Friday, December 21, 2007

'ello 'ello'ello. What's going on 'ere then?


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I can still remember being in my school nativity play. Second sheep I think I was, or was it a Martian? Anyway, my clearest memory is of flash bulbs blinking from the auditorium, and trying to get to the front to be in as many pictures as possible!

A few years ago, there was a move by schools to ban the taking of photographs at public events- speech days, sports days and of course nativity plays. Thankfully such bans are being lifted, mainly because no one was able to provide a valid reason for introducing them in the first place.


There are of course occasional cases were caution should be exercised such as were kids in care are involved. But generally speaking any pictures taken on such occasions prove no more of a threat to children than any of those images which appear on TV and in the media daily.

A few days ago a Father decided to ignore the ban at his daughters school play. After all, the school was filming the event and taking pictures which were to be offered by sale to the parents. Additionally, the local press photographer was taking pictures for inclusion in the town’s newspaper.

Later in the performance, startled parents and alarmed children witnessed the hapless parent being marched from the theatre by three policemen. Several hours of interrogation followed during which he was questioned about his motives for taking the photographs.
Ive included a photo of such a nativity play in this post. I hope nobody is offended by it's inclusion.


A couple of weeks back, a child was doing his homework when he discovered that he had inadvertently brought home a craft knife which he had been using in an art lesson earlier that day. The parent was understandably concerned. After all, you would expect the teacher taking the class to take extra care in ensuring the knives were all accounted for at the end of the lesson.

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The following day the boy’s father took the knife back to the school.


He placed the implement down on the reception counter and demanded to see the headmaster in the hope of getting some kind of explanation. The head clearly did not feel matter was sufficiently serious to give up any of his valuable time for. However, the parent stood his ground and eventually got to meet the principal in his office.
After an unsatisfactory meeting the father left the school building only to be confronted by a police armed response unit. I would at this point remind any readers from outside the UK that our police do not routinely carry guns. Most people are highly unlikely ever to see a policeman or woman carrying a weapon. It was five hours before the parent was released by the anti-terrorism squad.

What a strange world we live in.

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14 comments:

  1. Keith, can you please explain to me why your police officers don't carry weapons?
    That seems so strange to me, here in the states.
    Our officers ALL carry weapons because our bad guys carry weapons!
    Really curious, please explain??

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  2. It's only in recent years that crimes involving firearms have been an major issue in the UK. This was always believed to be due to the fact that our police were unarmed. Although there is now a vocal minority calling for the routine arming of the police, it is feared that by doing so more criminals will use guns as a matter of course. We currently have just 6000 oficers trained in the use of firearms, but this is slowly increasing.

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  3. Interesting - when we go looking for reasons to be alarmed, we find them everywhere, especially in our own heads. Ours is indeed a weird world - fun, but weird.

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  4. Popping in to wish you a Merry Christmas hun x

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  5. Keith, that is really strange.
    How would the police know, when answering a call if the person was armed or not?
    Do you have many officers shot in the line of duty?

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  6. Little Wing
    If the police are warned that they are to face an armed person the armed squad would be called in. The fact is however that criminals are less likely to shoot an unarmed policeman than an armed one. I really can't remember the last time I heard of a police officer being shot. It is VERY rare

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  7. It is recently that our officers and fisheries officers are armed, also. Personally I can't understand why. It isn't as though any islanders walk around fully armed unless hunting.

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  8. My point of course is that given the scarcity with which armed police are deployed, the action taken by the commanding officer in this case is was a little over the top!

    The present generation of parents here are wrapping their children in cotton wool. The 'no photography' rule is another example. It's not good for the kids and it's not good for the future of our country.

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  9. strange to say the least! however how adorable is that little nativity scene?

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  10. I do find that rule strange, it is true. But you didn't mention the school, was it a private school where well to do send their children who must be guarded from those rag-mag photographers or kidnappers or worse? There are places where a rule like that could and should apply.

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  11. I guess it wasn't enough to post the comment once, lol! Sorry about that Keith, didn't mean to that up your space. And if this goes in twice, I'm not re-posting, I promise..., lol!

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  12. No, these were two completely different ordinary state run schools. I agree there could be a security risk at schools like Eton or Winchester but this was nothing to do with that. The 'no photograph' rule is quite common - yet the press are allowed to snap whatever they want. I have this weeks local paper here and there are 13 pages of nativity play pics, school-leaver photos and the like. Crazy.

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  13. Strange indeed is the world we live in, more scarier if you ask me..the individual freedom is at risk! UK doesnt allow firearms for civilians do they? I mean like the US rules about 'allowed to carry guns with license', so it makes perfect sense that not all policemen are armed all the time..much safer I think.

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  14. What ashame and how very bizarre.

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