Calum Steele
@CalumA_Steele
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Board Member @MGALBA, Opinions @HeraldScotland, Advisor @ICPRA, Ret Gen Sec @Scotspolfed, PastPres @Euro_Cop, Hebridean, Teuchter, Gaelic speaker. “A Disgrace”
Joined July 2015
This really was quite astonishing. I can’t think of any other occasion where any politician was honoured in this way.
📹 Watch as the Tartan Army pays tribute to Alex Salmond ahead of Scotland's match against Portugal ⚽️👏
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Yesterday police officers in the west of Scotland had bones broken, lost teeth, & sustained a multitude of other injuries as they faced (what was for many) the worst violence in their 20 odd years of policing.
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Riddle me this. On trial Adam Graham / Isla Bryson said “it was consensual” and was not believed. The same Adam Graham / Isla Bryson says “I am a trans woman” and is to be believed?.
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If you thought the NHS Fife employment tribunal was a bin fire - just have a look at the one ongoing against the Met police.
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The only person who can legitimately claim an “exclusive” headline today is a certain Mr Stuart Campbell of Bath.
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This photo by Mike Gibbons (widely used by media) ably demonstrates the altar at which we are expected to unquestionably worship. But seeing as curiosity leads to discovery is this a trans woman or a man pretending to be so?
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On 16 March Police Scotland launched its Violence against Women & Girls (VAWG) Strategy. On 25th May the Chief Constable said the force was institutionally misogynistic. On 22nd July a woman was violently assaulted by a man in Aberdeen. He wasnt prosecuted
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With so many now distracted by the frothing over section 35 it might be worthwhile to take time to critically analyse the abject failure of the Holyrood committee process - which was seen as little more than a procedural inconvenience that had to be tolerated.
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If you’re an SNP supporter you’d have to agree that John Swinney’s message about reconnecting and listening etc is crucial to your survival. My question is this - what has prevented you from listening and reconnecting before now?.
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Appreciate @SundayTimesScot has to adhere to publishing guides but these were my pre-edit words “Adam Graham may now be Isla Bryson but a woman he is not, and in the eyes of many, never will be”
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This is exceptional from Mandy. As a bloke its always been easier for me to point to lunacy & not be on the receiving end of a pile on - but it’s undoubtedly women like Mandy and others like her who are real heroes as the wrath they faced for doing the same has been relentless.
“the reality is that as soon as you call a man a ‘she’, you are on a slippery slope downwards that takes you to a place where we are now”. My @HolyroodDaily column along with righteous fury on behalf of rape victims everywhere.
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I find the whole “Ash was MY junior minister” line from Humza to be patronising in the extreme. Ash Regan was appointed to be ministerial brief by the FM; she was not bestowed to another as a gift.
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Interesting catch up with @ForwomenScot @ScotTories #SCC22 - they aren’t witches or heretics, and have concerns that should be listened to, acknowledged and addressed. (Ps women make up over half our population so ignoring them isn’t smart or clever)
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As emergency services get ready to respond to #Covid19UK police announce they will be forced to attend only the most urgent incidents, Ambulance announce they will call on police to help with demand, & Fire Brigade announce the car wash on Sunday will be open as usual😉.
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Unable to import.Unable to export.Extended supply lines driving up costs .Uncertainty of market access.Increased costs of most basic foods.Food rotting at ports.Shortage of skills . No - Not Brexit, but Scotlands pitiful ferry “service” to the Hebrides right now.
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I suspect that within a very short period of time we will have “data” suggesting Scotland to be one of the most “hateful” counties on earth. This Jackanory data will be used to justify an endless drive to deliver a Pygmalion utopia.
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That had the look and feel of justification for ending furlough support more than it did for beating the virus.
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Yesterday courageous officers from @gardainfo attended an incident in Clonee that resulted in the fatal shooting of the suspect. In the days, weeks, months & years ahead these officers will be vilified & subject to all manner of allegations. They deserve our full support.
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Anyone know who the Home Secretary was when police numbers and budgets stared to be slashed? #AskingForAFriend.
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There are literally 1000s of families climbing the walls of their own homes desperate for respite and would love to peramble by the sea but don’t. We also have 1000s of police making sure they don’t. You try being a police officer explianing that to someone today!.
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Wow. I wonder who was the Cabinet Secretary for Justice for years and managed to deliver not a single solitary one? 🤔.
EXCL: @HumzaYousaf has pledged to speed up the rollout of body-worn cameras in Scotland if he is elected as First Minister: .#TheSNP #SNPLeadershipElection
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On the whole “hate monster” thing - never forget there would have been meetings, many meetings, & committees, & focus groups, & all other manner of things where this concept was born - nurtured - & finessed before being agreed for release into the world. I can visualise them now
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Got to love our integrated transport system. Train from Mallaig leaves ten minutes before the ferry arrives 🙄.
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In amongst all the madness in Glasgow we can be comforted by all the experts telling the police how it should be done.
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Police officers are good at finding evidence but even Clouseau himself wouldn’t struggle to see what’s right before his eyes - this @scotGov is displaying an utter contempt for police officers in our ongoing pay dispute.
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I have no idea who is advising The FM here. First rule of PR is never defend the indefensible. By any stretch a defence that amounts to “it’s right that the police are monitoring behaviour” is a long was short of that.
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It would certainly be an interesting approach to justice if those who held the evidence were able to decide for themselves which evidence was relevant and which evidence wasn’t.
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Congratulations to all 18,000+police @policescotland officers and 5,000+ staff who deliver unwavering public service every single day but will never be recognised in the honors lists #NewYearsHonours.
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The resilience of Ash Regan and Kate Forbes in the face of a relentless briefing operation against them is really quite impressive. This is still a three horse race.
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Near choked on my corn flakes listening to Susan Deacon (the very person responsible for scrutiny of the police) complaining that what ‘we’ need is better scrutiny of the police #ThatWasYourJob.
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The Chief Constable inherited many problems - then made them worse.
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Imagine being on the front line of the Covid response. Then imagine being at the back of the queue for the Covid vaccination. Welcome to the world of policing - the service of whom everyone never stops asking for more from but gets so little in return.
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Ross Thomson sitting behind Boris nodding along in agreement with all the gravitas of a toy on the car dashboard.
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The SNP membership elected Douglas Chapman to replace Colin Beattie as treasurer. He resigned citing obstruction from party HQ - allowing SNP NEC to reappoint the ousted Beattie. Giving Chapman that job now would be both bold & a move towards the much promised transparency.
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I really like @Liam4Orkney but putting his name to this crud doesn’t square with the sensible pragmatic bloke I know. Let’s have a look at each of these things in turn
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Is Police Scotland gratifying the power trip of sex offenders? Yes it is.
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Today in @heraldscotland I point out “There is a public sector gravy train in Scotland and it has no shortage of passengers. Hundreds more are rubbing their hands at the prospect of getting aboard.” Read why here
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Why can only ten people attend a funeral while thousands can gather simply by waving a placard or banner?.
#Coronavirus - What Coronavirus? Our Chairman @DvdHmltn statement following the recent protests and demonstrations of the past two weekends, and yesterday evening’s disorder in #GeorgeSquare
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Feeling sorry for whoever in ScotsGov and PoliceScotland that have to deal with the deluge of FOI requests for the notes of meetings/discussions between Humza Yousaf and Chief Constable on 18 June 2020. Imagine having to appeal to the Information Commissioner 🤔😉.
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“Once upon a not that long a time ago, any police force being invited to such an overly political event would have just said no.” My @heraldscotland thoughts on Police Scotland participating in John Swinney’s Anti-Farage summit last week?
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The past couple of days have seen a lot of attention applied to the implementation of the new Hate crime provisions from 1st April. Whilst there are many legitimate concerns (and many non legitimate ones also) I think one of the biggest issues will be reliability of data.
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This is a scandalous waste of police time. If Glasgow city council want park wardens they should bloody well employ them.
We are working with @GlasgowNWPolice to keep Kelvingrove Park safe for all visitors & prevent anti-social behaviour. Officers will be at park gates on busy days to say alcohol is NOT welcome so either ditch the drink or don't come in. More info 👉
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Once again. The 1st commandment - thou shalt not have other gods before me. The guidance for the Equality Act is irrelevant in this. The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 however are not. Stop worshiping at the wrong altar.
First Minister John Swinney says he will not comment on the Sandie Peggie employment tribunal. "If I was to comment on this case, I would be in danger of breaking the law. I believe in the rule of law and nobody will persuade me to break the rule of law in this parliament."
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Why we need to get back to letting the police police, teachers teach and doctors doctor (and not the ordinary use of words). My thoughts on the consequences of the Sandie Peggie vs NHS Fife in todays @heraldscotland
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An early online showing for my @heraldscotland piece ahead of the ruling in the @ForWomenScot case vs the Scottish Ministers. If you can’t wait to buy the paper tomorrow - it’s worth the subscription on its own today.
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Here’s a thing now. The auto-delete function on WhatsApp only came into being in November 2020. The pandemic started in March (some eight months earlier).
The Mail has been told Professor Sir Gregor Smith was among those who auto-deleted WhatsApps during the pandemic. His spokesman didn’t confirm or deny the claim 👉
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Two consecutive weekends makes this not just an issue of judgement but one of integrity. You can always survive a cock up. You can’t a cover up.
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And if we are looking for institutional misogyny - what the hell is with the inverted commas on “assault” in the National headline.
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Some personal news. After 30 years in the police, 19 with @scotspolfed (15 of which as General Secretary) working with 19 Chief Constables, 4 Cabinet Secretaries, and 10s of 1000s of the most dedicated public servants anywhere, the time has come for me to retire.
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Highlight of my day was a London cabbie asking if I could pay with Scottish notes 😉 #Brexit.
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Following the failure of @LabourRichard to unequivocally condemn the hateful bile from Scottish Labour Students this evening I will be writing to him tomorrow advising the SPF will consider ceasing attendance at future Scottish Labour Party Conferences.
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In February SOME police officers were offered 1% in their pay as a demonstration of how ‘valued’ they were. Others weren’t deemed worthy of even that!. Today they received warm words.
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Developing training based on guidance and not the actual law is an interesting approach. The service’s response here stands apart from its silence on the ridicule heaped on its frankly idiotic hate monster campaign.
We are aware of inaccurate media reporting about training material in place for the introduction of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. More info: This training is based on explanatory notes for the new Act:
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This is a deeply worrying story that has left many victims with psychological injuries that will take a long time to heal. It also & perhaps more alarmingly reveals not just an ambivalence to but an active endorsement of toxic behaviours in the workplace .
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It’s true politicians should not interfere in police operational matters. This however is not operational - it’s not even close to operational. It’s administrative at best but an administrative issue that is sapping public confidence. That makes it political all day long.
John Swinney was asked by reporters after FMQs if his position on this could hold - here is what he said in full:."The Police Scotland position is well established in law, that I cannot interfere in operational matters, there would be an absolute outcry if I was to do that, there.
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First consideration in risk assessment is ALWAYS “can you remove the risk?”.
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I reckon I can claim with a high degree of certainty that no one knows more about the ins and outs of “police regulations” than I do - as such I can confirm this is complete and unadulterated bollox.
That's my complaint lodged at Police Scotland. Regulations state; Police ID Numbers. 'All officers will be provided with a collar number which is also their warrant number'.These 2 are either not police officers (an offence).Or.Evidence obtained in raid inadmissible in court.
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When #clapforNHS becomes a let’s see who can pee highest up the wall in terms of a light show competition, it stops being about the NHS and about “look at me.” Time to end the phallus waving and to show respect and appreciation by following the rules.
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I’d expect a parliamentarian to understand separation of powers.
Expect Police Scotland to explain pretty quickly to Parliament why they decided to facilitate rather than disperse multiple mass gatherings during a national lockdown today.
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Brian MacNeice (TMO) .“Nick, I’m just going to let this one play through - right. The ball is held up for now, and there is the ball on the ground”
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The @metpoliceuk are today facing the same ire @policescotland faced last weekend. In both cases neither wrote the laws they are expected to enforce.
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Today they received warm words. Warm words which fall on the back of well over half a decade of cuts; half a decade which has seen the police service cut to the quick, & half a decade that has left the police service with some of the most dated equipment anywhere by comparison.
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I see policing featured at todays #FMQs. Let’s have some more facts.Scotland Police numbers are far less than 16,600 (they only hit that number every quarter when they recruit) .The fact the number is precisely 16,600 in the quarterly reported statistics should sound alarm bells.
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An obvious question now is if there is no sexual element and a woman is assaulted - does @PoliceScotland record the offenders sex or the offenders gender identity?.
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Have the Greens managed to deliver anything at all as part of the Scottish Government?.
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Last year, police officers were left to navigate a dogs breakfast of messaging that often concentrated on guidance whilst ignoring the limitations of legislation. They had to deal with the fall out of politicians supporting some gatherings whilst condemning others.
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The VAWG strategy was always an exercise in backslapping & simultaneously, (as ironic as it sounds) self-flagellation. All the headlines & #ThatGuy videos in the world are worthless if when faced with a real time violence the service completely fails the victim.
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For any officers from England & Wales coming to Scotland on Mutual Aid to assist our @policescotland colleagues with the visit of @POTUS i can confirm that the accommodation will be of single room en-suite with clean towels & linen @PFEW_HQ @PFEW_Chair @PFEW_Phill @Hantsfedchair.
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Once again - for those at the back!. There have been NO negotiations .Negotiations are NOT ongoing.There is NO dialogue .You cannot negotiate by yourself. Time for @scotgov to abandon the match they are currently clinging to like a life belt; stop the spin, and start to talk.
It’s bad enough to see @scotgov line having no relationship to the truth but when @PoliceScotland simply repeats the same, it reinforces a denial of the reality, and shows a disturbing lack of appreciation of the scale of police officer anger
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At the beginning of this year the risks police officers face, and the racing certainty they were exponentially exposed to coronavirus risks and transmission, was ignored, and they were not prioritised for vaccination. They still aren’t.
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It takes a peculiarly dedicated mindset to punt a negative police story at a time thousands of officers have been busting a gut to keep people from freezing to death 👏
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With literally hundreds of third party reporting vehicles available - inevitably each one with their own interpretive vagaries - that means data confidence will be nigh on impossible to be derived.
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It’s important to realise that on something of this magnitude @policescotland will be taking its direction directly from the Crown. Regardless of your political view this is not the police taking sides
We can confirm that we are in possession of a European arrest warrant for Clara Ponsati. We have made a number of enquiries to try to trace her and have now been contacted by her solicitor, who is making arrangements for Ms Ponsati to hand herself into police.
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Deal or no deal at least we can be assured our iconic HP sauce won’t be affected. Oh wait!
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why police chief’s ‘institutional racism’ admission will do more harm than good
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Not a political point but this is absolutely true. It's a bloody disgrace.
FM: "There is £25 million that should be going to our police service that is going to the Treasury." #FMQs.
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When times are hard the choices you make are all the more important.
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They had to deal with an absence of PPE and absence of testing whilst being sent into homes to break up gatherings - all the while there was zero effort to evaluate the risks they were facing, and generating.
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Half a decade that has seen our buildings crumbling. Half a decade that has seen closure of more police stations and premises than at any time in my 28 odd years service.
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Half a decade which has seen essential training effectively abandoned, leaving a looming operational crisis. Half a decade that had seen more spent on repairing cars than replacing them.
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Sunlight is the best disinfectant. The police line about the policy being under review is unbelievable weak - not least as it’s been “under review” for almost forever.
Just when you think you’ve seen it all with Sandie Peggie, Police Scotland let trans & cross dressers to choose whatever toilet and changing room they like. Children with birth defects & health issues in Scotland’s own Toxic Town scandal-hundreds battle contaminated homes horror.
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I was there & distinctly remember the complete contempt she showed to the police service in her sneering address
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This is an astonishing letter and a perfect illustration as to why police officers should be prioritised in #COVIDVaccination plans (including end of day opportunities that exist now)
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If you think the aroma of cannabis is strong on our high streets just now - just give it a few weeks.
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Scotspolfed members are incandescent at how they are being treated by @scotgov @CC_Livingstone @ScotPolAuth. Our executive meeting in Inverness on Tuesday cannot come quickly enough. Police officers have had enough.
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The deputy chief Constable IS NOT suspended. This kind of hastily prepared inaccurate BS is why police officers are sick of the politicisation of the service.
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There are two utterly shameless mistruths in the @scotgov articulation of where we are with #PolicePay .1. Negotiations are not ongoing. There have been no negotiations, and they are not ongoing. 2. The ScotGov itself has completely neutered the PNB.
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Events in London this evening (and actually pretty much all over the world) reinforce the risks women face from predatory men. Why does this reality seem so very hard to grasp?.
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Mind you - data and evidence haven’t exactly been determinative considerations for some legislative proposals which have been enthusiastically championed and endorsed - but this is (or should be) an issue of an all new stripe.
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You know what ought to seriously perturb supporters of Scottish Independence? . The explosion of folk with these as their Twitter pics hectoring islanders who are legitimately highlighting their shocking ferry service. You won’t persuade (m)any with those tactics
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Dear faux outrage brigade. Being angry about an armed officer dealing with a “routine” call is akin to saying a brain surgeon shouldn’t deal with any non brain medical issue they happen to be nearest to respond to.
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There would have been meetings, many meetings where phenomenal time and effort was put into this. Judge for yourself if it was .a) wise.b) effective .c) meaningful.
Chief Constable Jo Farrell has apologised to the LGBTQI+ communities of Scotland for the pain caused through injustices including policing’s role in enforcing laws which criminalised love & identity. For the full details, visit ⬇️.
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Between them @PoliceScotland and @ScotPolAut spend £Ms on legal advice every year. Despite that, sheer bloody mindedness stops them engaging with those who know this stuff inside out and instead rely on internal lobbyists for advice. I called it insane as that’s what it is.
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The same hero’s who cheerfully maraud en-mass and throw projectiles at the police, while ranting and breaking all health protection protocols will be the same hero’s protesting most loudly over the continuing restrictions on fans at football.
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Who knew the uk was the only country to have social media 🤷🏻♂️.
Amber Rudd has insisted police cuts aren't to blame for a surge in knife crime, claiming social media is behind the spike. 117 people have been killed on the streets of London since the start of 2018.
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