The beat goes on
Sir: I read with growing rage James Delingpole’s column (You know it makes sense, 18 April). After castigating the policing of the G20 demonstrations, he takes the opportunity to list a number of actions the police have taken in recent times that he objects to. But some context is required. I have worked for nearly 20 years in a large metropolitan police force which deals with nearly 2,000 incidents a day on average. We arrest hundreds of people, and respond to thousands of calls for help and assistance. Nearly 4,000 of us do this — regular police officers, special constables (and sorry, James — they do have full police powers and those you accused of not saving a drowning boy were not special constables), community support officers and police staff. I have not beaten anyone senseless with my baton or shot anyone, although I have been seriously assaulted, police vehicles I have been in have been rammed by criminals, petrol bombs have been thrown at the police station I work in and threats have been made on my life. I am sorry to say I am not unique in my experiences.
The mess we are in is best summed up by what happened to Gary Toms. Who’s he, you may ask. Well, while the spotlight of the media has been on the aftermath of the G20 demonstration, PC Toms was killed trying to stop armed robbers last week in London. He hardly gets a mention in the press. He was an armed officer who it appears did not discharge his weapon despite being in mortal danger. I wonder what the media would have said if Gary had shot his assailant dead and he had survived?
James Thompson
Via email
Knocking Wiki
Sir: No doubt it is fashionable to knock Wikipedia (Liddle Britain, 18 April); but as a five-year administrator on the English language version of the site, I do find that this kind of thing is often lazy journalism and reveals a misunderstanding of how the site works. Wikipedia has a perfectly good complaints mechanism for dealing with untruths posted on it. And by the way, a trawl through the ‘history’ section of the site’s article on Cristiano Ronaldo (accessible by anyone) reveals that Rod’s claims to have vandalised the page are false. Rather a public gotcha.
Charles Matthews
Cambridge
Wrong prescription
Sir: If Jeremy Clarke has thrush (Low life, 18 April) and is prescribed an antibiotic, he should complain and get an antifungal instead. And The Spectator is the last place I should hope to read ‘HIV virus’.
Tony Balazs
London NW1
Handel and the bubble
Sir: In spite of Kate Chisholm’s surprise (Radio, 18 April), Handel’s reinvestment in the South Sea Company in 1723 was not im-prudent. The speculative bubble in the com-pany’s stock had burst in 1720, leaving a mass of debtors and creditors. The company could not merely be liquidated since many of the holders of South Sea stock had been persuaded to take it in exchange for government liabilities, and to default would be in effect to default on the national debt. Instead, after trial by parliament, the directors were disqualified and much of their assets seized, as were those of other guilty parties (notably the chancellor of the exchequer). New officers were elected and the capital written down to a more realistic figure. Thereafter the company became chiefly a vehicle by which regular payments by the Treasury were passed on to former holders of government debt and their successors, such as Handel. There also remained a speculative element — the right to trade with and sell slaves to the Spanish colonies in South America, which lasted for nearly 30 years more. The company was at last wound up by Gladstone (as chancellor), who converted South Sea stock to British government consols.
Dr J.D. Renwick
Ramsgate, Kent
A toast to Jacqui Smith
Sir: During the American Civil War a very frequent and popular Confederate toast was to the health, long life and continuance in office of the Union General Ambrose E. Burnside. In his period in command of the Union armies, his greatest achievements in battle included the needless loss of thousands of his troops in front of utterly impregnable Confederate positions at Fredericksburg, and the blowing of a very large hole into the ground on the battlefield of Petersburg, into which more thousands of troops were marched, only to find that it was impossible for them to climb out — perhaps the greatest example in military history of shooting oneself in the foot.
It now seems clear that our present Home Secretary is the New Labour equivalent of General Burnside, and I shall raise my glass to her with similar affection.
Robert Whittaker
Via email
Let them try the council
Sir: I find something of Marie Antoinette’s ‘let them eat cake’ in Charles Moore’s suggestion that we should ‘try to exclude MPs from matters best dealt with by elected councillors’ (The Spectator’s Notes, 11 April). To somebody with the national press at his back, one local champion more or less is neither here nor there; but for the inarticulate or disadvantaged in general, an MP can be very important. People having more direct contact with local authorities know that there are still plenty of ‘Alderman Foodbothams’ around, quietly happy to steamroller anybody who gets in their way. MPs tend to be less under the thumb of the local tyrant than councillors are and can get things done where the latter would fail. They cannot, of course, work miracles. As Charles Clover made clear (‘A granny in the front line against New Labour’, 11 April), Jane Kennedy almost certainly lost her ministerial post as a result of supporting one of her constituents in a compulsory purchase battle with Liverpool Council. However, it was a far, far better thing to do than to follow Mr Moore’s dictum of just leaving it to the local councillors.
Mike Waller
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
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