My jaw hit the floor this morning listening to the Today programme. Sarah Montague was interviewing Paul Stephenson the commissioner of the London’s Metropolitan Police, and Boris Johnson, mayor of London.
Boris has always seemed like a bit of a clown to me, a strange choice to have as the mayor of the capital of England, but a relatively harmless old thing. However this morning he came over as barking mad. His biggest concern, it seemed, about last night’s disturbances was the shock caused to Mrs Parker-Bowles. I’m not entirely sure where Boris is coming from on this. Many of the people who voted for him are those whose kids will be worst hit by the £9,000 fees. Y
et in his outrage at the shock caused to Mrs Parker-Bowles he forgot all about them. We were lucky, he told Sarah; the authorities allow people to do this kind of thing in this democracy; there could be water cannon, but no. And still, for all that freedom he gives them, people have the audacity to frighten the life out of Mrs Parker-Bowles!
Is Mrs Parker-Bowles one of Boris’s paramours, I began to wonder as he ranted on about her.
And the “incredibly lucky to still have his job” Stephenson was no better. It was outrageous, he spluttered, that “the highnesses” (yes he actually said “THE highnesses”) had been so disturbed by what, presumably, he would call “the lownesses”.
He seemed not to respond to Sarah’s point that most half way sane people wouldn’t have driven through that part of London on a night when they knew that there were riots, inconvenient though that might be. He ev
entually replied that the situation changed very rapidly and they were caught unawares. Imagine being caught unawares with “highnesses” in the car ....Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
He would have no truck with the fact that it was idiotic for two people dressed up in theatrical costumes, paid for by us, costing many times the entire wardrobe of any of these students and all of their friends, in a car also provided by us, that probably none of them would ever aspire to owning, in a convoy of protection agents, again provided at our expense, drove straight into the middle of the riots.
Sarah asked him if it would not have been sensible for them at least to have been in a less conspicuous car, but no. He was having none of it. The “thugs” (yes he called them that), were at fault.
But I keep the best for last. He said that the protection officers had done a wonderful job a
nd that they had acted with restraint. They were armed. He left it hanging in the air...
Clearly somewhat flabbergasted Sarah asked if he thought it would be reasonable in the situation for protection officers to shoot people, and he simply repeated that his officers had acted with restraint, that their job was to get what he called their “principles” to their destination safely by whatever means.
Sarah gave him several chances to disclaim the obvious inference to be drawn from that... that it would have been in order for them, if they thought there was a possibility of the “principles”, or “highnesses” (whichever, I was getting confused about who they were by now) not getting to the theatre on time, to simply mow down the “lownesses”.
Boris, was asked his opinion and declined to disagree with the commissioner. I fear he may have forgotten in dismissing the "thugs" with such disdain, that when he was their age his hobby was getting drunk and smashing up restaurants in company with the prime minster and the finance secretary.
I have to say that it must have been a frightening experience for these "highnesses", and I can feel sorry for them, but there are other issues here, and the idea that crowds could be shot at because "highnesses" are being threatened is simply ridiculous. They should not have been out in that situation. It's not like they were going to some important function on which the future of the state relied. THEY WERE GOING TO THE THEATRE.
Anyway, there you have it. Middle Class students and parents be warned.These “principles/highnesses” people must get to the theatre on time regardless of how many of you are sacrificed in the process.
You really would think that the theatre would just hold the curtain, wouldn’t you.
Boris has always seemed like a bit of a clown to me, a strange choice to have as the mayor of the capital of England, but a relatively harmless old thing. However this morning he came over as barking mad. His biggest concern, it seemed, about last night’s disturbances was the shock caused to Mrs Parker-Bowles. I’m not entirely sure where Boris is coming from on this. Many of the people who voted for him are those whose kids will be worst hit by the £9,000 fees. Y
et in his outrage at the shock caused to Mrs Parker-Bowles he forgot all about them. We were lucky, he told Sarah; the authorities allow people to do this kind of thing in this democracy; there could be water cannon, but no. And still, for all that freedom he gives them, people have the audacity to frighten the life out of Mrs Parker-Bowles!Is Mrs Parker-Bowles one of Boris’s paramours, I began to wonder as he ranted on about her.
And the “incredibly lucky to still have his job” Stephenson was no better. It was outrageous, he spluttered, that “the highnesses” (yes he actually said “THE highnesses”) had been so disturbed by what, presumably, he would call “the lownesses”.
He seemed not to respond to Sarah’s point that most half way sane people wouldn’t have driven through that part of London on a night when they knew that there were riots, inconvenient though that might be. He ev
entually replied that the situation changed very rapidly and they were caught unawares. Imagine being caught unawares with “highnesses” in the car ....Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!He would have no truck with the fact that it was idiotic for two people dressed up in theatrical costumes, paid for by us, costing many times the entire wardrobe of any of these students and all of their friends, in a car also provided by us, that probably none of them would ever aspire to owning, in a convoy of protection agents, again provided at our expense, drove straight into the middle of the riots.
Sarah asked him if it would not have been sensible for them at least to have been in a less conspicuous car, but no. He was having none of it. The “thugs” (yes he called them that), were at fault.
But I keep the best for last. He said that the protection officers had done a wonderful job a
nd that they had acted with restraint. They were armed. He left it hanging in the air...Clearly somewhat flabbergasted Sarah asked if he thought it would be reasonable in the situation for protection officers to shoot people, and he simply repeated that his officers had acted with restraint, that their job was to get what he called their “principles” to their destination safely by whatever means.
Sarah gave him several chances to disclaim the obvious inference to be drawn from that... that it would have been in order for them, if they thought there was a possibility of the “principles”, or “highnesses” (whichever, I was getting confused about who they were by now) not getting to the theatre on time, to simply mow down the “lownesses”.
Boris, was asked his opinion and declined to disagree with the commissioner. I fear he may have forgotten in dismissing the "thugs" with such disdain, that when he was their age his hobby was getting drunk and smashing up restaurants in company with the prime minster and the finance secretary.
I have to say that it must have been a frightening experience for these "highnesses", and I can feel sorry for them, but there are other issues here, and the idea that crowds could be shot at because "highnesses" are being threatened is simply ridiculous. They should not have been out in that situation. It's not like they were going to some important function on which the future of the state relied. THEY WERE GOING TO THE THEATRE.
Anyway, there you have it. Middle Class students and parents be warned.These “principles/highnesses” people must get to the theatre on time regardless of how many of you are sacrificed in the process.
You really would think that the theatre would just hold the curtain, wouldn’t you.
Post script: I read that no less an august and respected personage than the prime minister, Boris's wrecking mate, Camerclegg, has said that the mob which attacked the "royal" car must be punished with the full force of the law. What a prat.
1. Pics: (1) Sarah Montague in the 'Today' studio with John Humphries; (2) A highness looking a bit high, but then if I had to live with that idiot, even in a 200 room council house I'd get drunk too; (3) “I’m bored with all this election stuff; just appoint me Mayor for Life. quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur. I was at Eton and Oxford you know.”; (4) Paul Stephenson in yet another one of the Met’s disasters; (5) “Do you think that this £9,000 dress was provocative to these lownesses?”
The unanswered question is why did they drive Charles into the melee ? I suspect it was to warn him to get back in line and show him that the state still runs the show and he depends on the state to protect him from the mob. 'Off with their heads' could be heard during the attack on his car. Given Charles pause for thought I'd expect.
ReplyDeleteOh and wouldn't any 'normal' husband have pulled his wife close to him and protected her during such an incident ? That could have been two wives he lost on his watch. Careless ?
Yes but “call me dave” was “very clear” on that as usual! You know when he says the word “clear” that a whole pile of garbage is about to come out, that he doesn’t know himself what’s clear about it and in fact we are all about to be treated to yet another pile of “unclear” lies in an attempt to divert attention from his own useless nasty self.
ReplyDeleteI’m afraid the quality of Met Commissioners has never been really that very high. After all they get their bauble from the British empire (no revisionist history there) first no matter how bad they are.
As for Boris...what a twerp! Of course he is only having a canary about the housing benefit thing because he is up for election next year. So now the Tories have found enough money to put that off till after then. And they like to be “very clear” that these things are not ideologically driven...YEA!
Cromwell... I don't think he likes her any more, nor she him. They certainly don't spend a lot of time together.
ReplyDeleteYes. Off with their heads...well, c'est la vie. It can't have been pleasant for them, but hey, it's made up for by the monstrous mansion they live in at our expenses and the hundreds of staff we pay for them...
And if their heads come off...well...we get some new ones... unfortunately.
Well Munguin, as you know Dave thinks that our heads button up the back. He said about housing benefit that the reason it was being reduced was that it had grown far too much over the past years of Labour government. The Tories told us that Labour had made people poorer; the rise in Housing benefit was in response to that; people working part time instead of in proper full time jobs; people’s pensions being lost to incompetent companies like Equitable Life, and Gordon Brown’s raid; people losing their jobs to pay back the bankers’ mess.
ReplyDeleteSo, on top of all that, this government decided to kick them in the teeth and reduce their housing benefit. Nice one.
It was, they told us, nothing to do with saving money. But now we find that because according to that well known lightweight Osborne, the economy is doing better than expected, there is enough money left in the coffers to keep housing benefit at its current levels until after Boris is re-elected mayor and no longer feels the moral duty to be outraged by poor people being made homeless.
Nothing to do with politics or the economy, just weaning OAPs off benefits... and in to a coffin.
I do not know how true it was but I heard they were on their way to watch 'The Wizard of Oz' do you think they learned anything?
ReplyDeleteNomine: I must be one of the few people in the world who has never seen The Wizard of Oz. In fact I didn't know that they had wizards down under. I thought they were all at Hogwarts...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I may have missed out there....
Nah, I don't think they learn anything, even. They have servants to do that for them.
You know who else was terrified? Probably that person given a brain haemorrhage by the pigs yesterday.
ReplyDeleteIf the Royals had ANY sense of right and wrong they would have stopped their damn car, got out and crossed the protest line, rather than swanning past the peasants showing off their privilege. The only highness they deserve comes from the gallows unless they're prepared to stop assaulting the poor, encouraging rape culture, destroying the environment (no, Charles' work is NOT convincing) and generally defending a corrupt system which everyone knows is beyond repair.
Yes. I agree with that Laz. I hear that the lad has come round after his operation. he was hit by a truncheon. He was at the demonstration with his mother who is a lecturer and some of her collegues.
ReplyDeleteI hope he gets well soon.
Time we were rid of them... and we might have been had a shot been fired.
I don't think Cameron knows how angry people are. Facebook pages are crawling with hate messages about them royals and the government.
It won't go away and in my opinion it will get worse this winter.
A lot worse when vat goes up making everything more exspensive even non rated goods. All this for a corrupt banking system proping up governments of a similar hue.
ReplyDeleteI think Camilla has just had an experience that was in her distant memory.
Yes CH...and the civil servants start loosing their jobs and the shops that support these jobs close and soon all we are left with is Tesco... and you phone the tqx office for days before anyone answers and dole payments take 6 or 8 weeks to process and the councils have paid off half their staff and there are 6 year old kids wandering the streets at midnight because there are no social workers and old folks homes don't have enough staff
ReplyDeleteAnd then the real winter starts to bite.
Proud to be British huh?
Oh and Cynical... yer a midden!
ReplyDeleteSanta Claws
ReplyDeleteProbably the best cat ever...
ReplyDeleteNah scroll down.
ReplyDeleteAhhhh... you're right. Frodo is defo the best cat in the world. Wee beauty, and all the nicer and more loved for a wee deformity here and there... bet he never notices!!
ReplyDeleteThe rest of your pics are excellent too CH... Love the birds...awesome.
Of course it's the internet... it had to come down to Nazi jives or cats! :3
ReplyDeleteIf Mr Plod is serious that any demonstrator threatening our wee german princie and his slapper will be shot then revolutionary elements might just take them up on it. Still look on the bright side - it shows Boris Johnson up for the pompous fascist we thought him to be.
ReplyDeleteComplaints emerge this morning Richard, from a wheelchair bound man, saying he was dragged from his wheelchair by Mr Plod, but anyone who shouts 'off with their heads' at Chick and his girlfriend (!) gets a bullet in the head...
ReplyDeleteThat's the kind of talk that starts gunpowder plots.
I lost all sympathy with the students when I saw a picture of one placard saying
ReplyDelete"CONDEM THE CUTS" and another saying
"EDUCATION IS A RIGHT NOT A PRIVALAGE"
(Obviously at PhD level as they got one hard word right and at least attempted another)
These are supposed to be university students or entrants. Most of the rest of the placards were in the recognisable house styles of the Socialist Workers' Party and sundry all-purpose, rent-a-mob demonstrators.
A young lady I know is from a working class family with a wholesome fear of debt. She is taking her degree through an Open University Course and doing two part time jobs to support herself. So far she is keeping up with the schedule of full time students.
So there is no need for any of this.
I am not uncritical of HRH but he and his wife are entitled to go to the theatre unmolested. I would not put it past the police to have permitted an "incident". I thought that very likely when they let the mob into Conservative Central Office. It will make it so much easier for them when the government wants to talk about cuts.
Hello Mr S... I suspect CONDEM wasn't an attempt at spelling, rather an adoption of what some people are calling what passes for a government. PRIVALAGE ...WOW No wonder they say that the English education system is in the tank.
ReplyDeleteI think my main problem with these particular cuts for English students (I have tried to make it clear that this doesn’t affect my country. As far as Education cuts are concerned they may as well be happening in France or Greenland or Burkina Faso) is that they are being voted for by people who swore that they would vote against them. The Liberals are out and out liars.
Of course so are the Tories. They won the blue rinse vote by promising a Michael Howard policy of locking up everyone (except MPs and Lords) who does anything wrong. Now they aren’t going to do that. Add that one to a long list of things that they WERE but now ARE NOT going to do, and in the end you wonder what all these people voted for.
Being in coalition is not an excuse to drop all your policies in the bin. You are supposed to go into coalition with a party with which you have at least something in common.
Now Nick Clegg has a lot on common with Dave, but their parties have almost nothing in common.
Bad coalition, bad government. Cobbled together on the basis that it was so long since the Tories were in power that they would have done anything to get their hands on the tiller... and the Liberals... well who can remember a Liberal government? They clearly sold their collective soul to the devil for a government Mondeo.
I wish them the kind of luck that goes with that particular folly.
As for Charlie and Mrs Parker, they should have stayed home that night. Most other Londoners had to. No sympathy at all for them. They went out into the middle of all that looking flash. Just how stupid is this man? I guess you may well be right on your conspiracy theory. I wouldn’t put anything past these bastards.