Chief 1-0 Politicians - a fair result?
Post categories: Brunstrom, Buckley, Chirk, Connah's Quay, Corwen, Denbigh, Denbighshire, Flint, Flintshire, Holywell, Llangollen, Mold, Prestatyn, Rhyl, Ruthin, Shotton, St Asaph, Wrexham
| 07:56 UK time, Wednesday, 28 November 2007
Blimey, the flak's flying again and, guess what, the Chief Constable is at the centre of it all.
Last night, the BBC One Wales TV programme, The Chief, [repeated 9.45pm tonight, BBC2W] went out with our very own love-or-loathe-him and never far from the headlines Richard Brunstrom giving us an insight as to the man in the Chief Constable's hat.
He confessed to that "stupid mistake" in which he showed Press pictures of a dead man to prove a point - without the permission of the victim's family.
And then he went and did what he does best; he gave today's Press more fodder for today's headlines, 'MP's shock at police chief attack'.
Whether you agree with his rants about local politicans having little affinity with the area or not is for you to decide and your views are welcomed. And is Wrexham MP Ian Lucas justified to officially complain about the chief's remarks about him?
You may have already proved the chief's point about Mr Lucas. Overnight and this morning you've been posting your views [mainly opposing] an idea tabled by Mr Lucas to have the Welsh dragon added to the Union Jack flag.
Arfon writes: "Ian Lucas is not in touch with public opinion in Wales. What we want is our own national flags and bin the Union flag."
Taliesin says: "Ian Lucas may be a Welsh MP, but he is English and decidely Unionist. His motives clearly reflect that and his suggestion should be seen in the context of Gordon 'Rule Britannia' Brown's drive to promote a contructed Britishness."
Over to you...
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~37~RS~)
MP's are protected in what they say within Parliament by Parliamentary privelege...its nice to see the 'boot on the other foot' and for an MP to 'get it in the neck'. To Ian Lucas I would say 'Live with it'
Although I did not intend giving the Chief Constable the oxygen of publicity, which he relishes, against my better judgement I watched some of the programme. The impression I got was of NO DIRECT APOLOGY by the Chief Constable to the aggrieved family, but a persistent effort to blame the media for doing their job, ie. reporting what they saw and heard at the briefing. He implied that he was right to show the pictures but stupid to allow himself to be found showing them without consulting the family. What on earth did he expect, he had a room full of media people for goodness sake!!! He's used the media for his own purposes in the past often enough, surely he wasn't so naive as to expect anything other than the response he got. I would even go so far as to wonder if disclosure was not part of his original intention.
CHIEF CONSTABLES!!!
Chief Constable of East Yorkshire gets caught speeding (by N.Wales police) :- RESIGNS!!!
Chief Constable of Powys (best detection results in Wales) gets caught, among other things, misusing
his computer :- RESIGNS!!!
Anyone got a pen to lend the Chief???
If he's so determined not to resign at least he could give us a break and apply for the vacancy in Powys!!!
I blogged on the Chiefs "rant" straight away as I thought it crossed the line between sensible discussion and inappropriate comment for someone in his position. I have never rushed to condemn Richard Brunstrom despite some of his antics, but in a thirst for publicity I think he forgets the nature of his role. If he wants to "rant" in public then take off the uniform and become a political figure - theres plenty more of us out here ranting !.
However I do feel allowing this to be filmed was an error, and how many errors can one Police Authority take ?
Give the man a break. He struck me as being a very straightforward guy, very committed and the type of cop we need. I have personal sympathy as a human being at the death of a loved one, but when bikers hit Welsh roads well in excess of 100mph and, in the event of an accident could kill a member of my family, then my sympathy ends and I would support any means to bring such recklessness to an end. I don't think he should apologise let alone even consider resigning. I thought that the media acted in a very mercenary way, and provoked a media circus well beyond the scope of human decency.
Carry on Dick. You have my support!
In today's world of political correctness gone mad, where everyone seems to tow the 'party' line regardless, Richard Brunstrom is a breath of fresh air. He has the decency and backbone to put his cards on the table.
I wish others holding public office would do the same, proving that this country nurtures healthy debate for progress sake and that it does practice free speech of opinion.
Give us all a break, send him to Powys. He is straightforward to the extent of being arrogant, and there was no evidence to indicate the speed, excessive or not, of the biker whose picture was shown. You are just as likely to be injured by a particular young lady exceeding the speed limit on the A55 in her car as you are by a responsible biker.
Of course the media are mercenary, they are paid for their labours, aren't we all? Would you work for nothing? The Chief Constable doesn't.
The only people at that briefing going beyond the scope of human decency were the Chief Constable and his Deputy, they were the persons showing the pictures without the human decency of notifying the aggrieved family.
Decency and backbone were demonstrated recently by the Chiefs who resigned, and I too wish we had more holders of public office with the integrity and backbone to resign after making such a catalogue of errata. On reflection perhaps backbone and integrity should also be a requirement of the members of the Police Authority .
This is my final comment on this subject, I'm not going to encourage the publicity loving Chief any more on this site. Cheers, Wil.