[Tim Skellett]

Originally Posted by Shelley_c

.... People that read into the newspapers too much would not have experienced knife crime, the type that sit on the fence and want all the facts published when infact the facts are manipulated by government to suit their agenda to gain an extra term in a job which brings great benefits to them. ....

Just FYI:

I read the newspapers every day. I do cheat by reading them online, but I also try to actually buy newspapers when I can, solely because they need the cash (these are desperate times for good quality newspapers), and good investigative journalism relies on good newspapers, and democracy relies on good investigative journalism. Good newspapers bring us the facts and analysis; we need to be informed.

I also have a lovely big round scar on the left side of my neck, where a London native white Brit stabbed me deeply in the neck, not with a knife but with the broken-off stem of a champagne glass, and there is a lovely 4"-long scar in a line connected to that round scar, where he dragged the glass shard trying to cut my neck wide open.

I actually, believe it or not, chased him away (quite a distance, too). Quite amazing. OTOH, when I was taken to hospital, the docs could not quite believe that the idiot had (only just) managed to idiotically miss every single large artery. I bled all over everywhere; I lost an amazing amount of blood, but I survived quite well, though I looked like Frankenstein's monster for a long while with one whole side of my neck with huge bright blue nylon stitches in it in a long line (and a whole lot more invisible small stitches actually inside the huge wound). I did lose a lot of feeling in the skin of my left neck and left shoulder, because the attacker had severed several nerves, but after 5 years I regained all feeling as the peripheral nerves slowly grew back.

I also have, from two other seperate incidents, knife scars on my left arm from warding off knives. That doesn't cover everything or every scar, but hey. I really don't think you can deny my street cred.

I also have some friends who are Brit cops, and their lives are of course filled with danger. Strangely enough, at least one of them actually likes to read newspapers (and not the horrible shock-jock tabloids, either) every day when he can too. And oh BTW, he's very good at quoting documents. And getting out on the street and putting himself in danger, to serve us and to protect the public.

You know why? Because people like us care about the society and the world we live in, and we like to keep ourselves informed.

It's that bad because government have their agendas, too many judges do not pass down the appropriate punishment and too many cowards sit on the side lines and quote documents all day because they are pure cowards.

Yeah, whatever.

I've been collecting blog links to build up a good library of British blogs from lots of police people, paramedics, one magistrate so far, one criminal defence solicitor, two prosecutors, two social workers, etc.

All those bloggers care about their society. They also do things about their society in their professional jobs. They also "quote documents" all day every day, because they have to in their jobs, and for the sake of justice, and an awful lot of us believe in real justice, not just mouthing off. And they even write documents, and they blog. And then they get out and actually physically handle nasty offenders, and they put their lives on the line (and that goes for social workers too).

Strangely enough, quite a few politicians whether left or right also care about society, and they are politicians because they want to do something for society.

So maybe one ought to be one hell of a lot more careful about whom one calls cowards here.