have batons out last night. They were in ordinary Summer uniform whilst being assaulted. Not even Custodian helmets* - just flat cloth caps.

    I expect they are being sacrificed to save police leaders and politicians and I expect that at least one will die if this is the policy - so I don't blame any of them for self isolating.

    *Toughened helmets in the traditional street copper style.

    --------

    I was in the first shield serial deployed at the Trafalgar Square Poll Tax demo and was injured there so ended up on the inquiry with Earl Ferrers.

    I was beside the mounted officer who got his jaw broken. There is a photo of a riot cop raising his stick to an old woman. This was a trick of the camera angle and a few moments later I was carrying him unconscious to the rear lines.

    We had trained in long shield tactics in padding and boiler suits but most of us were deployed half-heartedly with round shields (modelled on Brixton riots bin lids) in ordinary street uniform, though were allowed helmets and visors - we would have mutinied otherwise. The result was a disaster and a pasting - cops chasing people all over the West End (or being chased themselves) instead of holding a solid line giving rioters a impenetrable target to attack and wear themselves out on.

    Because I was injured I was invited to the public inquiry into the disaster.

    I said to Earl Ferrers "I feel we were denied full riot gear and suffered injuries in order that police chiefs could not be accused of provocation." I should have left it there but went on to give my usual cymbal crash by saying "And if someone is provoked to hit a police officer merely because he is wearing riot gear then that person is a criminal already. We were put at risk to appease criminals."

    I don't think he understood my point. Partly because of my nerves.

    Ironically I ended up on light duties checking passports and driving licences on Judge's orders into a Mafia case in the public gallery of the Number 1 court of the Old Bailey.

    That's where I got into a very real fight for my life (and won, thank God) when a known Hitman tried to get in and spat at me when I refused him entry.

    I feel that I only survived because said Hitman was on a mission to save his own life from the mob - who had called in a favour from him - and just wanted a very long prison sentence for himself.

    A few days later I resigned.

    Not because I couldn't handle The Job but because I got known as the guy who 'got beat up in the Old Bailey' when in actuality I'd single handedly arrested a violent assassin and returned some of the pain he'd dished out on me.

    I knew from then on (and from previous experiences) that it was never going to be my destiny to be known as a serious copper.

    Only the day before that Met Flying Squad officers had taken one look at me in the OB canteen and joked "Look. It's SUPER COP !"

    So that's why I quit and took a 30% pay cut to do it.

    Apart from a two year wobble (it was a risky move as I was about to get married an planned for kids) I never looked back.

    I wouldn't be a copper now for any money in the world. I have nightmares about it to this day.

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  12. Sad to read E.K. Taking flak from public/politicians/other elements of the justice system is bad enough, but not much of a surprise. Getting it from colleagues, who should be in a position to understand, is depressing

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  13. They did me a favour. I never looked right in the uniform and a uniformed officer is all I wanted to be. CID was not my bag - boozing,at least one divorce under your belt was mandatory and 15 hour days.

    A look of authority in uniform is vital and I just didn't have it. It makes everything 10x easier if people's first impression is of confident authority. If you look like a rake with a coal bucket down past yer ears you try telling a pissed up builder you're placing him under arrest.

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  14. Anonymous9:33 am

    E-K - That was a great comment. Thank you for your service. Really sorry that the police lost you. You are the sort of officer we need.

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  15. I'd hate to give the impression that other officers were bad to me, they weren't. I was liked and held in affection - but not seriously.

    I did banter with the Flying Squad but the comment obviously reflected the trouble I was experiencing in dealing with the public.

    After the Old Bailey ding-dong Hitman decided to put in a complaint of assault against me which had to be investigated.

    I think what I did was worthy of a commendation, instead I left with "very good" instead of "exemplary" on my record because of the outstanding complaint.

    If you go for *special* security work which is available to ex police/military then they know full well what this means - so do other forces.

    A *special* security company rejected me on this basis when I was short of work in the dry (I had been working as a motorcycle dispatch rider in the wet.)

    When I tried to get back in the police (Surrey) and they brought it up I exclaimed "But he got two years for what he did to me !"

    Anyway. I was good enough to get a gig at the Circle K near St Helliers and I was known by the local skanks for being eagle-eyed and the booze was safe in the shop whenever I was on duty.

    Water under the bridge. It turned out rejection was the best thing that ever happened to me in the end. I've had a wonderful career since and have a great family.

    I won.

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  16. BlokeInBrum10:23 am

    Thanks Kev for the story.

    It's always good to be reminded that behind the keyboard there are real people who have experienced real trials & tribulations.

    Sometimes it's too easy to disconnect what we see on screen with the experiences of a real person, at which point you descend into the vitriol and hate that too often happens on Twitter and the likes.

    Lets hope that the next generation learns from our mistakes, although I look at the events in the US and despair.

    There seem to be too many people now who wish to stoke the fires of hate and destruction. I think we are in for some tough times ahead.


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  17. Good move Kev, your lads are proof of that.

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  18. Old Git Carlisle10:52 am

    Kev thanks for relating tale. You have my respect.

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  19. Kev has been my hero for some time - even more so now!

    Get him "above the line" again!

    Great stuff, Kev and well done.

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  20. Charlie11:48 am

    E-K: "A look of authority in uniform is vital"

    I have several friends in TSG and they all say the same thing. Slag actually respond best to the worst fighter on the team - because he's 6 foot 8 and talks like a Dad telling off his kids.

    Interestingly, they all say that their favourite time on the job was the London riots. They were given the proper gear and the mandate to go out and do the job they'd trained to do. It's less than a decade ago, but one worries about how spineless our leaders have become in the face of shouty agitators who don't like democracy when it gives the wrong result.

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  21. EK: "The BBC seem to be fomenting insurrection."

    Yes.

    The BBC were responsible for the hysterical reporting of COVID - leading directly to the shutdown of the economy, which will have huge repercussions.

    Day after day, 'headline death rate, headline death rate' never in context.

    The BBC was the one media operation that had no need ( its revenue being assured by the licence fee ) to go after 'clicks' or audience figures with sensationalist reporting.

    It should be shut down.

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  22. Anonymous2:18 pm

    And when the Covid rates go back up among black Londoners, it'll be Boris's fault.

    I see there were block parties in Harlesden on Tuesday, and then a shooting (four injured) last night.

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  23. Anonymous3:17 pm

    Not to mention that Floyd will be the reason to turn every arrest of a black guy into a confrontation. No "I'll come quietly" for our new icons.

    E-K, I'm glad there are people like you to do the job, don't think I could without going bonkers. No wonder they ocxcasionally crack under the strain, imagine having to deal with people like this all day.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8387711/Mob-100-people-push-kick-police-officers-try-arrest-drugs-suspect.html



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  24. Thanks all.

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/03/met-police-twice-as-likely-to-fine-black-people-over-lockdown-breaches-research

    "Met Police twice as likely to fine black people over lockdown breaches"

    The article does nothing but insinuate that this is a Met Police attitude problem. They are picking on blacks apparently.

    Anything but say "Ah. The penny drops. More blacks are disobeying lockdown. Perhaps this is why we have the disproportionate CV19 death rate among BAMEs."

    Alas no.

    The Graun (AKA BBC) is insistent that the high CV19 death rate is because of poverty caused by whites and doesn't want to hear that there are clearly more young black people disobeying lockdown and then taking the disease home to a diabetic Mum/Dad.

    The Left has been stoking up insurrection since the outset because it couldn't get what it wanted through the ballot box.

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  25. Charlie7:41 pm

    I've been out for quite a few bike rides in London during lockdown, and it was always glaringly obvious that the areas with people still out on the streets were those predominantly inhabited by BAME people - the likes of Wood Green, Lower Holloway, Finsbury Park, Stoke Newington.

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  26. Anonymous8:08 pm

    Tonights QT Panel, a truly representative panel

    Hugh Pennington, professor, studies pandemics
    Donna Kinnair - overweight BME woman, RCN head. "BME staff most at risk, NHS collapse without us"
    Nadhim Zahawi, Tory MP to "speak for England!"
    David Lammy!

    I expect the entire show to revolve around whether "we" (BAME people of course, who did you think?) are more at risk from racist Covid19, from racist police, or from white people in general, carrying the virus of racism as they do.

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  27. Anonymous8:10 pm

    Guido comment - "The situation needs to be calmed down and the BBC invites on the worst race baiter in British politics"

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  28. david morris8:47 pm

    Thank you E-K for your service & insight.

    Pleased that you're now in a better place

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  29. Preparations? So, rather than calling in the riot squad, the fragrant Cressida gets our police to bend the knee.

    Anyone any idea what policing now means? The above. Prancing about in rainbow face paint? Knocking on peoples' doors to warn them about their thinking?

    Why on earth are we paying for this nonsense? And Dick should have been sacked way back when she ordered the public execution of that poor Brazilian lad.

    Reward for failure now characterises our public services. Which I'd know that way back, I could have joined in. Reward? Huge payoff and huge pension.

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  30. @anon 7:28

    DC knows all too well the Kulturkampf we are in. He's been after the BBC for years - knowing that they are the Storm Troopers of the Kulturkampf.

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  31. BlokeInBrum8:27 am

    Well it's about bloody time that DC stuck a knife in it.
    Conservatives need to do something about the BBC and pronto.
    Could you imagine what the UK would be like if we had a properly neutral, or God forbid, slightly right of center public Broadcaster?
    Currently the UK public pays over £4 billion towards what is essentially a constant stream of left wing, progressive propaganda.
    That's, huge and it's been that way for decades. Combine it with lefty teaching and a left leaning, anti-conservative media and it means that most young people today have spent their entire lives marinading in Socialist propaganda. If it wasn't for the inherent fact that Socialism is self evidently bollocks, the Country would be screwed. As it is, it looks like we're going to hell in a hand-cart.
    Propaganda works.

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  32. Anonymous9:35 am

    "Propaganda works"

    It's not just that. A country that's been de-Christianised over the last 60 years needs a replacement religion, and our Emotional Engineers in the media/education are providing it. Instead of the Original Sin of the Garden of Eden, applying to everyone, there's the Original Sin Of Racism, applying to white people only.

    BBC showed the Floyd funeral live, FFS! Emily Jones' funeral didn't get any coverage, and she wasn't killed resisting arrest while full of fentanyl.

    I don't like where this is heading. But then I haven't liked where this is heading since Tony Martin went to jail.

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