Dear Chief Secretary to the Treasury,
I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left.
Signed, Liam Byrne

(Outgoing Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury. May 2010)
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Friday 15 January 2010

He didn't say what you said he did.

Several newspapers have reported that the new Chief Constable of South Wales won't be doing his own shopping any more - " for security reasons".

It would seem that the initial story was carried in Police Review, written by a Police Review reporter who had interviewed the newly promoted Chief Constable.

In the Telegraph the story starts to resemble the BBC's reporting of the Myleene Klass business - where the police said they didn't tell her a knife was an offensive weapon, because :-
A statement from South Wales Police said: “Chief Constable Peter Vaughan did not make any reference to “security issues” during his interview with the Police Review reporter. As a result we have requested a retraction of the inaccuracy in its next edition.
and to make absolutely sure they got the message :-
“We do not wish to comment any further in relation to this matter.”
But the Telegraph doesn't let it end there, it says:-
Chris Herbert, editor of Police Review, said no letter requesting a retraction had been received from the force.

He added: “We don’t go around making up quotes. He (Mr Vaughan) said he had security concerns and his particular concerns were around going shopping to his local supermarket.”

Mr Herbert added: “We are not making any judgment on whether that is right or wrong, or good or bad. That is what he (Mr Vaughan) told us and that is what we reported.
He's right, reporters are there to report, not pass judgement - at least they should be.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

More police duplicity.

"'Web Cop' to patrol internet for anti-police comments"

The Chief Constable of West Midlands Police is contributing to a blog here:

http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/home/2010/01/web-cop-to-patrol-internet-for-antipolice-comments.html

Let him know what you think.

Witterings from Witney said...

"reporters are there to report, not pass judgement - at least they should be."

If only they did and would, Mrs. R! Instead of which all we get, usually, is 'cut & paste' journalism!

Do you read Inspector Gadget? Some of the comments on his post on this are priceless!

Mrs Rigby said...

@ Anon - It would be nice to have a name. Link noted.

Will perhaps post more about the story mentioned, if there's time.

@ WfW - Yes, I do read Gadget's blog, and other similar ones, it's nice to see the humour and 'real people' behind the uniform.

Unknown said...

The Chief Constable of West Midlands Police is trying to bamboozle us with statistics at http://www.bigbrotherwatch.org.uk/home/2010/01/web-cop-to-patrol-internet-for-antipolice-comments.html

Mrs R: could you give him a talking to?