The shit has really hit the fan over, what is now being called, “The Savile scandal”.
Like many interested commentators, The Cat believes the Savile Scandal goes beyond the BBC and into the heart of political power.
I’d seen the pictures and the video of Savile with Thatcher and I’d heard the rumours about Ted Heath (he of the biggest sulk in history), his yacht and the Haut de la Garenne children’s home in Jersey.
“The evidence file used to convict Peter Righton, if it still exists, contains clear intelligence of a widespread paedophile ring,” he told MPs.
“One of its members boasts of his links to a senior aide of a former prime minister, who says he could smuggle indecent images of children from abroad.
“The leads were not followed up, but if the files still exist, I want to ensure that the Metropolitan Police secure the evidence, re-examine it and investigate clear intelligence suggesting a powerful paedophile network linked to Parliament and No 10.”
Cameron, who hadn’t been doing well at the despatch box was stunned. He replied by saying it was a “difficult and complex case” and pledged to help in any way he could. Well, he has no choice.
In 1974, Edward Heath called a general election on the back of a miner’s strike. His slogan for the election was “Who runs Britain”? The voters told him, in no uncertain terms “Not you, mate”! Heath was forced to resign.
After the riots of the last few days, Cameron, Gove and Johnson all had to cut their holidays short and hotfoot it back to London. Lord Snooty gave a press conference yesterday morning after his meeting with COBRA. Johnson popped up in Croydon, armed with a broom and Gove did the rounds on television. In each of these situations, none of them looked as though they were in charge, even though they were desperate to give the impression that they had a grip on things.
Cameron’s press conference was brief and he produced the usual spiel: criminals, law and order, punishment. He looked like he was pissed off for having to rush back from Tuscany. Hang on, didn’t a certain Tony Blair and assorted Nu Labour types have a thing about Tuscany? And just what is it about Tuscany and right -politicians? For what it’s worth, Emperor Boris may just as well have read the Croydon locals some Cicero in Latin. His appearance was marred by heckling and he had to beat a hasty retreat. Gove thought he had a better chance in the television studios, but came across as irritable as he hyperventilated over “gangs” and “criminals”. His head-to-head on Newsnight with Harriet Harman saw him practically screaming at her, accusing her of “relativizing” and “making excuses”. Gove was trying to suggest that Harman was somehow responsible for the riots. Gove refused to accept that his government’s deficit reduction strategy was partly to blame.
Here’s Gove on Channel 4 News
Here he is on Newsnight
Does Gove look as though he’s in charge? I don’t think he does. He comes over like a petulant child. Harman (I’m not a fan, by the way) comes over as cool-headed and rational by comparison.
Are these people running the country or are they helping their rich pals in the private sector to trouser loads of money? Nowhere Towers thinks it’s the latter. The public sector is being smashed to pieces in order to hand out contracts to their chums under the apparent aegis of ‘localism’. in the last couple of days, many Tories have been calling for American, Bill Bratton to take over as Metropolitan Police Commissioner.
The Conservatives have made no secret of their admiration for their favourite American police chief, Bill Bratton, who played a key role in turning around crime in New York in the 1990s but has now retired. Labour had their own favourite in Paul Evans, the Boston police commissioner who fought gun crime, and who was brought over to head the Home Office’s police standards unit in 2003.
While they demand that immigration be capped or stopped altogether, here they are suggesting that an American run the largest police force in Britain. They may just as well demand that George W Bush take over as Prime Minister. In not so many words, our politicians are telling us that they don’t have any faith in Britain’s top policemen and women. So much so, that they want to hire a gunslinger from out of town.
And you had to ask why this country is in such a mess?
