PowerSwitch

I've just heard the chief constable of Manchester police on Radio 4's PM discussing the recent 'terrorist' plot. He seemed to suggest that unlike other types of investigations, public safety issues mean the police having to 'intervene early': hence the recurring difficulty of bringing charges in such cases. It's hardly a first instance, after all.

Innocent until proven guilty? Ah, I forgot: the world changed in 2001.

Clearly he knows more about this particular case than I do, but it's a mighty rich excuse in a bad month for the police generally. I'm wondering if 'intervening early' will also cover assaulting people who don't do as they're told at protests...

The chief constable of Manchester police ... Clearly he knows more about this particular case than I do

You could buy heroin at my secondary school.
Greater Manchester Police investigated and found cigarrettes.

Peelism and competance left the police quite some time ago.

That hastily arranged "terror raid" was only ever a smoke screen to try to divert attention away from the police killing of that passer-by at the G20 demo on 1 April. Bob Quick's convenient showing of the raid details was prearranged - his pay-off was early retirement with a fat pension, thus extricating himself from all the controversy he had got into with that Tory MP's office. Some Labour spin doctor was sh!t hot that day, killing several birds with one stone. I said so at the time as the events of the day unfolded - raid, then news of the disclosure of the raid details (the pretext for the raid). I had just been reading Tom Hodgkinson's "How to be Free", the bit about scaring the public to keep them occupied. (You should give it a read DJ; he's an anarchist.)

Does he think he owns me?

I doubt he knows you exist.

Neither does Browning but he still thinks I owe him my first 6 months of production each year

Not a bad deal; you get to keep pretty well all the fruit and all of the garlic.

hehehehehehe