In the news today …
The MSM have one subject only this morning: the ‘Casey Report’ on the Met Police. It’ll be officially presented today. I found it while writing this column. Here is the link. The news editors were permitted an early look. Unsurprisingly, ‘staff’ at the Beeb penned this headline for the print editions’ front pages: “ Newspaper headlines: ‘Rotten Met’ and ‘trial of Boris Johnson begins’” (link). Tough luck, BJ: your ‘defence’ is taking a back seat, as is the situation on the financial markets.
The Westminster MSM have truly got their teeth into this report, plastering what feels like cherry-picked items all over their online front pages as well. For starters, here’s the descriptive, summary headline in the non-paywalled DM:
“The most damning report in the Met Police’s 200-year history: Force is condemned as ‘broken, rotten, institutionally racist, corrupt, misogynistic and homophobic’ with fears there may be MORE predatory officers like Wayne Couzens and David Carrick – The damning report found racism, corruption, misogyny and homophobia – Baroness Casey, who spent a year on report, said there was a ‘rot’ at its heart” (link)
The main point in the report has also been picked up by the DT and The Times. It is that the public has ‘lost trust’ in the Met Police. Here’s The Times’ headline: “Casey review: Met Police has lost public faith, says report” (link, paywalled). Some of the points made by Ms Casey are indeed damning. For the record, here is the list as compiled by The Times:
“Nearly 25 years since the Macpherson report after the murder of Stephen Lawrence found that police were institutionally racist, the Met still used “eye-watering force” against black people and showed a “wilful blindness” to racism at all levels of the organisation. —The Met had a bullying “boys’ club” culture in which predators flourished, with “too many places to hide”. — The investigation of violence against women was so degraded that broken fridges were used to store rape victims’ samples, which then had to be thrown out. — Women within the force were “traded like cattle” and moved to different units depending on which male officers found them attractive. — An elitist culture prioritised specialist units such as firearms, leaving frontline policing “creaking at the seams”.” (link, paywalled)
To round up this brief glimpse at the Casey Report, here is one other quote, from the second article The Times dedicated to it:
“9. Black officers are 81 per cent more likely than white colleagues to be in the misconduct system. Nearly 25 years after the Macpherson report labelled the police as institutionally racist, disparity continues in stop-and-search and in the “eye-watering” use of force against black Londoners.” (link, paywalled)
Obviously, it would be interesting to know how many black police officers are working in the Met. I couldn’t find a breakdown of numbers, but the government has published a general breakdown according to ethnicity, updated in 2020. According to their graph – scroll down here – there are only 1.2% black police officers, the smallest percentage of all ‘ethnic’ police officers.
This makes the ‘misconduct system’ number rather intriguing, begging the question if this is a sign of ‘institutional racism’ or a sign of ‘unfit for purpose’. I’ve not yet been able to read the whole report, so I can’t say. I’ll just ask how come, after years and years of recruitment drives, that there are still so few ‘ethnic’ police officers?
Moreover, it is unclear to me if Ms Casey means the general public has lost trust in the Met police or if it’s the female part of it. It is also unclear to me if Ms Casey’s brief meant she was only looking at the sexism, misogyny and bullying in the Met Police, or at policing in general. This quote is from the DT (my emphasis):
“The report finds a concerning fall in the number of officers employed in front-line policing and reveals that almost one third of bobbies on the beat have less than two years’ experience. More than half of women in London now say they no longer trust the Met to keep women and girls safe, and one serving officer told the review that rape detection rates are so low that “you may as well say it is legal in London”.’ (paywalled link)
Again, we’ll have to read the actual text of the report. Being a mistrustful old woman, I don’t trust the MSM reporting objectively since they are well-known for exemplary cherry-picking. Thus, we don’t know how many ‘bobbies on the beat’ there actually are.
We also don’t know if Ms Casey looked at other policing failures, such as the ever decreasing detection rates for what are now deemed to be ‘low-level crimes’ such as theft and burglary. This is something the general public across the country has experienced for years and we may well ask if these crimes are now also deemed to be ‘legal’.
As for being ‘homophobic’: how does this fit in with the many examples of police forces, especially the Met, participating in all those ‘gay pride’ events, spewed across social media, videos included?
I also wonder if we’ll find anything in Ms Casey’s report about the increasing number of ‘hate crime detection’, something which we peasants outside the M25 are well aware of. I wonder if she draws the connection between fewer ‘bobbies on the beat’ and ‘more armchair bobbies’ being ‘on the beat in social media’.
Furthermore, I find it remarkable that the MSM don’t mention the Met Chief under whose command this culture flourished. She, as we know, fled her post and retired a year ago, leaving this mess behind for someone else to clear up. I am of course talking of Ms Cressida Dick. I’m sure any relevant questions about her will be brushed aside as being misogynist and homophobic.
Finally, here is the official link to the whole report which I have found while writing this column. With annexes it’s 363 pages long. I’ll try and read at least some of it today, to find if my questions are answered. I predict already that the ‘supervisors’, i.e. the Mayor of London and the Home Office mandarins, will come out unscathed.
That’s all I have for today. Perhaps the MSM and the Police chief constables should read again, ponder and reinstate Sir Robert Peel’s ‘Nine Principles’ of policing. Have a good day.
I am so disgusted with what I saw from Reform UK yesterday that I re-joined the United Kingdom Independence Party today. Its time to re-establish UKIP as the party of the centre right. I have waited long enough to give Reform UK and its leaders the opportunity to get itself organised, and it has failed to do so.
Colin. I am a member of UKIP and the Heritage Party. I receive newsletters only from the Reform Party. Whoever is most active in my constituency it is that party I will actively support. Hopefully other centre Right parties will stand aside and give the strongest party a free run, likewise in all constituencies if the challenger parties cannot agree to merge. Like you Colin, I am very suspicious of the Reform Party and I have been consistent in my suspicion they seek to ‘reform’ the Tory Party not destroy it. Please refer to my post yesterday where I point out Richard Tice’s equivocation on being asked about ‘reforming’ or destroying the Tories from the Daily Express reporter. Ben Walker’s response to Reform Party’s press conference.
Dear Member
So, yesterday we listened to Mr Tice from Reform UK excitingly announce that his party would be standing candidates in 630 parliamentary seats across the UK at the next General Election to the back-drop of a handful of former BREXIT Party MEP’s.
Only one of the former MEP’s openly committed to stand themselves.
We were told how Reform continue to grow and that they were the only party talking hard on immigration with the government stealing their policy ideas and slogans. It’s important to note that not long ago Mr Tice referred to speaking about the hot topic of controlling immigration as a “bit UKIPey”.
We have tried endlessly in the interests of the UK to speak to Mr Tice and have been repeatedly ignored, except for an email from Mr Tice’s journo partner, Isabel Oakeshott who believed we were all racists for wanting to protect our borders and control immigration.
We should also not forget, Tice and his former MEP chums, are the very same people who believed BREXIT was done and changed the name of their party to Reform UK. Only our party and its members knew we had been sold a dud.
Yesterday’s announcement is a reheated, best of British, Sausage & Mash microwave meal; lumpy mash, dried up wieners and a bitter salty aftertaste!
We must NEVER forget, that Reform UK are the party that stood candidates down for a Tory deal that never came, lapped up COVID restrictions and mandatory vaccinations and threw the kitchen sink at Andrew Bridgen MP for speaking out against the health risks from the vaccinations. They are certainly not a party of Free-Speech.
Despite the endless 6-point plans, ego-massaging and lack of answers on policy, we learned nothing new about the floppy-haired, London-centric grifter company that continues to fragment our side of the political fence by design.
For the UK Independence Party, it’s very much business as usual. Our work to bring like-minded political groups and parties together continues, and headway is being made
We are not a party of big business, big money or Tory-lite policies and we are certainly NOT managed opposition which is essentially what Reform UK have morphed into.
UKIP will never allow itself to be sold out in favour of our leaderships’ personal ambitions, position or platform grab; it will always act in the interests of the United Kingdom and its people.
People not Politics.
Ben Walker
Jake…. I did see and noted what you wrote in that Tice was wobbly when asked that question. However, I will vote for a UKIP candidate if there is one standing, but will NOT vote for a Reform UK candidate. That party is a waste of time and I have said enough about it now. I will instead attend the polling station and spoil my ballot paper.
UKIP in terms of policies and the way it is now run is where it should have been all along. Ben Walker is an excellent chairman and there is no antagonism between leader and NEC, I hope there will be more people like you.
I like David Kurten personally but Heritage is a one man politburo alongside Reform’s two man politburo. Farage structured the Brexit Party (Reform is a change of name) to give him dictatorial powers. That works on single issues politics as on the issue of leaving the EU he has no equal. For domestic, parliamentary politics that does not work. Only the UK Independence Party – as they wish to be known, they are trying to lose just being ‘UKIP’ – is structured as a proper political party. It has sone good people in it.
I like David Kurten as well and was a founder member of the Heritage Party. However, the messaging is too complicated and the pro-life policy is a vote loser. I formed a Kent branch with the idea of setting up branches in towns and recruited some local organisers, but it fell apart very quickly because the party wasn’t moving quick enough and people got disillusioned. I stood instead as an Independent in 2021 and never went back to the Heritage Party, but I wish David well as he is a good man. Getting back to what is happening in the here and now, UKIP is a recognised brand and has attempted to get other centre right parties to form a loose coalition to contest elections. I have come to the conclusion now that Reform UK will not deliver, and that UKIP is best placed to provide a centre right alternative to the failing Conservative Party. Onwards and upwards….
But it’s run by a committee ( NEC ) which is in no way democratic, and as you know is certainly operated by cabals. And they will interfere. . My fear and distrust of committees is well known and has lasted for 83 years since the age of 7.And since that time I have never heard of a committee being held to account.. Even Nuremburg chickened out. That makes committees and members dangerous companions.
TG Spokes……you are talking nonsense again, and that’s your choice. Run along now and become a supporter/member of Reform UK if you want to be involved with a party that is dictatorial in nature, where the leaders are shareholders and where the supporters or supposed members have no say over anything. A party that supposedly believes in democracy and reform should be democratic themselves. It is called practicing what you preach.
And as for that supposed big announcement from Reform UK yesterday……not reported anywhere, so all fell on deaf ears!!!
Well Colin one mans meat is another’s poison! I as an Ulster man was so impressed at their support for NI and their opposition to the EU , that I payed my £25 straight away.
Fighting for God and Ulster ✌?
Mike Durrans…… ‘One mans meat’ , no can’t agree with that being a life long Vegetarian. However ‘one mans like is another mans dislike is a better way of saying it. Its a free world and if you are satisfied than that is all that matters. However, both UKIP and the Heritage Party support Northern Ireland as well, are both against the NI protocol with separate rules for customs etc and both opposed to the European Union. Also both UKIP and the Heritage Party have full manifestos covering most areas of policy, whereas Reform UK are afraid of their own shadows and sit on the fence…
https://us17.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=47fc6f660d6ba7553eae37012&id=ac51388998&e=310258fbc2
Here is a message from Ben Walker of UKIP who sums up the pointlessness of Reform right now. Sorry if slightly off topic but this is what controlled opposition looks like.
Lisa……….you must have the wrong link, as it goes to an email message form. I think I may rejoin UKIP following the absurdity of Reform UK yesterday which was embarrassing to watch.
Thank you Colin, I must have used the wrong link. I was posting what Jake Bennett has now posted so will leave it at that.
Asked how many members Reform UK now had Tice answered that ‘we do not give out that information’. It’s a two man politburo (Tice and Bull) with Farage as mascot. I still say “none of the above”.
First and foremost the photograph at the top of this article of the so called Casey Report into the failings of the Metropolitan Police, does not relate to that force but to Greater Manchester Police. Also that picture does not relate to frontline policing where the majority of officers work. Those pictured are in full body armour ready for a public disorder situation and is not representative of the uniform of those who patrol the streets on a daily basis. Sorry to say this, but Independence Daily are falling into the same trap that ensnares mainstream media when they come to report the failings of the police but displaying that type of photograph. Any number of ordinary photographs of the police could have been used showing a Constable wearing the beat helmet etc. It seems these days that the police are fair game for left wing politicians, journalists and activists to somehow portray all police officers as racists, sexists, homophobes, rapists, mysoginists and murderers. Undoubtedly there are some very grave problems that exist around modern age policing which need to be addressed and not swept under the carpet. The vast majority of police officers however who serve in the Metropolitan Police and other forces are decent, hard working, law abiding people who try to do a good job under difficult circumstances, and I can say this as I was a police officer myself for over thirty years. The police however have been thoroughly let down by our national and local political class for a very long time now who in their wisdom politicised the police, and appointed people who were not suitable to be Chief Constables and Commissioners. Sir Mark Rowley is part of the problem and not part of the solution in my view. He was part of the senior management team of the Metropolitan Police that decided 15 plus years ago to abolish the Hendon Training School where new recruits and those selected for the CID were trained, and the training up to this point was very thorough, whereas now it is substandard. It was also decided that police entry should be opened up to those who had minor criminal convictions like public order offences, drunk and disorderly and criminal damage etc. This was a very bad move indeed and those of us with only half a brain knew how this misguided policy would eventually pan out, and here we are 15 to 20 years down that route with one police officer in prison for the heinous murder of Sarah Everard and the latest person who should never have been allowed anywhere near the police like Wayne Couzens, also in prison for a whole series of rapes, some of which was committed whilst on duty. The police need to get back to basics, and this warped idea that evolved when I was still serving that theft and criminal damage are crimes that should go unpunished, should be thrown out of the window. We could do with returning to the policing model of the 1950s, but to do that those at the top of the management scale at Scotland Yard need to be cleared out.
CH- the picture that you take issue with is one that many of us can identify with. And don’t forget the shields and batons, kettling and so on. And now for some random thoughts.
A few yrs back a student march in London got the go ahead. Students went elsewhere to the agreed route. Asked why, the interviewee said – last time we followed the approved route, we got part way then the police blocked off all exits and held us there for many hours. thereby preventing attendance at the speeches and general gathering. Think women protesting quietly on a South London Common – stormtrooper wade-in allowed. Conversely think laying in the road or gluing to railway train roofs – removal not allowed. Statue anyone – malicious damage?
These sorts of (in)action(s) do not endear the police to the public, provoking even Clark Kent and Lois Lane to get angry with them.
The image others like me have, is someone in shirt sleeves watching cctv or in the words of the song ‘doin 90 cos they got no place to go’ and result? How many law abiding citizens knocked down each year?
Recently I was walking and chatting with a policeman going the same way as me. He was burdened with handcuffs, baton, radio, over-thick waistcoat and a mountain of other gear – and obese. Worse still he was a middle aged white man . . .
I went to school with a fellow ‘Pete the Beat’. No degree but intelligent (qualities not mutually exclusive). He like CH is a man of integrity with similar views about the direction, over the years, of the police. Getting out of sync with the ‘company line’ does you no good.
The result of this has led the Rotherham police force inaction, and expanded to other towns and cities. Pete said you had to get into the thought pattern of tolerance beforehand because enacting the law was unacceptable.
Enough – although not a bad thing . . I’m getting like TG!
Biscotte……..the policeman patrolling a beat on foot as I used to, did not wear hi-vis jackets and have access to shields and batons. Those items of equipment were reserved for those trained for public disorder situations, and at times they were/are needed. During my service I was involved in many a difficult situation, alone and often at night with only the company of a police radio and a short wooden truncheon which more latterly was replaced by a longer plastic baton which hung from the trouser belt. So to get out of those situations I had to resort to common sense, calmness and using wise words and non controversial language. The thorough training that one received at the then residential training establishments prepared you for those eventualities. It didn’t always work and yes I got punched, kicked and stabbed on one or two occasions, but I always got my man/woman and was very proactive with a a high arrest rate. I think I only drew my truncheon on a few occasions and that was to break windows to gain entry to a building, and only drew my baton once and that was during the riots in 2011. At the end of the day the objective when I first stepped out onto the streets from training school was to collect my pension at the end of 30 years service, and you cannot do that if you are assaulting suspects, giving clips behind the back of the ear, and abusing people in a racist way or otherwise. Everybody was treated the same no matter what ethnic group they came from. What some people don’t understand is that police officers are not employees and have no rights of employee and are appointed. Being a copper is like no other form of employment apart from perhaps the Armed Forces.
I agree that the picture possibly panders to prejudice, or would anywhere else, but on ID that is not likely to be an issue. It could even be an ironic reflection on the report. I’m not sure photos of ordinary police would be better. If of a group of police officers then issues still arise. All white? Not enough women? What picture can represent the modern Met? Dixon of Dock Green may have been a common symbol and understanding in the 50s, but there is no commonality about police anymore because there is no cohesive society in London any more. London is no longer a home, more a hotel in which various arrivals, mutually antagonistic a lot of the time, coexist in the same way as hotel guests coexist by ignoring each other so far as they can.
Your point about changes to training strikes me as significant and needs to be more widely known. An article for ID?
Senior management in the Met is the product of the Home Office. I’d clear out both.
Stout Yeoman…….I have been informed that Viv doesn’t accept articles any longer, besides which I have never written an article before. The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police is appointed by both the Home Secretary and the Mayor of London. We need to abolish the position of Police and Crime Commissioner and their staffs right across the country, and have the monies saved spent on frontline policing. Police Forces should be held accountable to locally appointed Police Boards as they were years ago. The Conservatives have done more damage to policing in this country than any other party, and they should hang their heads in shame to think of themselves as the party for law and order, as they are nothing of the sort.
The report is largely gossip masquerading as an investigation towards a predetermined conclusion. The ‘racist’ Met allowed BLM to run riot and kneeled to them, allowed Extinction Rebellion to bring parts of London to a halt, and officers decorate themselves and their cars with pride colours. The only crime that will get a visit from the ‘misogynistic’ Met police is if you misgender a trans women. Something is indeed institutional and systemic.
This report continues the tradition set by the disastrous McPherson report, a report that never demonstrated a difference between incompetence and racism, that accelerated the undermining of the Met. As an institution it has been on the defensive for years, becoming ever more woke at the top, but ever more closed in in the ranks as they feel under threat and increasingly close ranks. Most organisations cover up bad apples – Catholic Church, Care4Calais (a woman asked not to report a rape for reasons of diversity), political parties, the armed forces. Hardly surprising that the Met is no different nor should it be a surprise in an organisation of over 30,000 people. The more hierarchical an organisation the more defensive is each layer.
Two bosses was never a recipe for success. Reporting to a left wing mayor and less left wing home secretary put Met leadership into a juggling act between them and focus on genuinely leading was lost.
Morale in the ranks must be rock bottom and the Met must be set to becoming even more inhibited and ineffective for knowing they have no public support and operate in an atmosphere of risk of further accusations. The report reinforces an atmosphere that will encourage complaint. Recruitment, so far as it manages to recruit anyone now, will be of minorities who do not otherwise qualify. The quality if policing is set to decline even further.
Identity politics pushed by the left has created a culture in which minorities do not apply to become police officers. Disparity is not discrimination and the report does not look at the effects of that nor of requiring recruits to be graduates and so losing what was once a prime source of people who understand duty – the ex-military.
Britains institutions developed over hundreds of years and is something the country should be proud of. Institutions make a country. But the denigration of the country’s history is undermining our institutions. Parliamentary Privilege for example dates from the seventeenth century and represents the ending of arbitrary power (in our case by a sovereign). Today’s kids think it refers to greedy MPs.
As Peter Hitchens pointed out, at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation policeman had their backs to the crowd confident that they too could enjoy the procession. At her funeral they had their backs to the procession such was the risk now present from the new, multicultural, multi-ethnic, diluted shared history population. That is the context in which the Met’s failings need to be assessed.
As Mrs Yeoman likes to tell me, we are in the last days of Rome.
The situation on the financial markets is dire, the Casey report pales into insignificance by comparison.
The UBS buyout of Credit Suisse isn’t having the desired effect, it seems to be backfiring in fact. I’ve been looking at figures and charts of what is happening in the banking system and compared to the 2008 crisis the numbers are actually of the charts. 2008 was when the Western banking system died, in the meantime all that governments and banks have done is print money, now if they print more we’ll get hyperinflation or if not we’ll have a very deep, prolonged depression, I’m betting on hyperinflation. This crisis is just starting.
I’m very sure now that the Western banking system is done, expect war and famine until after the great reset, then expect to be slaves, those of you that are left that is.
I always believe that forewarned is forearmed but I have to say that the future isn’t looking too bright.
I don’t agree Flyer. I’m sorry. The Inflation caused by Boris etc printing money has already peaked and is now ready to stabilise at the level consistant with maintaining the pre pandemic comparisons. Unfortunately , Politics is now drunk on printing. However the Treasury is maintaining its stance. Which means steady ( Managed ) decline. The only way out is realism. Meaning all sorts of things. From tax reductions, as the only quick option, Followed by serious Management education, some control of the destructive use of . and the madness of unlicensed computers and mobiles etc. tech. ( I don’t like the latter but the nettle must eventually be grasped etc etc. The stuff peddled by the EU is just sorry.
TG – of course, it’s all transitory innit.
Those “police” in the picture look just like the types who admit to joining the police so that they can enjoy kicking people’s front doors down. Probably cowards all who would run a mile if they were alone and came across someone being mugged and needing rescue. Sir Robert Peel would turn in his grave.. seemd the report is right that the force is rotten, but not for the reasons which the report gives.
Unfortunately I saw Sad Kan’t waffling on the news this morning. What an absolutely useless individual.
Jack…I think you meant say Sadiq Khan. He is so typical of our political class today, and you’re right he is indeed a useless and out of touch individual who little or no understanding of what the average man or woman in the street want or desire. However, there is a whole sea of useless and out of touch politicians out there, and the present government is swamped out with them. And yesterday to compound it all, we had utter muppetry from Reform UK as well. Its so depressing….