I have defected to..

here..http://twining.wordpress.com/

Guess who this is?

Enough. This picture is mmmmm, guess who. And he is so cute. He has just kicked some serious ass I believe and reading his entries you will see what I mean. I tell you what though, Thin Blue Line is no ass really. But as he kicked someone else and was told to toe the party line, can you imagine him smiling as above. I can! I present you Thin Blue Line.

The mantra steps to challenging an organisation

1. Put pen to paper.
   
2. Don't await a response. (They will simply wish you didn't exist and will hope you will like go away.)
   
3. Put pen to paper and await a response.
   
4. You might get a response.
   
5. Await to see a Senior Officer.
   
6. Decline the offer to meet initially.
   
7. Be prepared to be ordered to meet the Senior Officer and show some courtesy whilst at it.
   
8. Attend the meeting with a friend, preferably Thin Blue Line or UNPC or Simon Says. If you take in Noddy be prepared to note that they might not understand what Loon means nor anything you say. (And Loon means something in Scottish.)
   
9. At the meeting tell "them" how you feel. Expect to repeat yourself as they "um" and "arr". Repeat yourself further.
   
10. At the conclusion of the meeting be prepared to say, "Yes Sir, no Sir, three bags full Sir." Finally, expect no change. So go home. Invite your buddies and have a beer!
    

Why did I publish the article on the Hindu Forum?

Not to cause offence but to allow people an understanding of the failure of consultation. The Muslim Council of Britain was also in favour until Lord Sacranie made comments about homosexuality. Therefore, who really do such Forums represent? Are Sacranie’s views about homosexuality prejudicial? Of course they are, but Sacranie and others still wanted equality for Muslim people, but not for gay men and women?

Groups like the MCB and the HFB may not necessarily in themselves be anti racist but as some have said, the Government will align themselves with someone. The shocking revelations of the HFB raise serious question of Ruth Kelly and the integration commission itself. Let's just tick a box shall we? But that tick in the box won't help the police when WE deal with youths from marginalised communities.

Clearly in the case of the HFB there are some concerns of Fundamentalism. I would accept not all of the HFB may be bad just like the MCB but when we consult about racial equality there can be no compromise, there is no grey area for the police. Because when it goes wrong it is US that will be blamed. There is only racist or there is anti racist. Politicians won't be blamed.

Do such groups fundamentally want a separatist identity, which causes racism’s or do they simply want integration and cohesion? This is a vicious circle but without integration we will continue to have racial incidents. The problem is it is the police that pick up the pieces and end up dealing with racial incidents. So it is important that we consult and take an anti racist stance.

It is important to recognise what occurred in relation to the issue of the Royal Mail and stamps where the HFB argued against the Royal Mail publishing a stamp of Lord Krishna in the arms of Mother Mary. The stamp was not meant to offend. Nor did the outcome offend. And the HFB have missed the point and in doing so implied, in my opinion, a backward stance. The HFB have missed an opportunity. Does it really matter if Krishna was in the arms of Mary or whether Jesus was in the arms of Krishna’s mother? Are we not essentially the same? Why then focus on difference in a negative way. The stamp should have been a celebration for British Hindus. Sadly the issue was hijacked.

Then there are do good Liberals who think they are doing good when they object to the use of the word Christmas when mentioning Christmas lights because they feel it might offend other minority communities. This is absolutely ridiculous but Councils rubber-stamp such policies. Diwali is Diwali, why call it something else? In the same way Christmas is Christmas. Why should it be called something else?

Race and diversity being led by do good Liberals is a problem because when Councils get critical issues wrong then someone somewhere from the majority will be upset and the right wing can expose this weakness, and probably it is the vulnerable that get hurt, the elderly, or the young, or some young Black youth walking home in South London. And all because some do gooders don’t have an understanding and are not prepared to admit this lack of understanding.

Hindu Forum of Britain

Please take the time to read the below article, which has been reproduced from a well known anti racist blog. I have amended this introduction to deal with allegations. As I understand it this is a full article published in the Evening Standard. This story is shocking if it is true and I believe it is true.

ONE OF the key members of a Government taskforce charged with tackling “extremist ideologies” and religious segregation has close associations with violent extremists and recently praised a man who endorsed Hitler’s treatment of the Jews.

Ruth Kelly’s Commission on Integration and Cohesion will this week deliver its landmark report into how Britain can foster “inter-community harmony.” But a Standard investigation reveals that one of the commission’s own members, Ramesh Kallidai, has clear links to violent Hindu fundamentalists accused of “direct responsibility” for the slaughter of thousands of Muslims. In Britain, Mr Kallidai has accused British Muslims of “aggressively” converting “hundreds” of British Hindu girls to Islam through intimidation and beatings. However, police forces contacted by the Standard say they have no knowledge of a single such case.

The Standard has learned that around half-a-dozen other members of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion held a late-night meeting in a bar to discuss their concerns about Mr Kallidai. At least one member, and possibly more, approached Mark Carroll, a senior official in Ms Kelly’s department, to raise concerns about Mr Kallidai’s presence on the commission. No action was taken.

“The concerns were about his links with Hindu fundamentalism and exactly how much he stands by some of the things he has said,” said one figure close to the Commission.

Mr Kallidai is secretary-general of the Hindu Forum of Britain, which claims to be the leading representative body for the country’s 600,000 Hindus. However, his appointment to the commission has horrified some British Hindus.

Lord Desai, the Labour peer, said: “White politicians look at religion very uncritically they say we must respect all cultures, all faiths. But these guys have no respect for other faiths.” Chetan Bhatt, professor of politics at Goldsmith’s College, London said: “Mr Kallidai has chosen to associate with organisations that represent in India what the BNP represents here.”

The main such organisation is a Hindu fundamentalist group known as the Vishwa Hindu Prasad (VHP.) The Hindu Forumof Britain and the VHP’s British branch have sent out several joint press releases and have organised a number of joint events including two meetings with the Commission on Integration and Cohesion in February and March and a launch of the so-called “Hindu Charter” at the House of Commons.

Testifying to MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee in 2004, Mr Kallidai defended the VHP, saying: “We would deny it is an association of Hindu extremists … It is a peaceful organisation.” In fact, according to Human Rights Watch, the VHP was“directly responsible” for anti-Muslim riots in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002, in which 2,000 Muslims died. During the disturbances, VHP leaflets described Indian Muslims as “saboteurs” and “anti-nationals” who must be cleansed from Indian soil.

In 2004, the VHP called for the destruction of a Muslim mosque and in 2005 its international secretary, Praveen Togadia, said Indian Muslims should take blood tests to prove they were not of “Arabian” descent. In 1992, the VHP led calls for the destruction of the Muslim mosque at Ayodyha, which left over 3,000 dead.

On 12 April this year, in Wembley, Mr Kallidai spoke at the British conference of another Hindu fundamentalist organisation, the RSS, a paramilitary group which wants to expel Muslims and Christians from India and turn the country into a Hindu state.According to a report of the event in the RSS’s official newspaper, Mr Kallidai praised the organisation’s “exemplary” ideology and its ex-leader, M.S.Golwalkar.

Mr Golwalkar has written and spoken approvingly of Hitler’s treatment of the Jews and said it was a model India could learn from. Contacted by the Standard yesterday, Mr Kallidai refused to deny praising Golwalkar and the RSS. In the UK, the Hindu Forum of Britain has led a number of “cultural campaigns” to protest at what it calls “insults” to Hinduism. Mr Kallidai’s most recent campaign is to save a sacred bull, Shambo, kept at a Welsh Hindu temple but due to be slaughtered after testing positive for TB.

Last year, the HFB campaigned against an exhibition of pictures in London by India’s greatest living artist, M.F.Husain, a Muslim. The exhibition was cancelled on security grounds after three men entered the gallery and vandalised the pictures. There is no suggestion the HFB or Mr Kallidai were involved.

In 2005, Mr Kallidai got the Royal Mail to withdraw one of its Christmas stamps from open sale, claiming it was insulting to Hindus. In fact the stamp, depicting the baby Jesus and Mary with a Hindu mark on her face, is a reproduction of a famous Indian painting owned by Hindu nationalist hero Nana Phadnavis. The picture has been a much-loved attraction in the Mumbai municipal museum for years.

“This is the absolute textbook religious extremist agenda,” said one expert who has advised the Commission on Integration and Cohesion. “You whip up the ‘base’ with flimsy allegations that play to people’s emotions. The forced conversion slur, inparticular, is an exact copy of an allegation that has been made by Hindu extremists in India.” Despite the Hindu Forum of Britain’s links to extremism, the group has been supported by some British officials.

According to its website, Tony Blair has spoken of the HFB’s “success at promoting the positive achievements of the Hindu community,” and David Cameron, the Tory leader, has called it a “highly professional and authoritative voice.” The HFB’s 2006 annual ball was attended by Europe Minister Geoff Hoon and Home Office minister Tony McNulty.

Sir Ian Blair, the Met Police commissioner, attended the HFB conference in February where the allegations of “Muslim forced conversion” were made. At the gathering, Sir Ian promised to crack down on the supposed crime and said: “There is a feeling inthe Hindu community that we have not given them as much attention as other groups.”

In July 2006 another organisation linked to Mr Kallidai and the HFB, Hindu Aid, was given almost £140,000 of public money by the Department for International Development to “educate British Hindus about development issues.” Hindu Aid’s website describes it as a “British charity” dedicated to the relief of suffering. In fact, Hindu Aid is not a registered charity, but a limited company which has claimed exemption from the requirement to file detailed accounts.

The limited data on file at Companies House suggests that in 2005/6, the last year before the DFID grant, it had an income of only £2,500, suggesting that its ability to relieve suffering was limited. Hindu Aid’s website suggests some of its money is channelled via SEWA, a charity allegedly linked to the RSS and investigated by the Charity Commission after allegations that some of its funding had been diverted to back anti-Muslim violence.

SEWA was cleared by the Charity Commission, but the commission admitted it had not investigated its alleged RSS links or its complicity in the killings after SEWA said the allegations were untrue. Mr Kallidai is vice-chair and company secretary of Hindu Aid, and every other member of the management board, except one, is also a post-holder in the Hindu Forum of Britain. The two organisations share an office.

Mr Kallidai, the HFB and Hindu Aid refused yesterday to respond to questions about their links with extremism. They were also unable to provide examples of their allegations about the “forced conversion” of Hindu girls.

One expert said: “You might wonder how a man like Kallidai could become an official ‘integration commissioner’ or how his organisation could achieve the legitimacy within government that it has. What ministers are doing is making the same mistakeas they made with the Muslim Council of Britain they are taking those who shout loudest as representatives of their faith.”

Sergeant Simon Tells us what is important.

Another young officer,
Puts his life on the line,
For queen, for country,
For freedom and peace.

Politicians and target setters,
Be aware,
Whilst he did his job,
All you do is just glare.

Your figures,
Your targets,
Are worthless you see.
Where does this fit?
Please tell me?

One of our finest has fallen,
A young man,
So smart and divine,
PC Jon Charles Henry,
Yes, this brother of mine.

Only good people leave this world early.
Rest in Peace.
No More blogs this week folks - time to reflect.

How to reduce violent alcohol related crime?

Is this what your council does in partnership with the police to produce a campaign to help reduce violent crime? Chief Inspector's and above read on....

Increase PCSO and Specials numbers at peak times. Forget that Specials have a life outside of giving their time freely. Then attend a domestic at the Special’s house and arrest them because their wife went mardy about all the hours they work and there was a breach of the peace.

Sell "think about your drink" wristbands at pubs and clubs so that as people wear them they can remind themselves to drink more. Then with the money you get employ one more PCSO.

Give a presentation to sixth forms on the impact of alcohol and drugs. Take samples of cannabis and coke and hand them out freely. (Consider detection's for unlawful possession once they start using the drugs). Forget the colleges, they don’t do drugs there.

Promote a "hold your drink till you finish" campaign to raise awareness about spiking at Christmas. Spiking only occurs at Christmas.

Send special ASB Christmas cards to noisy neighbours to remind them of their responsibility to others, nudging them to do a little bit more noise, thereby terrifying their elderly victims further, and enabling you to get a report of 2+harassment and another detection.

Always think, "Am I going to get promoted because of these ideas?" If the answer is yes, then carry on with more silly ideas, presentations and posters.

A training session with Twining

Southwest: Gadget’s asleep in the corner Twining. Shhh.

Twining: But I have only just started....

PC Bloggs: What are we going to do Twining? I’m excited.

Big fella to Franky: She’s getting excited!

Twining: Boys, boys, honestly. Before we go into any training, heath and safety first, this course is certified. I certify you all. If the fire alarm goes, then jump out of the window and follow me. OK.

Gadget: Snoring.

Twining: Now, in a circle please. Leave gadget there, we’ll circle around him. OK each one of you. What do you value most?

Franky: I value her, looking at Bloggs. Bloggs smiles :) profusely encouraging Franky. Hey Big fella, she says google eyed!

Twining: No silly…..Dufus. What do you value? Let's do a goldfish instead of a cricle now. All move!

Noddy: Sorry I’m late Twining.

Twining: It's OK, have you brought the chip with you?

Twining: VALUES now on the board.

Bloggs: Runs to the board and writes down HONESTY, INTEGRITY, FAMILY.

Southwest: Follows suit and writes down, SOUTHWEST, MUM, DAD.

Franky and Big fella: Go up together and copy Southwest.

Noddy: Writes something in Scottish, BEN NEVIS or something.

Twining: Oi Gadget. Noddy I can't read Scottish my freind. Can you not write in English?

Gadget: Who me, what? Do I have to? Why is Noddy wearing that hat?

Twining: Are you always this difficult? Yes you do.

Gadget: Yes, why?

Twining: Oi, what do you value? On the board please.

Gadget: Goes up to the board and writes: MY TEAM.

Twining: Goes ooooooooooooooooooo. And says you all, you value these things. Do Black and Asian and other minority ethnic people value similar things in the same proportion like? The answer is yes, they do value the same things, but perhaps sometimes there is conflict because of upbringing.

Southwest: What do you mean Twining.

Twining: Oi gadget wake up! Well, people are brought up differently, and their value system may be different. People negatise differences. That might cause conflict between generations in themselves. Also if we bring children up using negative terms about minority ethnic people then that slips through sometimes unwittingly, like that Emma character in Big Brother. She used the "n" word. Maybe down to her upbringing, somewhere, somehow she feels it’s OK to use search words. So it’s important how children are brought up in the family, in school and in society. vaules might also cause conflict within and between different minority groups also. Now, think about your upbringing and things you hear still and consider where the terms really come from in our upbringing.

Twining: Thats’ it for today, that Gadget, he’s out the door quick! See you all later, but before I go I would like you to think about some of the value systems of people from Somalia, and the Eastern European communities, and their experiences back home. Noddy, you have got to go all the way to Scotland so shall we do the next session on distance media learning. That'll teach that Gadget! Then TUPC runs in wearing the green ninja outfit, "Twining I got here as fast as I could." Twining says, "Too late Ninja warrior, but I love the bandana. Where's Raphael? Is that Annette with you?" UNPC replies, "OK back to fighting crime, no time for tea!" And with a whoosh TUPC is gone back to the streets of London. Annette you'll have to stay I say. Annette replies, "Tea twining?"

Get that Horse off my bus!

Picture this if you will. We could not stop laughing when a PC from my shift told me this. It relates to the 1980’s I think. This PC is a wonderful fellow, and back then he was a Sergeant in the Horse Guards. He trained Horses and even has a few stories to tell about Hewitt. The PC said he was a as fit as a fiddle because of all the horse sh—he had to muck out, and I believe him. He then said, "Serge, you know Sloane Square and you know how busy that is?" I replied, "yes."

He continued, "It was a busy day, I was on this horse you see, the traffic was head to tail, and there was this big red Double Decker bus in front of me." And…….I thought, I could just picture it…I had an idea in my head. The PC continued, "Well, this horse you see, it mounted the platform on the double decker and started snorting at the bus conductor." We just giggled as you do and…. "The Conductor was a big Black man and he just started shouting at the horse Serge, and I told him to quieten down and not to scare the horse." Apparently, and I could understand it, the conductor was going loopy. Who wouldn't if a horse tries to get on your bus and starts snorting at you?

The Evening Standard might have read, "Horse Guards Sergeant and horse try to get onto bus because of slow traffic on Sloane Square." Somewhere and some time, god bless his soul, if this conductor is still alive, the conductor has a story to tell to his grandchildren about the day he came face to face with one of Her Majesty's horses that tried to get onto his bus. Brilliant.

Affirmative Action (AI)

Affirmative Action, (AI), as a concept has been muted within policing for many many years. As a concept, affirmative action is wholly supported by the National Black Police Association UK, (NBPA), and by internal academics such as Dizaie, but what is it? In answering this question as a member of the NBPA and someone that has represented my own Force at the NBPA I am not entirely convinced that even the NBPA movement fully understand the concept of AI. And this is unsurprising for the only real academic currently within the NBPA movement that holds a position of power is Dizaie.

The objective of AI is to allow people from under represented groups the equal opportunity to get in so that they can compete on an equal footing with their peers from the majority. For example skilling Black or Asian people up to behave White is typical of what AI currently means to policing leaders even today.

Both the service and the NBPA support a Personal Leadership Program for minority ethnic staff, but in essence the course methodology does not focus on course participants realising they are different, and may have prejudices for prejudices appear to be sold as a White illness. This course pursues a view that in order to move on they must change their behaviours and acquiesce. Whilst this program is sold as AI, it is nothing of the sort. Police Leaders like Commander Gibson of the Met and Norman Bettison who led on this project have totally mis-sold the meaning of AI to benefit the majority group.

What then is AI? In it's purest sense AI should involve a wholesome approach to race relations for example. Race does not stand in isolation to other policing issues; it is part and parcel of policing. AI should encourage practices and attitudes that break the glass ceiling so that competent minority ethnic colleagues can progress based on their skills and merits. They should not be held back because they challenge racial injustice or because they eat different food or practice their faith differently. They should not be held back by racism.

The concept of AI should be structural and able to acknowlegde Black colleagues that stand up for the difference between right and wrong in relation to race relations. There are few and far between. The average person will put their career first. It should incorporate a culture, which does not lead police leaders to become defensive when challenged, to deny racism, but instead, it should encourage them to be more honest and able to understand how others view issues, especially those that are affected by disadvantage. This is AI.

An AI culture might also ensure that "Mavericks" are allowed in and welcomed as opposed to being left on the periphery of the organisation labelled as radicals. In all, AI is the removal of institutional barriers that cause racism and treat minority ethnic people of colour unfairly in comparison with some of their White counterparts.

Interestingly at last years Police Federation Conference, (2006). Conference rejected supporting affirmative action and in essence Conference rejected what they feared most, real race change, real change that the police service has still not experienced since the race riots of the 1980's. We are in a period of false race relations and games.

Police Leaders have been promoted on many race policies and strategies, but none of these policies have led to AI or in other words an equal opportunity between Black and White Officers, as there is still a mentality of face fit syndrome. The reality is that even the Federation does not understand the concept of AI or race equality.

Certainly those Mavericks that do challenge racial injustice are viewed as a thorn in the side and the ones that are internally mentored are the one's that might not be as competent as the Maverick, but are nonetheless able to say, "yes sir" without upsetting the ego's and understanding of police leaders, Leaders who know nothing about AI, or race equality, and whose sole purpose is to maintain the inequality that promoted them in the first place and cloud their personal lack of understanding with Liberal politics. There are plenty of Minority ethnic officer's that will say "yes sir" just for promotion and these are the ones currently being mentored. The question though is, are they the most competent? Or is the police service just playing plantation politics, as Serendib would say?

This is type for type mirror promotion. AI is not reverse discrimination; on the contrary it's aim is to put an end to the untold word, the backroom chats, the gossip, the collusion, and the racial discrimination that assist some White colleagues against their minority ethnic counterparts. AI is real race equality, but all it really is in policing in 2007 is a mere concept of fodder. Without any thought positive discrimination of a few Black officer's may tip this boat, especially if those that are thrusted forwards are not competent, and technically that is exactly what tends to happen. And when that does happen everyone from that group will be labelled negatively. Liberal politics in race relations simply won't work.