Another Country
Someone must have been telling lies about Damian G, because one day, without having done anything wrong, he was arrested by the police.
It was a bright, cold day in November, and the clocks were striking fourteen...
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It was a bright, cold day in November, and the clocks were striking fourteen...
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Comments
Firstly I'm interested to see how this is going to be played out in the broadcast media BBC, SKY, ITV etc...
On the Andrew Neill show yesterday Chris Huhne stated that Green was only relaying information that was of public importance such as illegal immigrants working at the House of Commons. Diane Abbott main statement that the police can't be that stupid and I think did even mooted the idea that there was some higher involvement.
Second point why on earth did they need 8 members of the counter terrorism squad what did they expect him to do. Although this is not the first time the police have done something like this. They arrested the football manager Harry Redknapp in the earky hours of the mourning with several police men. When they could of questioned him during the day, he can hardly do a runner.
Another issue is that many MPs recieve leaks, my MP Norman Baker does and so do many other people. Apparently the leaks Green recieved were recieved by the BBC and other organisations. If people can'tinvestigate leak messages then that inhibits their ability to do their job.
And lastly due to the Mumbai bombings this is not headline news, when this is such an important issue.
They told Boris! They told Boris but apparently didn't tell the minister whose department they were investigating? It makes no sense. It may, possibly, be technically true, but it still makes no sense.
From the BBC: “The Metropolitan Police confirmed that Mr Green was arrested by members of its counter-terrorism command. It said the investigation was not terrorism related but did fall within the counter-terror unit's remit.”
Erm, in what way? Presumably it’s the same remit that allows the police to arrest an elderly man for daring to dissent at a Labour party conference or allows them to arrest peaceful protestors at about any demonstration you care to mention.
There is something very wrong happening in this country.
http://timesonline.typepad.com/politics/2008/11/damian-green--.html
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/janet_daley/blog/2008/11/28/the_arrest_of_damian_green_is_a_dangerous_abuse_of_power_
Just seen the News at at 6 on the BBC and not sure what to make of it. David Cameron is standing by his MP, cross party support from the Lib Dems, some Labour MPs worried. Yet I found the tenor of the debate unsatisfactory. I know politicians should seem to be able to keep their cool, but perhaps Cameron should be seen to be very angry as he should be.
The only caveat id my belief that that the police can be that stupid. Harry Redknapp overreaction, Channel 4 under cover mosque when West Midlands police investigated the producers on the basis of community coshesion if I remember right. Then there were the fateful event at Stockwell tube station.
The police sadly have become too politicised.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7146907.stm
The inevitable result was that Sheridan got lots of sympathy, most valuably from people who can't stand him normally but agreed with him that the police were being thuggish. Sheridan claimed a media conspiracy against him after being charged, but in fact the media largely backed him in this instance.
What was actually happening there?
On the other hand, our rozzers can be very thuggish. I read a reliable account of Scottish police bursting in on a family of asylum seekers in the early hours of the morning, and have heard other equally reliable stories.
On balance, I'll skip the paranoid explanation and go for the likely one.