This week’s special edition of Question Time in London came in response to the shocking riots, which have swept across England over the past few days. As a first time voter I have often thought you hear more sense and genuine reactions from non-politicians and audience members, than you do from the politicians themselves.
I was particularly pleased therefore when an audience member brought the debate into sharp focus after a period of ideological discussion over how far the police should go. “I expect the police to stop people in the act of a crime”, he said, to enthusiastic applause. This put to bed Fraser Nelson’s view that he would prefer to live in a society where the police took a step back, rather than dive in with batons.
Clearly with an atrocity so serious and damaging to our society as these riots, action needed to be taken. As a result there has been much talk about plastic bullets, water cannons and even deployment of the army, but mostly from people who know little or nothing about handling a riot. Alarming, even former Deputy Prime Minister showed a certain amount of confusion as to the legal process. As Spectator editor Fraser Nelson said to Prescott: “It’s not a question of the police chiefs sending in their men, then ringing up someone like you and asking ‘what do we do now?’".
So it was really Brian Paddick who proved the most impressive, demonstrating his knowledge and experience as a Police officer. It was clear that, frankly, no one knew what the right measures are to take, proving that it is easy for a politician to criticise and advise, but relatively meaningless when they often have little expertise in the area. Paddick is positioning himself nicely as a political commentator and it’s a shame he’s had a failed mayoral bid. Even more of a shame he sank to the level of going on a reality show in ‘I’m a celebrity get me out of here’. The real shame is that he is the sort of person to whom I would like to give my first time vote.
