There are two cases in the media at the minute that I think I’m veering to the “wrong” side on.
Cause the first: the nurse who filmed patients receiving sub-standard care for Panorama, and her subsequent striking off. I can see why she did it, but I can also see why she would be regarded as no longer fit to practice.
She saw the big picture, yes. She’s doubtless improved conditions for the vast majority of people. But to do so she breeched the care of many individuals, and that can’t be encouraged. Imposing upon the rights of the few for the benefit of the many is something that happens a lot; road planners, generals, traffic lights all do this. But nurses, and doctors, first off all have the responsibility to the individual in front of them; they treat that patient and then then can worry about the bigger picture. Ms Haywood did it the other way around, and that bodes badly for her patients.
Cause the second: the woman who was hit in the fact at the G20 protests. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m as against police brutality as anyone. The officer involved needs disciplined hard, and any office who obscured their number at any point during proceedings needs disciplined hard. But I think that there’s something more going on.
First off, the woman has employed Max Clifford. And my general opinion of anyone who employs Max Clifford is very low indeed; why go to a spin-Meister if there’s a solid case?
Secondly, there were easily five or six cameras there, and yet the only footage we see comes from one dodgy handcam on youtube.
Thirdly, this happened two weeks ago; how come it’s only coming to light now, when there is absolutely no physical evidence to back it up – if she’d come forward at the time, she’d have had bruising to show for it. And if she had come forward at the time, then I have no doubt that Shami Chakrabarti and Liberty – who are very good at what they do – would have backed her to the hilt.
In short, I think that there’s more to this than meets the eye. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this was a stitch up, and little traps were laid all over London at the time; this may have been the only one where an officer was stupid enough to fall into it.
The other incident, of Mr Tomlinson, is another case entirely, and I suspect that jail time may be in the future for the uniformed thug involved. Which is just and proper.