Sorry I've been away so long - (just in case someone cares) - it's been a question of keeping the home going while my nephew was staying, and coping with other demands on my time. But I hope the blog will prosper.
What's got me going again is John Humprhies, the doyen of BBC Radio Four, interviewing a senior police officer this morning, following rioting in Tottenham over the weekend. 'Don't you think the police were caught flat-footed?' aked Humphries. 'No, I don't' (in effect) said the officer, and continued giving a measured response to the questioning. The next BBC Radio Four news bulletin headlines included 'The police denied they had been flat-footed in dealing with the riots' (I'm paraphrasing a bit, but you'll get the gist of it). Anyone switching on for that news bulletin hears the words 'flat footed' associated with the police response to the rioting and may well go through the day talking to friends and acqaintances about the police apparently being 'flat footed'. Next off there may be those who justify what went on by saying 'Well, how can you blame people for protesting when the police are so flat footed!'. And so it goes.
Seems Humphries couldn't get a good headline out of the police officer, but that hasn't stopped either him or the BBC. Well, I'd like to thank him for providing such a nice little example of cheap - but dangerous - journalism.
