Am I the only person in this country who thinks that the premise for the current trial being held of the Metropolitan Police, in relation to the shooting in July 2005 of Charles de Menezes at Stockwell tube station is a bit...errrmmmm...odd?
Before you all rush to say that a trial needs to be held, and that the police screwed up etc, that may well be so.
However, the Met are being prosecuted under Health and Safety legislation.
Errrmm...am I the only one here who thinks that the use of health and safety in this case, as a pretext for prosecution, is a wee bit odd?
A man was shot in the head, in broad daylight, on the tube, by the police, using dumb dumb bullets...is that really a health and safety issue?
To my mind this is an absurd pretext for a trial in this particular case. Are there not other, more relevant, laws that could have been used to prosecute the police?
Are we now to assume that Health and Safety laws are to be used by the state as a catch all "boot to stamp on our heads", as a means to ensure that the state has total control over us and can prosecute anyone at will for anything the state wishes?
Imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever...that's our future!
The old Starlinist States used similar tactics. A "special" law that was all embracing. A friend of mine from Czechoslovakia was fired from his university job, as he left the building he was arrested for the "crime" of being out of work and served two years in a Czech jail where he was given political guidance.
ReplyDeleteThe police made a mistake it is true, however taking into account the fear in the country at that time,independent investigations have concluded that the Met had no case to answer for the killing.
At the end of the day the Met will be found guilty of an offence against 'Elf n Safety, they will be fined....Kerching....Who will pay the fine? We all will through our taxes....Money that they use to pay the fine could have been used in frontline services, the fine then becomes a funding cut in effect. All the government quangos have power to inflict fines on those it monitors.....We are fining ourselves...The public sector getting bigger and bigger devouring more and more of our tax money.
Well, with invisible Bottler Brown heading off to Lisbon to commit us to being fined by unelected Eurocrats at least Tonk's observation that we are fining ourselves will pass into history and we will be able to claim that we are being fined by foreigners, though of course that is totally contrary to the spirit (am I still allowed to refer to spirits?) of the European community, if such a thing really exists.
ReplyDeleteNot because I'm a pedantic sod or anything :) but it's dumdum, after the Indian armory where they were first made.
ReplyDeleteRobert the Biker
Robert...I was trying a wee bit of humour, by respelling the word in another fashion, as I am oft to do here..sorry it fell flat:)
ReplyDeleteKen
A pedantic sod with no grasp of humour I should have said.
ReplyDeleteSorry, been a long week ;)
Robert the Biker
I disagree. It definitely is a health issue:
ReplyDelete1. it is not healthy to walk around, or even sit, with a bullet in your head. This must be punished.
2. There is no safe level of smoke from a gun and no safe number of bullets.
3. Whoever shoots in the tube for no valid reason must have (or is) a health problem.
"....Money that they use to pay the fine could have been used in frontline services...."
ReplyDeleteExcept, of course, in this country of ours, governed so sensibly and democratically as it is, the money would have been used for no such thing: more likely frittered away on 'expenses' for senior officers or other red tape.