Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Sheilbh]

Just to move the protest stuff here because I think there's a lot with that. This is the image of the night that's doing the rounds:


The condemnation and outrage around this is universal. I'd be surprised if Cressida Dick survives as Met Commissioner - but then given her promotions since here involvement in the klling of Jean Charles de Menezes maybe she will, she must be very good at the politics. I think a big point will be around who else knew - the Met answer to the Home Secretary and the Mayor. If they were consulted I think they should probably both go too (but won't and that might save Dick), if the Met were free-lancing then it feels very likely Dick will go.

[Oexmelin]

(I won't lie, when I initially saw the name "Cressida Dick" mentionned, I thought this was someone's drag name   )

[Sheilbh]

Yeah. I am not convinced by the #DickOut slogan that's trending  

Khan and Patel have both called for urgent explanations from the Met which suggests they either weren't consulted - or they were but are happy to shift the blame.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Typical metropolitan police response, by far the biggest force in the country and definitely one of the worst. I have had no confidence in Cressida Dick since the de Menezes debacle, which would have ended most people's upward progression.

We are having so many problems with a lack of basic competence in the UK these days 

[Valmy]

Hey they don't gun down hundreds of your citizens every year, wanna trade?

[garbon]

Yeah. I am not convinced by the #DickOut slogan that's trending  

Khan and Patel have both called for urgent explanations from the Met which suggests they either weren't consulted - or they were but are happy to shift the blame.

Yeah their calls for explanations don't seem to say much on whether or not they were consulted.

[Josquius]

Tbh I'm not getting the protest.
Horrible murders aren't that uncommon and rarely get so much attention. And it's not like the victim was ignored after prior complaints (I think?).
All seems rather odd.

[garbon]

Tbh I'm not getting the protest.
Horrible murders aren't that uncommon and rarely get so much attention. And it's not like the victim was ignored after prior complaints (I think?).
All seems rather odd.

Nice hot take.

[Tamas]

I think it was a combination of being a stark reminder of how unsafe the world is for women, with the added severity of the kidnap and murder being done by a serving police officer.

Plus, just days before the kidnapping there was a sign the guy was unhinged but as I understand it was promptly ignored. I suspect that's a big part of the reason the police were jumpy about the protest - they had a chance to prevent this but chose to ignore it, so feeling guilty they felt like the vigil was against them.

Having said that, would had been there the same level of attendance and attention without the lockdown and people having their normal avenues to keep themselves distracted and social? Maybe not. Doesn't remove from the validity of trying to rally against violence on women, though, nor from how fundamentally wrong the police response was.

[Josquius]

The corona factor and pent up anger could be it.

[Sheilbh]

I think covid probably hurt turn-out.

I think it was the nature of the crime and the guy they've arrested for it and just pent-up frustration. I don't now a woman who hasn't had to deal with men in someway - whether it's creeping on the walk home, or on the bus/tube, or whatever. So a woman being kidnapped and killed walking a short distance home from a friend's flat is just very on the nose for almost all women living in London.

[Sheilbh]

Cressida Dick is not considering her position (yet).

But some of her other comments maybe show quite how she's survived so long in the Met and still got promotions after de Menezes:
"Let's have a review.... I'm very comfortable with that [...] I don't think that anybody who was not in the operation can actually pass a detailed comment on the rightness or wrongness of it. This is fiendishly difficult policing [...] It needs a cold, light of day, sober review."

This is also why I'm also not convinced a public inquiry will really hurt the government. I know that in the Miliband years when they were calling for a "judge-led public inquiry" every other week there was a theory that they would hurt and undermine the government, but I think while they occasionally might they're normally better kicking things into the long grass until tempers have calmed. There are exceptions when an inquiry shifts an entire issue - the MacPherson Report (incomplete as it is) springs to mind. But generally they're published and then filed, never to be looked at again.

[Admiral Yi]

Would people prefer that certain causes be exempted from the Covid protest restrictions?

[Sheilbh]

Would people prefer that certain causes be exempted from the Covid protest restrictions?

Last week there were thousands of Rangers fans celebrating their first league victory in Glasgow who were not dispersed. We've seen the same with Leeds and Liverpool fans and with certain anti-lockdown protests.

I'm not convinced this is 100% the case but my sense is that Sam Bowman's onto something - if the police think trying to disperse your gathering (protest/vigil/celebrations) would lead to violence then they'll leave you alone; if they think they can disperse you without violence then they will. It's not a great rule for police forces to have but it does explain at least some of the inconsistencies.

[Admiral Yi]

Does Scotland have the same restrictions that England does?