What is Boris Johnson frightened of – apart from losing the Tory party leadership (for which he is a racing certainty loser already)? He says he needs to be ready for trouble on the streets in the summer. But there’s not the slightest evidence for this – more’s the pity considering what Tory austerity has […]
Posts Tagged ‘Metropolitan Police’
Boris Johnson’s decision to buy water cannons is misguided and bizarre
Jun 16th, 2014 by Michael Meacher.
Mark Duggan: now there’s no doubt the police are above the law
Jan 9th, 2014 by Phil Burton-Cartledge.Trials or inquests by jury are the most democratic means of bringing a legal process to a conclusion. Recruited from the electoral roll, jurors provide an important corrective to magistrates and judges, who might be hardened by the number of cases that come before them and/or be out of touch with the pace of modern […]
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Has the Metropolitan Police really changed?
Jan 4th, 2012 by David Osler.Sir William Macpherson’s famous observation back in 1999 that the Metropolitan Police was ‘institutionally racist’ did not come as any particular revelation to me. That is because the Met is the closest thing I have to a family business. My grandfather and two uncles were all London coppers in decades gone by, and there have […]
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Stephen Lawrence: Justice for some
Jan 4th, 2012 by Michael Meacher.The two convictions for Stephen Lawrence’s murder are far from closing this infamous chapter in British policing and criminal justice. As Stephen’s father has said, only 2 of the 5 killers have so far been brought to justice. The police who initially dealt with the evidence so tardily and unprofessionally have yet to be held […]
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Rioting reflects long-held grievances of dispossessed black youths ignored
Aug 10th, 2011 by Michael Meacher.The rioting, destruction and violence cannot be excused, but it still needs to be explained. It was initially triggered by the police killing of Mark Duggan in Tottenham on Thursday night, though there are disputed accounts of the circumstances, and made worse by the delayed and inadequate response of the police to the family – […]
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Tottenham: bloody good hiding revisited
Aug 7th, 2011 by David Osler.The last time Tottenham burned, the local Labour Party was quick to takes sides. ‘The police were to blame for what happened,’ announced council leader and later MP Bernie Grant. ‘And what they got was a bloody good hiding’. By contrast, current Westminster representative David Lammy has been quick to distance himself not only from last […]
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Police collusion, government complacency almost as serious as NoW law-breaking
Jul 18th, 2011 by Michael Meacher.The police have a great deal to answer for over this media crisis and one resignation, however honourable, does not exculpate their collective liability. Three months ago the Guardian highlighted that “we now know that in dealing with the phone-hacking affair at the NoW, they (the Met) cut short their original inquiry, suppressed evidence, misled […]
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Different rules apply?
Jul 18th, 2011 by Jon Lansman.For the record, here’s the extract from Sir Paul Stephenson’s resignation statement which has enabled Yvette Cooper to pinpoint the critical question which now has to be asked about phone hacking — why different rules apply to the Met police commissioner and the prime minister over their respective phone hacking links:
