Sir Ian Blair resigns!

At last! Fuck me, he held on. He clung onto power in an utterly shameless way that made even his namesake look dignified.

But why did "Sir" Ian Blair resign?

"Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has announced his resignation, blaming a lack of support from London mayor Boris Johnson."

Thank fuck! Finally, Mayor Boris manages to do something right!

Getting on with the job

Ladies, Gentlemen, we have a new euphemism. Following on from 'the Prime Minister expressed his full support for me we now have "I'm getting on with the job." This is a good example from the soon to be former Met Chief Sir Ian Blair:

'..."As Mark Twain said after reading an account of his own death in the New York Journal 'The report of my death is an exaggeration'. Same here. I have a job to do. I'm getting on with it and will continue to do so."'

And one from the man who seems to use it the most, Prime Minister Gordon Brown:

'...Challenged by David Cameron, the Conservative leader, to call a general election after the loss of Glasgow East to the Scottish National Party, Mr Brown said he was "getting on with the job".'

There is even a example from the world of sport: check out this headline.

When someone says they are getting on with the job, they mean they are sticking their heads in the sand and trying to hide from the inevitable. Or at least, that's what I hope - after all, it would be just great if both Ian Blair and Gordon Brown could finally be consigned to the dustbin of history...

This post was researched, and pretty much completely written by the Moai. Which is why I am giving him credit for it. Well, some credit for it. In small writing. At the very bottom of the page. Nice, eh? I guess I am just that sort of giving person.

Send Out A Message: Sack Ian Blair

It is clear now that Ian Blair is lost in a world of self-delusion and long ago lost any residual grip he had on reality. The fact that he can describe himself as a "a man of honour", presumably with a straight face, shows just how detached he is from the real world. He’s not going to resign; I’d be surprised if he knew why people were laying into him so much.

But there is another, more crucial question. Why is no-one willing to start the process of sacking him? Why is no-one being held to account of the brutal killing of an innocent man on the tube? Oh, I know that the Met has been found guilty of breaching the Health and Safety Act, but really, who does that punish? Other than the tax-payer, who ends up paying for it.

See, the organisation is guilty. The court case proves that, for anyone who needs further proof on top of the corpse lying on floor of a tube train. Yet no-one has been held to account for the killing. And this is the Metropolitan police, for fuck’s sake. Their basic job is finding the guilty person and holding them to account for their crimes. What sort of pissing message does it send out if they are not even willing to do their basic job internally?

Sure, there have been calls for Blair to resign. From the Tories and from the Lib Dems. There is even a Facebook group devoted his removal.* But no-one who actually can do anything about it is doing anything. And I cannot figure out why. What hold does Blair have over people? Does he know where the bodies are buried? (Brazil in this case.) Is he fucking someone in power, who refuses to let him fall? How is he managing to stay in power when his organisation went out and killed someone, but refuses to accept any of the blame for it?

This is the public sector, though. This is how it works. Even if your organisation kills a man, you don’t have to worry. Your job is not in danger. There is no concept of taking responsibility for your actions.

An example should be made of Ian Blair. He should be sacked. A clear message should be sent out that the buck stops with him when it comes to the Met; therefore he should be binned. But will this happen? Will it fuck.

Our government and our public sector seem to have lost sight of the fact that mistakes can, and often do, have negative outcomes. And that is one of the reasons why this country is disappearing down the toilet at a rate of knots that would be funny if it wasn’t so fucking alarming.

*That I haven’t got round to joining. For reasons that defy understanding joining "Readers of Mr Eugenides" seemed like more of a priority.

Can you imagine working for a total idiot? Can you imagine feeling sick to the pit of your stomach every time your boss walked towards a microphone? Could you take the jeers and abuse of friends and acquaintances, and the deep seated shame of your family, based just on who you work for? And can you imagine feeling suicidal every single time your boss opened his mouth?

If so, you should work for Sir Ian Blair. For his latest egregious blunder have a look at this. And then marvel at how such an out and out cunt has become such an influential figure in British life.

Dear Christ, he's at it again.

Sir Ian Blair, that is. The only man, aside from the EU Jaguar Mountain and Ming the Merciful, who can make his namesake, our dear leader, appeared poised, in control and charismatic. For Sir Ian has said that here in London, we can leave our doors open for the first time in 25 years.

I'm sorry, what? What in the name of all that is holy is this walking lobotomy talking about now?

Christ on a trike, Ian, I live in Westminster - one of the poshest areas of London. In fact, my residence is not that far from your offices in *New* Scotland Yard. This area is filled with PCSO's, armed officers and general beat police. I would argue that, owing to the massive police presence, this is one of the safest areas in London. Much more so than Haringey - at least according to the people I know who live there. And do I leave my front door open? Do I bollocks. The door to my flat is double-locked when it is not occupied. And that is typical of just about everyone I know who lives in this area and this city.

I don't know what planet you are on, Sir Ian. And I don't know what you are trying to achieve with these idiotic comments. But Jesus, man, you are supposed to be in charge of the Met when there is an unprecendented level of terrorist threats to this city (and to this country). I suggest that you shut up and get on with your job of leading the Met, rather than spouting off about some weird pipe dream.

Shooting Blues

The police have released the two suspects arrested after the Lansdowne Road raid. As the BBC points out, this is going to raise some interesting and concerning questions, not least because of the shooting of the apparently unarmed Mohammed Abdul Kahar.

It is worth pointing out that, as with the de Menezes shooting, that all the facts are not in the public arena yet. There are rumours that the gun went off accidentally, there are rumours that is may have gone off in a scuffle, and there are rumours that one of the suspects may have shot the other. This is all conjecture, until there is some sort of investigation it is impossible to see where the blame lies.

What is known is that the raid was not carried out under Operation Kratos, meaning that whilst Mr Kahar was shot, there was little likelihood of a repetition of the de Menezes tragedy. The police arguably had to be armed, in light of the murder or DC Oake and the actions of the Madrid Bombers when they were cornered.

It is also clear that, if there was credible evidence of a chemical weapon, the police had to act. They failed to with Khan and his league of lethal losers, and 52 innocent people died. Furthermore, a chemical attack could be just as, perhaps even more, lethal than 7/7. Look at the Tokyo Subway attack, and then think about this scenario. The police/MI5 had intelligence about a chemical weapon, but owing to a lack of resources did not act on that intelliegence. Then imagine there was a chemical weapon, and this afternoon, as England celebrates an own goal, an anonymous looking young man walks into a heaving London pub, wearing an unusually bulky jacket for one of the hottest days of the year. Moments later, innocent people are dead and wounded.

Which makes me almost glad, in spite of the shooting and in spite of the Stockwell tragedy, that the police are acting on intelligence about potential terrorism. The reality is that I would rather have an innocent man arrested than another 52 commuters dead.

But then again I live in a posh part of London, I have an English name, and I am (nominally) a Christian. Perhaps most crucially, I am white. There is very little chance of the police kicking in my door at 4am and very little chance of them pushing me to the floor of a tube train and shooting me repeatedly in the face (not least as I seldom use the tube). I really don't know how I would feel if I was a young Muslim male, and at risk of arrest or worse in spite of my innocence.

So in a sense the terrorists have won. The police are acting on potentially dubious intelligence as they are frightened of the consequences if they don't. And innocent people are being arrested, shot and even killed. Which makes others lose faith in the police and the government, and pushes them into the arms of extremists. The Lansdowne road shooting seems to point to us living in a state of terror.

"I do not think he has any choice"

And another Blair is under pressure to resign. Judging by that article, there is no way he can survive.

But how on earth did he ever get that position? Did no-one notice that he is an incompetent, gaffe prone idiot who spends most of his time with a vacant, faintly confused look on his face prior to his promotion?

Perhaps he is the living embodiment of the Peter Priniciple.