Saturday 13 August 2011

Police & Riots: Cameron Turns to American for Help; Insists is Not Desperate


British Prime Minister David Cameron has turned to American police for advice on how to handle riots - certainly, they've plenty of experience of that, although notably the man he has hired has already said policing on its own cannot solve what are essentially wider social problems.

The British police, meanwhile, are more than a little cross with the assertions by Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May that it was their dictation of police tactics that caused the riots to come to an end. Police chief Hugh Orde denounced this as a fabrication - and after all, while his officers endured hours and even days of assaults and threats by mobs, Mrs May, visiting a former riot scene to view the damage, fled after just 90 seconds when some entirely peaceful people booed at her.

Cameron of course has previous form on telling other people how to risk their lives on his behalf. It was only a few weeks ago that, faced with complaints from Army generals about lack of a proper strategy and decent equipment in Afghanistan, he told them at a press conference, "You do the fighting, I'll do the talking!"

Isn't it good to be ruled by such brave people?

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