The ‘Filth’ v the Filthy……..
There was an expectant air in the main stream media yesterday, waiting for ‘it’ to kick off. Waiting for ‘it’ to fill their column inches for them, for ‘it’ to be the response to the oft stated tv anchorman’s question ‘and tell me Dan, you are in the middle of Threadneedle Street, can you see any signs, I mean are there any signs, I mean what is happening where you are’…….waiting and hoping for the photo that would pay their taxes, raise their families.
There was an expectant air in the back of hundreds of police vans yesterday, waiting for ‘it’ to kick off. Known as the ‘Filth’, munching on chocolate bars, several thousand young men and women who had been bussed in the early hours of the morning from rural districts of the UK, waiting, and hoping that they would find a way through the morass of regulations, to do their job – yes, their job, not their off duty ‘desire’ – in a manner that wouldn’t land them in trouble come Monday morning, that wouldn’t put at risk the income that paid their taxes, raised their families.
Across London several thousand tax payers struggled to get to work amidst the congestion of waiting media and ‘Filth’, not to mention the chaos surrounding the 20 men most responsible for screwing up the world economy, and then settled down to produce something that would justify the wages that would pay their taxes, raise their families.
By mid morning, a few intrepid bloggers had managed to get their photographs taken by the bored media in front of a line of ‘Filth’ (queuing for their morning coffee?) but not much else had happened.
Down in ‘crustie land’ the ‘filthy’ were only just stirring. They didn’t need to get up any earlier; they knew they were the key players in this farce, the tax payers would wait for them; and so they braided their hair, chanted Hare Krishna, smoked a joint or two, necked a few beers, and ambled down to the playing field.
Finally the only people who don’t pay taxes had arrived; and on behalf of those of us who do pay taxes, surrounded by tax paying photographers, held at bay by a tax paying young police woman, they bravely smashed a window in the RBS Bank.
What a show! What a contest! What bravery! What hypocrisy!
I hope you enjoyed it – it cost you several million pounds.
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April 2, 2009 at 08:53 -
I remember when, in my youth, I attended an anti-apartheid demonstration in London. Filled with idealism and peaceful intent what fun it was to be pushed, threatened, terrifed and penned by police ‘just doing their job’.
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April 2, 2009 at 09:30 -
Ahh, those were the days…I remember them well…..protesting against Barclays Bank and their interests in S.Africa……the world might have changed but the ordinary ‘mans’ sense of injustice hasn’t ……Good luck to all the protesters who are there with pure intent!!
(just don’t take it out on the horses and dogs ). -
April 2, 2009 at 09:50 -
That OH pix really is a corker. Did someone use a wide-angle lens to get that lovely V shape to the plod line or perhaps he just sweet talked them
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April 2, 2009 at 10:02 -
April 2, 2009 at 10:04 -
April 2, 2009 at 11:35 -
‘….what fun it was to be pushed, threatened, terrifed and penned by police
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April 2, 2009 at 12:42 -
Anna…..to see you nice!
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April 2, 2009 at 13:07 -
If you want to experience first hand the average “plods” policing techniques, just visit the away fans enclosure of any football ground. It is absolutely disgraceful.
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April 2, 2009 at 13:49 -
Ah! The Kop. Famous for soggy trouser legs.
I’ve been to Fulham where women are women, and so are half of the men…..
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April 2, 2009 at 13:59 -
Do those Morons carry fake blood around with them?
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April 2, 2009 at 14:36 -
Finally the only people who don
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April 2, 2009 at 15:03 -
Oh dear, dear….i’m sure the much bailed out RBS will be able to replace the smashed windows….just send the bill to Goodwin(oh, I forgot he’s retired!). Perhaps all those shareholders should have taken out insurance to protect their stocks from the ‘theiving b…..s” who have responsible for this mess. In the greater scheme of things whose gonna quibble about a few broken panes of glass!!!!!
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April 2, 2009 at 15:26 -
Whose the poofter in the thigh boots and mask?
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April 2, 2009 at 16:00 -
Yes, I know we will all be affected by the selfish greedy actions of a few and THEY are the ones who deserve our admonishment…..it’s too easy to be diverted by the actions of a few over-hyped ‘activists’ (good images for the media though!)……at the end of the day there are thousands who are peacefully protesting and many thousands more who are with them in spirit.
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April 2, 2009 at 16:32 -
Elvera – I would say there were hundreds of thousands with the protestors in spirit. I wonder what the authorities would have done if we had all turned up. If everyone who believed in a cause did turn up and demonstrate the troublemakers would be hugely outnumbered. And let’s face it, there are only so many police – unless you count the 60,000 recently enrolled in Gordie’s secret army.
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April 2, 2009 at 17:57 -
The BBC has published a report in which it claims that the man who died yesterday had been pelted with bottles:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7978105.stm
Shameful ‘journalism’, with no witnesses quoted, no corroboration, nothing to support this assertion.
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April 2, 2009 at 18:33 -
I didn
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April 2, 2009 at 19:36 -
There are many commenters on this post with whom I could enjoy an argument..except they wouldn’t listen.
Janes goes on about the idealists who picketed the South African Embassy but conveniently forgets to mention those protesters who threw marbles under the feet of the police horses and stabbed them too.
Elvera goes on about the smashed windows but as Anna points out, they are our and your windows too. Well if you’re happy to pick up the bill for the glass, I’ll send you my portion.
Planet Zog rants on about ‘shameful journalism’ when referring to a man who died being pelted with bottles. Actually, it was the police who were trying to help this guy who were pelted and there is plenty of independent evidence as to the veracity of this.
Finally, JB mentions coppers earning overtime. Does JB live on this planet? I wonder. Coppers had to be bussed in from 30 forces across this country to try and keep law and order. I don’t suppose for one minute that any single one of them wanted to be there. They probably had better things to do, like investigating burglaries and robberies.
I would go on but words fail me.
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April 2, 2009 at 20:24 -
As several people have pointed out, it is normally a disturbed few that do things like stabbing horses and if I were protesting and I saw someone do that I would hold their head behind the horse until it could exact revenge. The windows are ours true but what’s more important a bill from the glassier or a stark message that we are not happy with the actions of RBS nor the fact that when its dummy dropped from the pram there was a line of MPs ready to reinsert it into their crying, dribbling faces? Maybe ‘shameful journalism’ wasn’t the case with regard to the bottling but standing around hoping for a window smashing and some blood certainly is. If they were doing their job properly people wouldn’t need to vent their rage in the streets as our beloved journos would have been doing it for us all over the front pages with demands for resignations. Finally the most contentious point of them all; the police and their pay. Police do get paid overtime and would have been even happier (I imagine) if it was a public holiday as they would have been on more like three times their normal pay. I doubt anyone ever joined a ‘force’ of any kind with the intention or desire to exert power without responsibility…. I can appreciate playing devil’s advocate, we all do it and enjoy it from time to time but I think in this case you are mistaken.
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April 2, 2009 at 20:30 -
Try it. There are many people here who listen. Debate is welcome.
More to the point, why is SKY news glued to what might happen, when 16 people lost their lives in a helicopter crash.
Just because they didn’t have live pictures of the aircraft crashing into the sea, it is relegated to incidental news.A similar accident happened 6 weeks ago involving the same type of aircraft, why weren’t they all grounded until a cause could be established?
I will tell you. Because of the logistics and financial implications. Ask the families of the victims if they give a shit about some morons smashing the windows of RBS.
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April 2, 2009 at 20:45 -
@Zak…I did try it and was in the Met for a considerable number of years. I was at the Red Lion Square demo, the Grosvenor Square demo and several others. I can assure you that I would far rather have been somewhere else on all occasions. Perhaps you should have tried standing in a line having bricks, bottles and Christ knows what else thrown at you before you have the temerity to criticize. As to earning three time pay…once more you demonstrate your ignorance. The absolute max they can get is double time and if you think that’s a fair compensation then, as I said, you do it for a while..
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April 2, 2009 at 20:48 -
Hear, hear Saul. Also, Cato, I remember when the Trooping the Colour on Horseguards came under attack. I was amazed and shocked afterwards to hear many people saying ‘those poor horses’ as opposed to ‘those poor soldiers’.
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April 2, 2009 at 21:08 -
Especially no handbags. I was once caught on the temple by a handbag that contained a jumbo sized can of Harmony hairspray.
I think the correct terminology is….”went down lack a sack of sh*t”
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April 2, 2009 at 21:10 -
Granted three times their normal pay was an outrageous exaggeration and I submit to your more accurate intelligence or should I say evidence? So having worked for the Met you say that everyone or at least most of your colleagues would have preferred to be somewhere else, solving burglaries etc? Perhaps they would have preferred being out and about pulling over black guys in nice cars or arresting Muslims as terrorists only to be ordered to release them and then pay 60grand in damages or maybe they could be chasing down fare dodgers and shooting them in the head- repeatedly. I’m sorry those are only a few of the brilliant acts of bravery the Met have committed recently that spring to mind. But you are right- standing in a line in body armour with numerous weapons including the threat of arrest, armoured vehicles dangerous chemicals and most recently a nifty little device which discharges 50,000 volts on the command of its ill-trained user. All the time being attacked by protesters who have to ask permission to march and could quite easily be branded terrorists and detained without trial. Excuse my ignorance but who are the criminals then?
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April 2, 2009 at 21:37 -
Zak,
My sympathies. You are clearly in need of treatment.Perhaps you failed to view the numerous scenes shot yesterday of officers wearing flat caps…no armour…having things thrown at them. Did you see the use of a Tazer? I didn’t. Nor was the use of one commented on by the many journos who would have been only too ready to comment upon the use thereof. You say they are ill-trained. How would you know that? Are you an expert on the use of such weapons? Furthermore, did you see armoured vehicles deployed? Did you see CS deployed?
Thought not.
As to the shooting of the innocent man. Yes, that was a very bad mistake. But then who are you to criticize? Have you ever held a firearm? I have. Have you ever used one? I have. Have you ever chased a man you thought (mistakenly as it turned out) was a terrorist? No, Thank God I haven’t. Have you ever made a mistake? I have.
Of course you haven’t because you are perfect in every respect…………. but you’re very ready to criticize those who may not be.
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April 2, 2009 at 21:53 -
Nobody is perfect Cato. Mistakes? Plenty. Chased a suspected terrorist? No. (have been threatened with the act) Fired a Handgun? Yes, in controlled circumstances on a range with an instructor, several times. I am able to criticise because I do not claim to be a trained firearms officer.
As for my comments regarding the use of CS, Tazer, Armoured Equipment. I was referring to previous demonstrations where all such things have been used including, I suspect, at one of your previous engagements with protesters. When I mentioned the Tazer I was referring to the recent deployment (this week) of Tazers in London and their use locally, several weeks ago, to subdue an irate housewife in the middle of a domestic.
As for treatment, my friend, I will take any you care to offer.
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April 2, 2009 at 21:55 -
Cato, I didn’t watch TV all day or maybe I would have spotted the police without protective gear. I wouldn’t recognise a tazer unless attacked (or restrained) with one but I’m sure they are very unpleasant unless you happen to be the one holding them. Also, on the subject of tazers, I don’t really think that journos not mentioning them means they weren’t there, I assume they are easier to conceal than armoured vehicles.
I’m sure Zak has made plenty of mistakes in his life, as have I, but you seem to be suggesting that the only way he can comment is if he has been or is willing to be a member of the police force.
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April 2, 2009 at 22:00 -
It would appear I am being ignored with my attempts at injecting a little jocularity here.
So be it, but let me tell you it will take a Taser to get me out of here……………aaarghhhhh.
Bast*rds that hurt!
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April 2, 2009 at 22:02 -
Saul, if I knew how to insert a smiley face I would!
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April 2, 2009 at 22:08 -
RE: G20 protest,
“The Met confirmed yesterday that they will be supported by officers equipped with Tasers on stand-by should trouble break out. There will be an armed response vehicle element to this operation and [those officers] will be carrying Tasers, -
April 2, 2009 at 22:13 -
8D
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April 2, 2009 at 22:15 -
That last one should have been a dancing banana – AR is obviously too serious a site to accept such trashy expressions of hilarity.
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April 2, 2009 at 22:18 -
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April 2, 2009 at 22:19 -
Zak, you are just showing off. And as Saul seems to have disappeard there is no-one else to impress.
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April 2, 2009 at 22:24 -
Hah! A mere taser! I laugh at taser’s.
Well, at least the 9 volt variety.
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April 2, 2009 at 22:27 -
Saul, according to Zak’s link they were the 50,000-volt variety. EEEk.
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April 2, 2009 at 22:28 -
I really wasn’t too bothered until I was so superbly blog-bashed I felt I must defend my non-researched comments but Cato I must thank you, the more I look into this the more I feel justified in what I said. I would love to continue this battle of wits but I fear you are unarmed, unlike the police at the G20 protest, it would seem. Goodnight.
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April 2, 2009 at 22:28 -
I laugh at smileys, but then I probably need treatment …
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April 2, 2009 at 22:33 -
At least you are all spelling taser correctly now.
My job here is done.
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April 2, 2009 at 22:35 -
Yes, my friend Tazers may have been there. Were they deployed? No. As to the use of Tazers at demos which Zak suggests…I have no knowledge and neither I suspect does Zak. As you well know but choose to ignore, had there been such deployment, it would have been front page news.
As to my previous engagements with demonstrators, sadly that was in the days when locally available (armoured) dustbin lids were used as a means of defence. There was no CS nor Tazer available then. And perhaps they were better times.
However, if you have a problem with having to ask permission to march and protest, then address that to your MP who, amongst many others of his/her ilk will have voted for same. Personally I think it was a bad step and an infringement of civil liberties to have voted in such a measure.
Zak, your reference to the use of Tazer quite clearly referred to its deployment on the G20 demos and not to the arrest of the housewife. Please don’t obfuscate the matter.
@Janes,
I can’t say I watched TV all day either but at the times when I did tune in to Sky News the deployment of unarmoured officers was quite apparent. And no I’m not suggesting that Zak can’t comment in any way. But if he does then he should make informed criticism and not throw the usual ill-informed, anti-police brickbats. -
April 2, 2009 at 22:47 -
” obfuscate ”
Respect!
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April 3, 2009 at 09:34 -
Seems to me that Cato is very happy for people to protest and dissent – so long as it’s on his terms. After all he was only doing his job. Maybe he needs to go away and rethink what sort of world he wants to live in. His only useful comment is that we should talk to our politicians about the role of the police in this country.
The police, of course, are the first line of defence for governments of all shades and the establishment they represent. They have in the last 30/40 years been well trained in the tactics of controlling people for the benefit of that establishment. Presumably, he is not able to understand that element of it. He was only doing his job.
Only doing his job – that’s what they thought when they shot John Charles de Menezes eh? That’s what they think when they contrive to limit people’s movement in a so called free society. That’s what they think as they photograph innocent people, when they desire a data base of every person in the country, that’s what they think as thye criminalise more and more people including children. Shall I continue.
Cato, your comments are an incitement to riot and, therefore, unlawful. You should be in gaol. Although I now expect a knock on my door in ‘this best of all possible worlds.’ Hello, hello, hello – Only doing my job – then you kick my door down. I thought the police were public servants, paid for by the taxpayer, so as your employer – do not pass go, or collect
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April 3, 2009 at 09:35 -
ps
The real criminals in this are the government and the establishment, who have spent all of OUR money for their personal gain. I don’t see any of them being arrested, held against their will,m for however, charges and found guilty of economic terrorism. -
April 3, 2009 at 10:09 -
Just heard on news that Goodwin is considering a reduction in his pension pay-out…’considering’ ye gads….someone should step up the ‘chinese burns’ to help him make a decision….or perhaps a ‘tickle’ with one of they taser thingies!
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April 3, 2009 at 10:31 -
Apologies everyone for spelling taser incorrectly through all my comments. My defence is that I was copying Cato, but only in the spelling.
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April 3, 2009 at 15:47 -
Blink,
You are so wrong. I’m in favour of anyone protesting about anything they like, when they like. The only things I’m against are violence …..to anyone.
I’m sorry but I haven’t incited anyone to riot, not would I.
As to the databases you write about..I’m against them..have a look at my blog if you don’t believe me.
As to de Menezes, I’ve already said that they made a terrible mistake. And that’s what it was…a terrible, sad, tragic mistake.
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April 3, 2009 at 16:33 -
There you go..http://www.catosabout.blogspot.com/
I’ve edited your comment to put the url in the url box……..it should appear automatically now when you come on board, but if it doesn’t you just put it in under your e-mail address and user name – and your name turns a pretty blue……s’pose you’ll want an avatar now as well to be properly dressed!!!!
I have called into your blog, very interesting. Now the rest of this shower I politely refer to as posters will be crashing around in their hob nailed boots……behave yourself in Cato’s house OK?
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April 3, 2009 at 17:12 -
Shower reporting for duty, MA’AM!
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April 3, 2009 at 17:42 -
She’s loaned them to her Uncle Tommy, it’s his Darts and Dominoes night.
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April 3, 2009 at 18:19 -
Saul 04.03.09 at 5:42 pm
She
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April 3, 2009 at 18:24 -
Aaah, found out what you meant. Google blogger is much simpler. Meant for people like me.
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April 3, 2009 at 18:28 -
Why is this not working? User name…ticked E-mail…ticked… Website..have entered blog address…try again!
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April 3, 2009 at 18:29 -
Real men play with a set of “nines”.
Whatever you do don’t get stuck with the double nine.
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April 3, 2009 at 18:29 -
Won’t turn blue…aaaaaaaargh!!!
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April 3, 2009 at 18:30 -
Don’t say that to the guys I play with (metaphorically speaking of course)… 5 and 3 is what they die for.
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April 3, 2009 at 18:38 -
Uncle Tommy wouldn’t get out of bed for a game of 5′s and 3′s. He thinks Bridge is a poor man’s 9 card Don.
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April 3, 2009 at 19:09 -
Ave Cato……….are you the elder, younger or glint in the milkman’s eye version?
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April 3, 2009 at 19:15 -
Tsk, tsk…I’m Cato the younger…latterly married to Marcia.
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April 3, 2009 at 19:32 -
Hi there Elvera ………….
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April 3, 2009 at 19:46 -
Hi Coco….luv the avatar…..looks just like me…….the fag in the mouth bit I mean….as for the rest ——–I wish!!!!!
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April 3, 2009 at 20:05 -
You and I both – Elvera! I have put this picture on all the mirrors in the house today.
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April 3, 2009 at 20:13 -
An interesting and balanced view of events in this post. Very interesting comments too.
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April 5, 2009 at 08:35 -
Photographer Anna Branthwaite said: “I can remember seeing Ian Tomlinson (the man who died at the G20). He was rushed from behind by a riot officer with a helmet and shield two or three minutes before he collapsed.” Branthwaite, an experienced press photographer, has made a statement to the IPCC.
“He hit the top front area of his head on the pavement. I noticed his fall particularly because it struck me as a horrifically forceful push by a policeman and an especially hard fall; it made me wince.” Guardian Online.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/05/g20-protest-ian-tomlinsonBritish Police: Smack you in the head, push you to the ground, cause a heart attack and then paint it as a tragic accident they had nothing to do with. Sound familiar? That is because it happens all the time.
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April 5, 2009 at 08:47 -
“The police tactics during the G20 protests were condemned in the aftermath of the demonstrations. The clearance of a climate camp along Bishopsgate by riot police with batons and dogs after nightfall on Wednesday came in for particular criticism.” Guardian.
Can you just imagine being in a situation where you were being hunted by the police chased by dogs pummelled with batons? What drives men and women to do this especially when none of them wanted to be there….? Is it their own form of mob mentality, us or them? Is it the same as the Nazis who rounded up Jews for execution even though they had been their friends and neighbours? If you start rationalising acts of violence and terror as “just doing my job” then you are no better than those Nazis. It is yours, mine, everyone’s job to question the actions we decide to take. Because it is our actions not sentiment or orders by which we will be remembered. We must question what is necessary and what is habit; what is right and what is wrong.
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April 5, 2009 at 08:53 -
Sorry to keep “flogging a dead protester” but our resident “filth” is dead wrong about the G20 and police in general. Having been one for so many years must have brainwashed him. Sorry to be spouting “the usual ill-informed, anti-police brickbats” but it’s not ill-informed, the police are in a position of power which they can and do abuse and although they are not above the law they are certainly higher than the rest of us.
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April 5, 2009 at 09:07 -
“Zak, your reference to the use of Tazer quite clearly referred to its deployment on the G20 demos and not to the arrest of the housewife. Please don
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April 8, 2009 at 13:39 -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/business/2009/g20/7988812.stm
Nice to see the mainstream media catch up!
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April 8, 2009 at 15:10 -
Did you get that Cato?
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April 8, 2009 at 19:28 -
Yes thank you, I’ve just got it.
Please see my blog.
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April 11, 2009 at 08:11 -
Finally the question has been asked, was penning in a load of protesters really the best way to PREVENT a riot?
Brilliant image: as the police charge, covered in flour, a protester holds his hands up with blood streaming down his face.
From the Article: Protesters held their hands in the air and chanted -
April 11, 2009 at 09:34 -
I have viewed the video several times, it is obvious Mr Tomlinson was clearly stepping on the cracks of the pavement. What did he expect? Let that be a lesson to the rest of the protestors.
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April 11, 2009 at 10:27 -
Good point Saul he did step on a crack instead of falling through one like all the real criminals.
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