A return to the bad old days?

Police and football club officials are scanning CCTV footage to idenitfy those responsible for mass violence which broke out between rival fans during Tuesday night's Carling Cup match between West Ham and Milwall, resulting in a man being stabbed in the chest.

There were running battles before and after the match at Upton Park and the game was held up when home supporters invaded the pitch after West Ham took the lead in extra time.

At least 10 people were arrested as bitter rivalry between rival supporters erupted into what police described as "large-scale" violence before game in east London.

A man was stabbed in the chest and two others taken to hospital following clashes between hundreds of rival football supporters in east London.

The 44-year-old man was stabbed in Priory Road, just yards from West Ham's ground, before the game. He was said by police to be in a stable condition last night. The other two were last night being treated in hospital for non-lifethreatening injuries. One man was found in Rancliffe Road suffering head injuries, while another was taken to hospital following an alleged assault at a pub in Green Street.

Onlookers described how bricks and bottles were lobbed as hundreds of supporters rioted.

And inside the ground fans fought with police and stewards and play was suspended when scores of supporters invaded the pitch.

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said officers were now scanning CCTV footage to identify those behind the clashes."We will be reviewing all the events, looking at CCTV both inside and outside the ground to identify offences and offenders."

The Football Association said last night it would investigate the violence and said anyone involved would be banned from football for life.

A spokesman said: "We absolutely condemn all of the disorder that has occurred at Upton Park both inside and outside of the ground.

"We will be working with all parties, including the police and clubs, to establish the facts surrounding (last night's) events.

"We strongly expect all culprits to be banned from football for life. They have no place in our game."

West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola said the scenes were unlike anything he had seen before. "I've been involved in difficult games and things happened. Here, I've played seven years and I've never seen it like this.

"It's certainly not good for football. I was completely shocked. Totally.

"I knew it was a game that meant a lot for the two sets of supporters, but I didn't imagine it like this."

Millwall boss Kenny Jackett added: "I wasn't aware of the stabbing outside the ground. I'm very sad to hear that.

"We've got a passionate game in this country, but when it oversteps the mark then things have to be done."

The fighting started shortly after 6pm as thousands of fans made their way to the ground. One West Ham fan who went to the match said the District Line underground train from Barking stopped just before Upton Park at 7.20pm and did not move for around 15 minutes. "Tempers flared on board as kick-off approached, people tried breaking open the doors," he said. The atmosphere was tense in surrounding streets, the police helicopter was up and riot police were everywhere."

The fan said he saw about 30 police with shields and batons "storm" towards the nearby Boleyn pub.

A 29-year-old man, who runs a kebab shop in Green Street said: "All hell broke loose, it was very frightening. It's not every day you see stuff like that."

National Police Memorial Day

Sunday 27th September 2009 marks the sixth National Police Memorial Day, an annual event that honours police officers throughout the United Kingdom who have given their lives in the line of duty.

National Police Memorial Day is designed to remember every officer killed on duty since modern policing began more than 175 years ago and aims to recognise the courage and dedication shown by all police officers across the UK every day.

As with the previous five years, the Police Federation of England and Wales is working in partnership with the Home Offices and other police associations across the UK to ensure the day is memorable for everyone attending particularly the widows, family and friends of fallen officers.

Paul McKeever, Chairman, Police Federation of England and Wales says,

“this day is a way for the nation to recognise the best of all human qualities – selfless and devoted courage – and the example and valour of those officers who died on duty acts as an inspiration to us all."

I will be particularly remembering a fellow officer from my Police Force, the late Police Constable Dennis Smith of the Devon & Cornwall Constabulary, who was murdered on duty at Torquay several years ago now by a crazed gunman who went on the rampage in the town killing several people.

Details of formal events marking National Police Memorial Day will be posted on this blog as they become known to me.

Congratulations to Stephen Wray - my music maestro!

Steve Wray is the 23 year old son of a lifelong friend of mine who lives in Pennsylvania, USA. He has a keen interest in acoustic guitars and recently entered an Accent Music Guitar Solo Contest in Wilmington, Newark, and won second place. His father said in an e-mail to me;

My son Stephen won 2nd prize in a lead guitar contest at Accent Music, where he takes lessons. (a $50.00 gift card) Here is the link to his performance. He had to choose from 8 tracks the song he wanted to play lead to. Then he had to improvise the lead. He got the track list on Wednesday and the contest was Saturday. He did a great job and I am very proud of him.



I too am proud of you Steve. Your father's influence has clearly rubbed off on you! The next time your family put on a Hootenanny may be I shall be there to congratulate you in person. Mark Winfree eat your heart out. You now have serious competition from a true professional to contend with! Well done Steve and keep up the good work.

I want my England!

ENGLAND I think this really sums it all up.

After hearing that many cities did not want to offend other cultures by putting up Christmas lights, so DIDN'T!

After learning that the British Red Cross shops were instructed not to display Christmas decorations lest they cause offence. (A move which cost them my support thereafter.)

After hearing that the Birmingham council changed its opinion and let a Muslim woman have her picture on her driver's licence with her face covered. You try it!

After hearing of a Primary School in Birmingham where a boy was told that for PE they could wear Football League shirts (Aston Villa, Birmingham, West Brom etc) but NOT an England shirt as it could offend others !

This prompted the editorial below written by a UK citizen,and published in a British newspaper.

IMMIGRANTS. NOT BRITONS, MUST ADAPT

Take it or leave it. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on London , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Brits.

However, the dust from the attacks has barely settled and the 'politically correct' crowd begin complaining about the possibility that our patriotism is offending others.

I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to Britain . However, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our country, and apparently some born here, need to understand.

This idea of England being a multicultural centre for community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As Britons, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language and our own lifestyle. This culture has been developed over centuries of wars, struggles, trials and victories fought by the untold masses of men and women who laid down their lives and of the millions of men and women who have sought freedom.

We speak ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, learn the language!

If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture. If St.George's cross offends you, then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet.

We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don't care how you did things where you came from. This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this.

But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our National Motto, or Our Way of Life, I encourage you take advantage of one other great British freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'.

We didn't force you to come here. If you don't like it GO HOME!!

You asked to be here.. So accept the country that accepted YOU. Pretty easy really, when you think about it.

First it was politicians now it's policemen - Abuse of expense claims. Who will be next?

Scotland Yard chiefs have agreed a secret amnesty for more than 1,000 officers and staff who misused corporate credit cards, it has been revealed.

An internal audit discovered 1,183 Metropolitan Police employees broke rules governing the use of American Express charge cards.

Senior officers were so overwhelmed by the number of cases they decided the card holders would not be punished - deciding instead that the staff, the vast majority of whom worked in counter terrorism and other specialist crime inquiries, would be given "training and guidance".

More than 300 people were initially referred to anti-corruption detectives when evidence emerged their claims were potentially fraudulent.

Of these cases, 50 were passed to independent investigators. Three officers have since been convicted of criminal offences and two more await trial.

Jenny Jones, of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said training and guidance is "not enough" and some disciplinary action should be taken. She said: "I find it unacceptable that the police have just let these officers go with guidance. They must have known what they were doing was wrong."

Members of the MPA, the force watchdog, have been told privately how an initial sift of accounts exposed the scale of the problem.

Internal auditors decided 1,183 people who used a card, but did not break the law, should be put to one side and labelled "category B". These cases included those who purchased personal items and later repaid the money or bought equipment that should have been purchased by other means.

Meanwhile, claims found to be "potentially unacceptable", including cases of suspected fraud, were labelled "category A" and passed to anti-corruption detectives. Inquiries into abuse of the credit card system by officers are expected to continue until next March, two and a half years after they first began.

A total of 3,533 officers and staff were issued with the cards and at one point £3.7 million of public money was unaccounted for. The majority of this money has been paid back, but legal action is expected against two officers who owe £82,000 and £1,100.

Puritanical, pragmatic, proselytizing pratt!?

I have just been paid the biggest compliment of my blogosphere experience! Robert "Bob" Mercer of South Australia has been moved to post the below item on his blog with the title has shown above. I have been called some names in my time but nothing as interesting as this! I believe he expected me to censor his link but, on the contrary, I was pleased to publish it within my comments section. I have never had a full posting devoted to me on any blog so far! It resulted in greatly increased traffic to my site. I rarely reach a hundred hits per week but already I have received 144 visits and there is still tomorrow to go before I receive my weekly update. Thanks very much Bob! This is what he wrote;

Came across a blog which I found interesting particularly the page ….link http://old-plod-of-plympton.blogspot.com/2009/08/this-man-would-get-my-vote.html More people like this mayor are needed not only in the UK but also in Australia…….please!

Unfortunately whilst some of the articles were interesting the “discussion” options were somewhat limited by the somewhat puritanical attitude of the “Old Plod” the ex-policeman who owns the blog. His profile includes the statement

” I consider myself to be a pragmatic and deeply spiritual person. I will endeavour to avoid unnecessary censorship on this Blog. However; I will not accept any xenophobic, homophobic, racist, sexist or indeed any other form of extreme bigotry within comments posted on this blog. Measures to prevent postings of this nature are in place.”

Well, what a puritanical, pragmatic pratt! His listing is in itself a form of bigotry, since the word means intolerance or narrow-mindedness. Perhaps as an ex-plod he has become mired in the upper echelon bigotry that exists within the police forces of the world. One can be xenophobic, racist, sexist etc., without being a bigot! [I do not include the non-word "homophobic" since it is the most stupid meaningless concoction ever. A mishmash of homo meaning "the same" and phobia meaning "fear" hence a fear of the same!? Rubbish!]. Perhaps his spirituality is obtained from a bottle of sorts. However, that being said, how come he allowed the article to which I referred originally, namely “This man would get my vote” since it is definitely anti-pervert [I refuse to use the word "gay" and say it as it is!] and is surely xenophobic since he is advocating telling the EU where to stick it!

If he is so sensitive [and after 33 professed years as a copper I doubt that] and becomes lachrymose when people post such anti-pervert or xenophobic comments, has he never heard of censoring comments? If he so desired he could edit or delete what he deems “unsuitable” wording.

He does have a suggestion to link to his blog or any particular page but……………somehow I don’t think my link would be too welcome!

If you would like to view Bob Mercer's blog and leave him a comment in defence of me or support of him here is the address;

http://rhmercer.com/blog/?p=398

I feel we could develop an interesting debate here. LOL! I warn you though he has some pretty strong views on many subjects. I shall certainly be paying him a few return visits in the future! G'day Bob!!!!!

A Pastor with great courage!

This took courage (although it shouldn't have) It is absolutely great ! ! !There might be hope yet!

A Pastor with GUTS!
I thought you might enjoy reading this interesting prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate. It seems prayer still upsets some people.. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask
Your forgiveness and to seek your direction and
Guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those
Who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we
Have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed
Our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it
The lottery.

We have rewarded laziness and called it
Welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it
Choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it
Justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our
Children and called it building self esteem..

We have abused power and called it
Politics.

We have coveted our neighbour's possessions
And called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and
pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honoured values
Of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts
Today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Amen!
The response was immediate.A number of Legislators walked out during the prayer in protest.In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church,where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India , Africa and Korea.

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio programme, 'The Rest of the Story,'and received a larger response to this programme than any other he has ever aired.

With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called 'one nation under God.'

My thanks to Mr.Brian Eastwood for sharing this with me.

This man would get my vote!

I LIKE THE SOUND OF THIS MAN
A maverick mayor elected after promising to slash council spending, clear the streets of yobs and ditch politically correct services is the torchbearer for how towns should be run.

On his first morning as Mayor of Doncaster in South Yorkshire , Peter Davies cut his salary from £73,000 to £30,000 then closed the council’s newspaper for "peddling politics on the rates".
Now three weeks into his job, Mr Davies is pressing ahead with plans he hopes will see the number of town councillors cut from 63 to just 21, saving taxpayers £800,000.
Mr Davies said: "If 100 senators can run the United States of America , I can’t see how 63 councillors are needed to run Doncaster ".

He has withdrawn Doncaster from the Local Government Association and the Local Government Information Unit, saving another £200,000. Mr Davies said, "They are just talking shops".
" Doncaster is in for some serious untwinning. We are twinned with nine other cities around the world and they are just for people to fly off and have a binge at the council’s expense".

The mayor’s chauffeur-driven car has also been axed by Mr Davies and the driver given another job. Mr Davies, born and bred in Doncaster, swept to power in the May election with 24,244 votes as a candidate for the English Democrats, a party that wants tight immigration curbs, an English Parliament and a law forcing every public building to fly the flag of St. George.

He has promised to end council funding for Doncaster ’s International Women’s Day, Black History Month and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month.
He said, "Politicians have got completely out of touch with what people want.
"We need to cut costs. I want to pass on some savings I make in reduced taxes and use the rest for things we really need, like improved children’s services".
Mr Davies has received messages from well wishers across the country and abroad as news of his no-nonsense approach spreads.
Now it’s your chance to spread this most sensible way to run a town council.