sadoldgit

I am sorry that you feel that way and clearly I did not make my points particularly well. I used the “trivial” word as it had been used in another post earlier and I ran with it. A better choice of words would have been “less serious.” My mistake and I apologise for it unreservedly. As for the not crime of the century comment, it wasn’t and pointing that out does not lessen the actual crime committed. Would you put it in the same category as those carried out by Harold Shipman or Lucy Letby? When put into context his crimes of being in the possession of indecent images are on the lesser end of the scale. Many offenders are in possession of hundreds if not thousands of these images. That is not to mitigate his actions, but he is on the lower end of sex offenders in this category. I have no idea about his mental health situation, but he does seem to have gone through some kind of breakdown. Again, it doesn’t mitigate his actions in obtaining these images but it is reflected in the sentencing. Whether he ended up with a custodial sentence or not, his life as was is over and he will carry this shame to the grave, so I’m not sure if he can be seen to have avoided a just sentence. His face is known everywhere across the country. Wherever he goes he will know that the people he comes into contact with will know what he has done. In itself, that is a life sentence of shame. Of course it should have been reported on, I have not disputed that. If you feel that the news coverage was proportionate that’s your opinion. Mine is that it wasn’t proportionate over the whole period since the original story broke. Again, that is not to try and mitigate his actions, it is just an opinion about certain editorial decisions made in the news media. We all have opinions on things that should be in the news more, or less. Some people think there is too much reporting from Gaza, some not enough. I worked for the CPS for many years and the last few involved managing the paralegal team in the RASSO (rape and serious sexual offences) unit in Kent. The management of the indecent images cases was always strictly controlled and access to the images was highly restricted so, fortunately, I have never seen these types of images. I have no idea of what the images were of but 7 were in the worst category A, 12 in the next category B and 22 in the lesser category C. Whilst all of the cases were dealt with seriously (hence the setting up of specialist units) the more serious cases were those where the perpetrators were a direct threat to the public. I’m assuming that the sentence that Edwards was given was based on him being a first time offender, being no direct threat to the public, suffering mental health problems and number of the images possessed being relatively low in comparison with other offenders.

A question to GM. Out of curiosity, given your feelings about the offences carried out by Edwards, how do you feel about Trump’s conviction of a more serious sexual offence?

I didn’t know what the pictures were of other than than the categories they fell in and yes, that is dreadful, but in legal terms being in possession of pictures of sexual assault is not as an serious offence as committing the offence. To be clear, I am not condoning what Edwards did, but there are degrees of seriousness in sexual offences and as abhorrent as all sex offences are, they wouldn’t have let him walk free for these offences if they felt that he was a threat to society. The point remains though, did his offences warrant the constant day after day main headline coverage that they received at the time?

To put the word “trivial” into better context of its use in this thread, we were talking about how much broadcasting time and column inches has been devoted to a BBC newsreader being in possession of 41 illegal images of children against other news items and whether this particular news item warranted as much attention as it has been given against other stories? As serious as the offences were, did the time devoted to the story warrant other news items being pushed further down the news agendas?

Is it the crime of the century then? Does what Edwards has done compare to murdering or raping someone? You don’t get a six month suspended sentence for the crime of the century. You are in no position to preach. You take the moral high ground when it comes to drink driving but then think that trying to prevent people from speeding through a small village is stopping them from “having fun,” in your own words. You need to get some perspective Duckie.

No one is saying it is a trivial matter, hence the word “relatively” - as in not a murder or a rape and therefore was dealt with in a magistrates court and not a Crown court. Do you understand the difference? There are some 5000 cases like this brought to court each year. Shocking isn’t it that the media only show any interest when a celebrity is involved.

You could barely drive past a field around here without a vote leave poster in it.

More negative Brexit news. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd988p00z1no.amp

As unpleasant as it is, it is hardly the crime of the century is it? Be honest, if it wasn’t for who it was, you know as well as I do that it wouldn’t have attracted any mainstream media attention at all. It only became a big story because of who his is. The matter itself was dealt with in the magistrates court and is, therefore, relatively trivial. Should it have been reported on? Of course. With all that is going on in the world, should so much main air time and so many front pages have been devoted to this particular news item is debatable. On a brighter note, it is good to see you finally expand your interest in crimes of a sexual nature beyond groups of men with brown skin. And before Double Standards Duckie kicks off, this is no defence of paedophilia.

https://amp.theguardian.com/politics/2024/sep/13/james-cleverly-targeted-by-dirt-digging-firms-dossier-in-tory-leadership-race

Strange to see hypo so suddenly interested in what the Government of the day are up to given he didn’t make a peep about the previous Government’s shortcomings over the last 14 years.

Because the people who use the word pejoratively are anything but so need to kick back. As one major social commentator said recently, “better to be woke than be an arsehole.”

Do you think that people with far left views lock themselves away and don’t know anybody else? You must move in strange circles where no one knows anybody else and nobody has a job. Perhaps get out a bit more Duckie. There is more to life than eyeing up the 9 pinters in the Farage Arms or doing chores for the Snapdragon. Try talking to your neighbours. There is a whole world out there just waiting to be discovered. It is no secret that those of the far left have no time for Starmer so I’m hardly moving in the CoT territory. You are an odd character. You believe that a complete stranger who you have never met is lying to you on a football forum yet you are willing to give your vote to people who are proven of telling bare faced lies. You need to sort your priorities out Duckie. *For the record, they might not technically be Marxists, but they share very similar views and if you get upset by pinkos, they would probably give you nightmares.

No it wasn’t, but thanks for your valuable contribution to the debate. Don’t worry hypo, hopefully, when you grow up, you will meet a variety of different people too

If you had bothered to pay attention the reason that some arms (not all, some) have been suspended has absolutely nothing to do with anti-Semitism and everything to do with not wanting to be in breach of international law. The usual lazy recourse of those who have no other defence of the actions of Netanyahu and his government - throw around accusations of anti-Semitism. Train drivers not skilled? I would hope that those controlling tons of carriages full of people travelling at 125mph have a certain level of skill, wouldn’t you? You spout the same nonsensical rubbish that Trump does. Little wonder you support him so slavishly.

You don’t think that we are in this mess because of the last 14 years or Tory policies? People are entitled to change their minds. Surely a pragmatic approach is better than a dogmatic approach. Needs must etc. So you have no actual evidence that Starmer and Harris are Marxists, you just think that. Ok. The train strike needed to be resolved and they were always going to get more money - even if the Tories were still in power. Labour voting pensioners are more likely to be affected than Tory voting pensioners - many of whom do not need the winter fuel allowance. Surely if Starmer was a Marxist he would be taking from the rich and giving to the poor? Not a great start for the Marxist revolution is it? Any real evidence? Talking of ruining the country, any thoughts on Liz Truss’s budget?

You are entitled to believe what you like. Where is your evidence that Starmer and Harris are Marxists?

What is so odd about a member of the Labour Party wanting the Labour Party to be elected? We can spend time talking about Corbynism and Marxism but as you clearly know as much about Marxism as Donald Trump it seems pointless. Out of interest, do you honestly believe that, under Corbyn, we would no longer have been a capitalist country? The reason many hard Left supporters are against Starmer is because they don’t believe that he shares the same values. Starmer is the PM. Starmer kicked Corbyn out of the Labour Party. Explain to us please how, in your mind, that he is a raging Marxist when he has alienated many of the Far Left of the party already.

God forbid that there should be a half decent/competent human being leading the Tory Party for a change. Still, you support Farage so that says it all.

I’m not sure about the patient bit. I had many a row with dear old Alpine about him, even when we hammered Wolves away he was slagging him off. There were plenty of people calling for his head along with the usual - plays his mates, no plan B, should be doing better with the players at his disposal (where have we heard that before?) etc. I appreciate the stats thing, and yes, he managed at a lower level but you can only play what is in front of you and he still had a decent return of points, just not good enough sadly.

How exactly do Starmer and Harris compare to them?

I know a couple of people who could be described as Marxists. Both of them hated Blair with a passion and think that Starmer is just a soft Tory. Judging by their Facebook posts before the election they would have been very happy for Labour to have lost and for there to be a change of leader back towards Corbynism. To define the current PM and Labour Party government as Marxist is beyond comprehension and I can only assume that GM is on a wind up. As for the US, the Democratic Party have and always been centre right and the Republicans further right. You know the Marxist accusation is nonsense when Trump starts throwing at the Democrats. More desperation along with claims that the Haitians are eating pets. Harris was spot on yesterday. Hold a mirror up to the narcissist and watch him unravel. She kept him on the back foot and she needs to keep him there. To his supporters he can do no wrong, but hopefully more and more swing voters are seeing him for what he is and will do the right thing come polling day.

Perhaps you should put a bit more effort into yours rather than just call people c*nts? Still, your posts appeal to those with the same mindset as you so I guess it works, eh Whelk?

He was rumoured to have a drink problem. Given the drinking culture amongst footballers in those days I wouldn’t be surprised. The expectations were high when he arrived but when it became clear that we weren’t going to be amongst the front runners a lot of people turned on him on here. He had a similar win % to Lawrie McMenemy and like you, I don’t think he deserves to be anywhere near a list of our poor managers. Best wishes to him for a full and speedy recovery.

He didn’t pick up any of Patel’s votes which were split fairly evenly between the other 3 successful candidates. Cleverly isn’t the sharpest knife in the draw (nicknamed Jimmy Dimly) and Tugendhat might have more appeal for those who voted for Stride. The further down the line we get the more that voters might be thinking about getting a job in the shadow cabinet at the end of it, so we might see more votes going to the leading candidates.