Wednesday 23 December 2009

Quote of the Day


"As long as I have any choice, I will stay only in a country where political liberty, toleration, and equality of all citizens before the law are the rule."

Albert Einstein

Don't you know who I am?

Picture this. He has tattoos. “HATE” and “ACAB” on his knuckles and a spiders web on his neck.

He is shaved bald and struts imperiously. He is walking his dog Bruno. It is some unspecified sort of bull terrier. The dog defecates on the floor near a “no fouling sign” and he walks on by, just leaving it.

A young mother takes him to task over it and he blankly refuses to do anything about it telling her “It aint Brunoe's fault, he's only a puppy and no way am I going to pick up shit, you think I'm do'in that you are stupid” Suppose she stood up to him anyway and there was a fierce argument over it...

What would you think of our dog walking example? You would think he was scum wouldn't you?

You might think he relied on his physical power to avoid admitting responsibility and doing something he considered beneath him.

Now suppose the dog walker was female, maybe a UK government minister... say the Solicitor General to pick a post at random. The post is currently held by ID card and dog loving Vera Baird MP for Redcar.

If it was her would you change your opinion?

The confrontation over the dog mess was sufficiently fierce, or the dog fouling sufficiently annoying, for members of the public to call the police.

In this instance, despite the police becoming involved... well a community support officer anyway. No action was taken. No fine for allowing a dog to foul, no nothing.

When the hapless Support officer attended the scene when they didn't show sufficient biased deference she reportedly demanded of him “Don't you know who I am?” Maybe they had thought it shouldn't matter who she was. That the law should apply equally to all...

No action was taken but, it is reported, the dog owner got an official apology.

I wonder who go to clean up the mess?

You might be forgiven for thinking that, practically speaking, there is one law for the political elite and one for the rest of us.

I suspect you could be sure if it had been an ordinary member of the public they would have been instant fodder for Police figures, probably getting a fixed penalty fine, possibly being arrested and having their DNA taken if they had no ID.