AUTHOR: Redaspie DATE: Saturday, June 17, 2006 ----- BODY:
This is just unbelievable:

"A police officer who led an anti-terror raid in London in which a man was
shot has been made a CBE, drawing criticism from politicians and campaigners.
Assistant Met commissioner Andy Hayman has been honoured by the Queen for his
response to the 7 July London bombings. It comes days after he apologised to two
brothers freed without charge a week after the Forest Gate raid... He
was also involved in the operation which led to the shooting of Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes by police."

Really this just feels like a deliberate provocation, and one can only imagine how the relatives of de Menezes are feeling this morning. I find themselves wondering what actually goes on in the heads of the people who make these decisions. Of course, Tony Blair has always made clear that he is his preferred way of dealing with any criticism or opposition - give 'em the finger and up the ante. However, I can't believe that this is also the thinking of *all* the civil servants, aides and whoever else in the government who was involved in the decision. It's as if Blair simply made this decision on his own along with a few trusted confidantes, freezing out everyone else in the government who would normally be involved. Come to think of it, this is by no means an implausible scenario, and kind of fits in with the extraordinary centralisation that has gone on over the last few years in the way the upper circles of the British government operate. A problem that predates Blair by some years.
-------- COMMENT-AUTHOR:Blogger Redaspie COMMENT-DATE:8:19 PM COMMENT-BODY:Was that what he actually said, or is that just from the film 'Sunday'? -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR:Blogger Redaspie COMMENT-DATE:3:01 PM COMMENT-BODY:If I remember - my memory's atrocious!

I actually find the film 'Sunday' hard to take seriously, as some of my friends are in it playing the victims of the shootings, plus Chris Ecclestone is Major Ford (I think he was the one who said 'go on the paras', in the film anyway). So to me it's like one of my weird dreams - Dr Who and some soldiers running around Derry shooting my friends! --------