If that's the Met being 'proportionate' we'd hate to see them when they're angry.
Plus: Dogs, Foxes and Chimney Sweeps.
Report Vindicates Met’s Actions at Sarah Everard Vigil
Above is a photograph of the Met acting in “a measured and proportionate way” at the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard a few weeks ago.
We know this handcuffing of a young woman at a peaceful vigil was “measured and proportionate” because Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFR for… erm, short) have now published their report, entitled An inspection of the Metropolitan Police Service’s policing of a vigil held in commemoration of Sarah Everard.
To the shock of absolutely nobody, the report concludes that “The Metropolitan police acted appropriately at the vigil held in memory of Sarah Everard on Clapham Common.”
The main justification for this seems to be that the vigil had “turned into a rally with limited or no social distancing” and that “engaging, explaining and encouraging” people to disperse wasn’t working, and therefore “enforcement” was warranted.
N.B. ‘Rally’ seems to be euphemism the HMICFR are using here so they don’t have to use the word ‘protest’.
What’s interesting about the timeline of events laid out in the report is that, at 6pm a minutes silence is observed, and yet within half an hour of that happening officers were needing to be deployed on to the bandstand “to bolster numbers and have a greater capacity to employ the 3Es (not including the 4th E of enforcement) as a tactic to reduce the crowd size and density and enforce COVID-19 legislation.”
In other words, when officers forced their way on to the bandstand to “engage people” and “encourage” them to go home, the crowd began to become hostile and the trouble started. And that’s when “enforcement” was required. Who could have seen that coming?
A few other interesting bits from the report:
The Silver Commander (the officer in charge on the day, not a shit superhero) only knew Kate Middleton had turned up when he saw it on Sky News. Apparently this “illustrates the absence of effective communication… about changing events on the ground.” You don’t say.
Ex-weatherman, anti-vaxxer, climate change denier and human dustbin, Piers Corbyn turned up for a bit looking to capitalise on the death of a young woman. Around 5:30pm Jeremy’s older brother positioned himself at the front of the crowd at the bandstand, but “The Silver Commander was not told about this and was therefore unable to determine whether the situation was changing, and whether any action was needed.”
Even when numbers had risen to around 1,500 and a member of Corbyn’s gang of numpties started agitating from the bandstand; the Silver Commander (who was directing things from a desk “in the force command suite at Lambeth”) was told that this “was still a sombre event with a small crowd of about 200 people.”
‘Bronze 3’, the person whose job it was to “oversee all officers deployed to Clapham Common” was only at Clapham Common between 12:30 and 2pm, before returning at 5:45. During that time “Bronze 3 did not ask for, or receive, any update about events, numbers of people or crowd behaviour.”
We’ll leave you to decide whether or not the Met completely mishandled the situation in the hours running up the early evening. Or if they let the situation deteriorate to a point where they were unable to handle it in a way befitting the circumstances.
Our Laurence Fox Mayoral Campaign Coverage In Full
Evening Standard Egregious Quote Watch: Dog edition
The latest in our occasional series that tracks the use of inflammatory and hyperbolic quotes in Evening Standard headlines.
The headline: London’s dog-napping problem: ‘It’s only a matter of time before somebody is stabbed for their dog’
What’s the story: People are stealing dogs, because the value of dogs has gone up since everyone and their dog got a dog during lockdown. Plus the penalty for stealing a pet isn’t great so maybe more could be done to prevent dog-nappings.
Where did the quote come from: About 18 paragraphs into the (arguably overlong?) article there’s this: ‘“They need to show criminals they won’t get away with it,” says Lucinda, Jasper’s daughter. “I know they have priorities, but how long are they going to leave it? It’s only a matter of time before somebody is stabbed for their dog.”’
Lucinda is the daughter of “Mike Jasper, 66, who was attacked by two men while walking his dog on a common in December.” Admittedly, what happened to Mike sounds horrible (he was punched in the back and his wrists were stood on so he’d release the dog’s lead). But no weapons were used.
Is it lazy scaremongering? Yes. It could absolutely be argued that the penalty for stealing a dog (or any pet) should be greater than that for stealing a mobile phone. But there are already penalties in place for assault and robbery involving use of force or serious injury. And there are definitely laws in place designed to deter people stabbing other people (or even shooting them, that guy who shot Lady Gaga’s dog walker is not getting away with ‘a slap on the wrist’). Also, most of the stabbings that occur in London are gang related, and the ones that involve dogs usually end up with the poor dog getting stabbed.
And the rest
Sadiq’s latest Mayoral campaign pledge is a £32 million ‘good work’ fund to help people find ‘jobs job jobs’ (Sadiq is apparently incapable of saying the word ‘jobs’ just once). The money is going into ‘academies’ in four key sectors: creative, low-carbon green, digital and health & social care. If anyone knows what a creative academy is, please email us and let us know.
Have you ever watched Mary Poppins and wondered what it would be like to live the romantic, carefree life of a London chimney sweep (clue: if you didn’t suffocate inside the chimneys then the “horribly painful and fatal cancer of the scrotum” would likely get you!)? Well, get ready for the Battersea Power Station Chimney Lift, a viewing platform at the top of the North West chimney “offering unrivalled 360-degree views of the capital as well as the historic landmark itself.” It opens in 2022, but in the meantime you can enjoy this “interactive 360° panoramic tour” (and the poorly photoshopped mock up that accompanies it).
Finally: A pair of DJs have been performing in Battersea Park and Clapham Common... out of a wheelie bin and an old bath.