Plebgate

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21985955
Well, well, well.
The plot thickens.
I suppose all those who were so quick to condemn Andrew Mitchell will be reconsidering their positions now that the video evidence doesn't support the media witch-hunt?
No...?
Didn't think so.
Well, well, well.
The plot thickens.
I suppose all those who were so quick to condemn Andrew Mitchell will be reconsidering their positions now that the video evidence doesn't support the media witch-hunt?
No...?
Didn't think so.
0
Posts
There may well have been some lying/collusion between the police and the Sun (surely not
Edit: that article says he denied swearing at them, I thought I'd heard him say before that he had.... who knows!? Mitchell and the police obviously, but neither of them can be trusted to be entirely honest.
"As I said last time, it won't happen again."
Both sides are bad, but it's obvious which side you're taking.
Now there's a surprise...
Yeah, I think that's just typically shoddy news.bbc reporting. I think he was pretty quick to own up to swearing - even the previous articles linked from that one include that admission.
Given what we know now, I suspect that the officers involved were deliberately attempting to wind him up by stopping him from using the gates that I presume that he used every other day. When they succeeded in getting him to swear, they figured that they could grossly exaggerate what he actually said, and that he'd be out of a job long before any of dear press bothered to separate the facts from the fiction.
Sadly they were right. Irrespective of what you think of Mitchell or his policies, this is an appauling way to treat people.
"As I said last time, it won't happen again."
Fast forward to C4's expose of the collusion between police and their relatives, and the CCTV that didn't so much 'cast doubt on the story' (c) BBC but show it to be a complete fabrication, that crowds of onlookers were 'visibly shocked and taken aback at Mitchell's outburst' when the area around the Downing Street gates was devoid of anyone except one chap ambling past with his bike.
It's a p!ss poor state of affairs when the police can take it upon themselves to make up a story to bring about a result that suits their own agenda, even though we shouldn't be surprised, given their previous on making up evidence to fit up the accused.
I think if you look through some of my other posts you'll see my criticism of the unhealthy relationship between the press and police (Hillsborough, Forest gate, de menezes, etc), so don't think that I'm taking their word as gospel.
I was just saying that as someone who wasn't there I can only rely on what is reported, and when the most robust denial is "I didn't use those exact words" it's hard to see someone as entirely innocent. Personally I think the swearing is as bad, if not worse than, the p-word..... if I swore at the police i'd probably be arrested, after all.
Like you say, for the press, the use of 'pleb' was a bigger deal, and if that was made up then yes, they've got a lot to answer for. But like I said, I'm well aware of the press and police doing each other's dirty work.
It's a mess all round tbh. Man who should know better swears at police. Police change the story. Press report made up version without checking. Other press then find out that the first lot of press and the police are lying but the bloke in the middle of it has already been got rid of because his boss hasn't got the chutzpah to say "let's wait until we know what happened".
One way of looking at it was the press reminding Cameron how difficult they could make life for him if they wanted to, a timely shot across the bows before Leveson....
"As I said last time, it won't happen again."
really
Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
Bruiser
Panzer
Commuter
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
I do care about the police lying and the press presenting fiction as fact.
Oh, hilarious.
At least you got to take a shot at the big bad Tories, that'll solve all out problems won't it.
<center><font><b>My Kinesis</b></font></center>
We rely on the police to uphold the law, not to break it by fabricating evidence.