Omniboligist accused

[AnOther]

Though that might get your attention [;-)]

Another tale from good old Blighty that you just couldn't make up [:'(]

 

 

[YCCMB]

So, let me see if I've got this right. The Daily Mail, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to dedicate column inches that it would otherwise have to fill with adverts for incontinence pants or elastic-waisted skirts or bath seats, to a story about a bloke who was stopped by the police a couple of times. Wow. What, indeed, is the world coming to? Maybe I should try to sell them the story of my son, who was stopped outside Waterloo Station with paint on his hands by an overly officious member of the BTP for committing the odious crime of, er, .. having paint on his hands? Oh, sorry, he's under 55, therefore he probably deserved it and was undoubtedly up to no good. He's an art student, by the way. Paint on the hands is an occupational hazard. It didn't stop the bloke who stopped him (and who, incidentally, was off duty at the time) from making him empty his pockets and his bag so that the off-duty idiot could check for cans of spray paint. Oddly, the story never made it further than a brief discussion over dinner, when I should have got straight onto the Mail and made him famous in his own lunchtime.

A neatly written piece, that one in the Mail...."when they start saying you're a paedophile, it really hurts". The article doesn't actually follow that comment up with any hard evidence that Mr Wossisname was ever accused of being a paedophile, either by a member of the public or the police, and neither the alleged accuser nor the police have been interviewed to ascertain whether, indeed, they suggested that Mr Wossisname "acting suspiciously" was automatically a sign of paedophilia. But, hey, if he's prepared to give an interview to the press saying that he thought someone else might have thought he was a paedophile, then gosh, that's worth a story. And I am still trying to find in the article some indication as to why the word "forced" is used in the headline. No-one appears to have "forced" this bloke to do anything!!!!!!!!!

Hell's bells, Ernie....are you really so desperate for another "OMG the UK is going to the dogs" story?

[cassis]

[quote]In the last year he has been questioned twice by the police and had to

give all his personal details after people who saw him innocently

snapping buses on public roads reported him.[/quote]

A bit upsetting but barely worthy of a column inch. I presume he took his "story" to the Daily ABYSMail and the rest of  the article wrote itself.  Nice work if you can get it.  [:D]

[AnOther]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]Hell's bells, Ernie....are you really so desperate for another "OMG the UK is going to the dogs" story?
[/quote]Not at all Betty but nice you thought it worthy of a 368 word reply [:D]

[YCCMB]

Well, I believe in fighting bullshit with bullshit.[:P]

[Gluestick]

Pretty obviously.............................

[Www]

Just teasing!

[:)]

[woolybananasbrother]

Just indicates that the doodoo has floated to the top in UK and is watching you and you and you and you.....

[Dick Smith]

Omigods! You COUNTED the words in a reply?

[Dick Smith]

To be serious, there is beginning to be a panic reaction amongst the less mentally well-endowed sections of society (including the Met) that anyone using a camera in public IS a paedophile. It is now just about impossible to carry a camera in some parks, for example. What was worse was that in London the Mayor's office endorsed this view, and there was even a move to remove the right to take photographs in public places. I don't know where Boris stands on this, but then I suppose he doesn't either.

[vervialle]

Dick you are right, one of my friends at work was frog marched out of her daughters swimming lessons for taking pictures of her doing her first length, she was then told she had to have written permission from all the other parents and must not get any other children in the photo,and then had to write to the school with her intentions, I know what this is all about, but isn,t it sad.Would you dare take a camra to the beach, you would  be looking behind you and that alone would make you look suspicious.

[Dick Smith]

It's very recent. I have  aload of pics taken about ten years ago of kids feeding ducks in the local park. Can you imagine doing that nowadays? Very sad.

[AnOther]

Nice to see some appreciate that behind many a scurrilous 'non' story hides a very serious point [;-)]

PS: Dick, no. Copy paste into Word and hit Tools/Word Count [:P]

 

[Cerise]

Hey - four times this year whilst going about my lawful business, men with guns have stopped my car and demanded to see all my papers, asked questions about where I'm going, asked who my passengers are, one time even got very unpleasant about my perfectly legal driving licence.  Oh, but that is OK then because I'm in La Belle France.  Or should I give up going out because obviously they think I'm a dangerous criminal?

Daily Wail - the end of the world as we know it is nigh!

 

[Ron Avery]

Two points, the man involved in the story is a respected transport photographer and contrary to the paper reports, has not given up a completely lawful and harmless hobby enjoyed by many thousands in the UK and across Europe.  He just wanted to draw attention to the harassement he and many many others going about their lawful hobby of transport photography are receiving from the Police and over zealous CSO's across the UK.

If you are Japanse and take a picture of a bus on Westminster Bridge or at Bluewater with a small girl walking alongside that is OK,  if you are a 40 year old Englishman you are a terror suspect or a paeodophile.  His examples of harassement are not isolated cases of such treatment. Yes people can take the piss out of train and bus spotters, but isn't it better for kids to have a hobby like that  than standing on street corners and throwing bricks through OAPs windows?

[Alex H]

This pdf would seem to be helpful http://www.sirimo.co.uk/ukpr.php

[Gluestick]

The interesting thing about that webref is the wealth of information about the core problem.

It seems that far from the 'bus photographer being an isolated case, as is suggested by the usual "Nothing wrong with Britain! It's wonderful!" brigade, there is a growing problem.

And perhaps more important than the difficulties presented to photographers, going about their law abiding lives, is the underlying trend for British authority's knee jerk reaction to so many normal situations: worse, is their failure to actually understand the breadth of law and to exercise some brain in its application.

Unfortunately, as successive governments have focused on a combination of self-betterment and ideology and have lost focus and control of so many facets of life and particularly crime, government have passed into statute a welter of new laws, a majority of them ill thought out and many which conflict with each other!

Hardly the acts of rational leaders!

There is an additional more sinister side, too. By rapidly increasing government's control over citizens, freedoms and hard won rights are lost: that's the route to totalitarianism.

 

[AnOther]

Interesting link.

Doesn't the fact that there is a need for such a code say it all [:(] 

 

[woolybananasbrother]

the EU generally has become much morte totalitarian and UK has simply followed suit.

[Gluestick]

Hmmm........

Google data on UK CCTV density and such choice statutes as the RIP Act, Wooly.

And read David Davis's in depth comments on the insidious spread of statute limiting rights and freedoms.

Did you know, for example, that when Thatcher steamrolled the legislation privatising water companies, certain freedoms hard won from Magna Carta and the later Bill of Rights were taken away?

In France at the least the right to free assembly and demonstration are enshrined in the Fifth Republic.

Try it in the UK, now.

 

[Callie]

One of my colleagues was driving home one evening when he was stopped by the gendarmes.  They noticed a large suitcase in the back and asked him to open it.  He explained that he had just returned from giving a First Aid course, and the suitcase contained 'aids' for the course.  When they insisted he open it, he did, and they jumped back a step when they saw "Resusci-Annie" lying on her back with her legs folded back over her shoulders ! ! !  He said it was worth seeing the expression on their faces ![:D]

Seriously, I have no objection to being stopped in principle.  One never knows when the police/gendarmerie are looking for someone in connection with a kidnapping, theft, violence etc etc.  What I object to is the manner in which it is sometimes done, though I, myself, have never had a problem.  But I have seen badly-handled situations in my other world and have always found this unacceptable.  It must be quite terrifying to be stopped and treated as if you are guilty, especially in a foreign country.  People who are frightened or nervous sometimes react in a way that eggs on the 'bad' type of law enforcer.

In this climate of political correctness and nanny state, the man's lot is not always an easy one - who wants to spend their life walking on eggshells and looking over the shoulder?  (sorry about the clichés)  One only has to read about a man whose life has been destroyed by false accusations and publicity.  I'm sure there have already been complaints about a father bathing his children......  If your camera reveals you have taken photographs of your children running round the garden naked, heaven help you.[:(]

May the man up there in the sky help us come to our senses and put everything back into its correct perspective.  Just who are these people that come up with some of these ridiculous ideas?  Certainly no-one I know ! 

Sorry, I'm rambling..........

[YCCMB]

OOh, careful, Callie....there must be enough there for Ernie to get his word count going again![:D]

[AnOther]

333 [:P]

[:D]

 

[cassis]

[quote user="Dick Smith"]To be serious, there is beginning to be a panic reaction amongst the less mentally well-endowed sections of society (including the Met) that anyone using a camera in public IS a paedophile. It is now just about impossible to carry a camera in some parks, for example. What was worse was that in London the Mayor's office endorsed this view, and there was even a move to remove the right to take photographs in public places. I don't know where Boris stands on this, but then I suppose he doesn't either.

[/quote]

Agreed, that there is a paedophile panic in some sections of society - though I didn't realise that it had gone so far that people were/felt unable to carry cameras in public parks. 

Shows how out of touch I am.

I still think it is an appallingly overblown article, though. [Www]

[Chancer]

[quote user="Ron Avery"]

Two points, the man involved in the story is a respected transport photographer and contrary to the paper reports, has not given up a completely lawful and harmless hobby enjoyed by many thousands in the UK and across Europe.  He just wanted to draw attention to the harassement he and many many others going about their lawful hobby of transport photography are receiving from the Police and over zealous CSO's across the UK.

If you are Japanse and take a picture of a bus on Westminster Bridge or at Bluewater with a small girl walking alongside that is OK,  if you are a 40 year old Englishman you are a terror suspect or a paeodophile.  His examples of harassement are not isolated cases of such treatment. Yes people can take the piss out of train and bus spotters, but isn't it better for kids to have a hobby like that  than standing on street corners and throwing bricks through OAPs windows?

[/quote]

I agree with you Ron.

White middled aged overweight englishman wearing thick lens glasses and carrying a camera  = paedophile to most of the current generation.

White midde aged overweight japanese man wearing thick lens glasse and carrying a camera = tourist.

[cassis]

[quote user="J.R. gone native"]

White midde aged overweight japanese man wearing thick lens glasse and carrying a camera = tourist.

[/quote]

Most Japanese men are not white.  [:D]

If you've ever worked in London then midde aged overweight japanese man wearing thick glasses and carrying a camera = obstruction in pavement/at top of escalator and pain in a r s e when you're trying to get to work.