The Met

 Subject: The Met

How can the Met Police serve so many masters. They are constantly in trouble for either not enough or too little employing the "move along please" when it comes to dealing with the public and who are the 'public' today, do they represent the Palestinian Arab cause or the Jewish diaspora in Stamford Hill, do they sympathise with the West Indian community in Notting Hill or the Bangladesh community in Tower Hamlets. Each segment represents people and cultures formed overseas who over the last  100 years have come to identify areas of London as their home in which minorities including the ethnic British people (I know that the definition British has been corrupted) are in effect second class citizens and the police, aware of this, play a game of pass the parcel so as not to upset the local majority. The Jewish man wearing a yamaka wished to thread his way across the road through a crowd of Palestinian supporters but was politely warned that it was unsafe and he shouldn't. The policeman broke a rule, which has recently come into place, that you can't refer to the characteristics of dress to depict their race or religion even though the apparel is meant to do just that. The Hasidic Jew with his costume and long sideburns, the Arab with his dishdash and taqiyah are symbolic but mustn't be mentioned to distinguish them from other people. I wonder if the flat cap would pass muster or is the Yorkshireman/Lancastrian simply to self confident in his own ideals not to worry about what others think.

We are in an Orwellian nightmare where sensitivities are right for the picking on media platforms and online chat rooms, where commentary becomes the news of the day which it would have been if the Jewish guy had been harmed as he pushed his way across the road. The difference between common rights and common sense has been lost as we trade punches as to who has right on their side. There are many parts within  many cities where I would not walk after dark, but I don't shout "but it's my right".

I accuse many women of being under a similar misapprehension on the basis of their rights, there will always be situations where unless you are Mike Tyson you do not go and if we could free up genuine debate on rights instead of wasting time on phantom idealism then we might get somewhere.