BBC WM Phone-ins

On my way in to work this morning, Phil Upton was doing his usual "phone Phil" segment, which involves people of the general public phoning in to discuss topical matters.

Of course, todays topic was the recent riots and general civil disturbances seen around the UK.

Now, I like these phone ins, you really get a cross section of community speaking on a single platform - you wouldn't get that anywhere else, however, there is one thing that really gripes me about Phil Upton's phone ins - he's too tepid, he just accepts whatever is said by the caller, without offering a stable middle ground view.

I know we live in a "lefty" society now where everyone is right, no one is wrong, kids cant be disciplined and Police are merely spectators, but without a sensible voice chairing these live on-air discussions, they descend in to farce and just serve to give air time to loonies.

Take the call I heard this morning. A chap from Wolverhampton calls in. Having told you he's from Wolverhampton, you should probably be able to guess that he wasn't going to be an intellectual. Anyway, he called in and the point he wanted to make was about water cannons, and whether they should be used in the face of these riots.

Now there are sensible arguments to be made against the use of water cannons - firstly, the UK don't have many of them, and those that they do have are stationed in Northern Ireland. Secondly, they are slow ponderous things that are ideal for use against gatherings of balding, middle aged, pissed up football hooligans trying to fight another bunch of balding, middle aged, pissed up football hooligans - generally because they all gather in one place and have it out. However, the riots we have seen recently involve kids spread out over the length of a high street, running to and fro, legging it down alleys, through looted shops etc. I cant see that a water cannon would be of much use in this situation.

So there are decent arguments against Water Cannons in this context.

Anyway, back to our man from Wolverhampton, he was against Water Cannons, but his reasoning left a little to be desired. He said; "water cannons are no good, they just send people flying. Seeing a 20 stone man tumbling down the street is not a pretty sight". I'm sure it's not a pretty sight, but why does it matter? Will the English Tourist Board downgrade a town or city because of the eyesore of a 20 stone man tumbling down a street?

There are many possible arguments against Water Cannons, be they ethical, tactical or moral - But I'm pretty sure aesthetics aren't on that list.

Back to Phil Upton, in this situation, I'd expect any decent chair of any debate to step in and said "hold on a second, but you are talking rubbish", but no, we live in this lefty society where everyone is allowed their view, no matter how ridiculous, irrelevant or downright incorrect it may be.

The difference between right and wrong

Why is it in this country we can no longer distinguish between wrong and right?

I'm getting pretty damn frustrated at the attitude of the Police during the riots that are plaguing our cities at the moment.

Last Monday night, several hundred looters ran amok in Birmingham City Centre, but the reports on Tuesday said that the Police stood back and watched, with a brief to merely contain the violence. Great job there lads.

Dont get me wrong, I am not getting at the individual men and women who are out there in their protective gear carrying shields, they're brave, and simple doing a job. However, the tactics of the Police are far, far too soft, and this is clearly because the Police are worried about getting in to trouble for coming down too hard on these thugs.

I can see it now - officers getting sued because they broke someones arm, or someone falls over whilst being chased and hurts themselves more seriously.

This is all in the wake of the death of Ian Tomlinson, the newspaper seller who was hit by a Police officer in London during the G20 protests, whilst walking away in a calm manner. Police are now evidently very cagey during large scale protests or riots because they know their actions will (quite rightly) be scrutinised. Police are now too cagey to do anything against these rioters, too scared of being convicted, too scared of criticism.

And this brings me to the point of this blog - our inability to tell right from wrong. Our police force has lost its moral compass.

It is WRONG to treat peaceful protests in an intimidating way, leading to ugly scuffles, like we have seen at recent protests in London where the vast majority were peaceful - I have seen this first hand. Although not involved in the protest in any way, I have witnessed the attitude and intimidating manner in which the Police force act during largely peaceful protests. I am of the opinion, that their excessive presence and bad attitude lead to more problems than they solve.

It is WRONG to beat up an old man walking away in a calm manner, just because there's a largely peaceful protest going on.

Yet, on the other hand, we have the passive attitude to the riots that we are seeing at the moment.

It is RIGHT to use physical force to apprehend those being violent, or looting, or damaging property. These are criminal acts, yet the Police are standing by and watching. It is RIGHT to use baton rounds, water cannons and aggressive techniques on these criminals.

So why can't the leaders of our Police force see right from wrong? We end up in a situation where looting and criminal vandalism is dealt with in a passive manner, yet peaceful protesters are kettled, held against their will and have situations where innocent unarmed newspaper sellers get beaten up.

Time for a bit of common sense.

Time to grab the moral compass from the Police, reset it, and hand it back.