The Locker Room

Hi folks. Just a quick one to say "Hello". I've been in the Met for 11 years and am currently serving at the Specialist Training Centre as an Instructor after doing the relief thing for 5 years in central London followed by a fantastic couple of years in one of the 'SO' departments. Catch ya later.

Both Tony Blair and John Reid both waffle on about how they have locked away 20,000 more criminals, and that 'we are locking up more than the Conservatives ever did'. I would say this proves Labours 'Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime' definately isn't working. When they can turn round and say we are not locking up so many because our crime prevention measures are working, that will be progress.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6319833.stm 'Great damage' of BAE deal ruling Lord Goldsmith said the decision came from the Serious Fraud Office The government has been accused of "glaring" double standards over a decision to end a fraud probe into an arms deal between Saudi Arabia and BAE. In a Lords debate, Liberal Democrat Baroness Williams said the decision had done "great damage", and weakened the fight against corruption. Ministers say the probe was dropped in the interests of national security. But critics claim ministers ignored anti-bribery commitments, to save a threatened £6bn Eurofighter deal. Baro…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6321375.stm Charity probed over 'Brown links' Mr Brown's office has denied any formal links with the institute An inquiry has been opened into the charitable status of a think-tank following complaints over its reported links with Chancellor Gordon Brown. The Charity Commission said it had new information which raised "concerns" about some of the work of the left-of-centre Smith Institute. The Tories called for an inquiry after claims a subsidiary group had held a seminar on how to beat David Cameron. The think-tank also employed Mr Brown's ally Ed Balls. It denies wro…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6306665.stm Mass US protest against Iraq war Jane Fonda: "I'm so sad that we still have to do this" Tens of thousands of protesters have demonstrated in Washington to demand the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. The rally comes days before Congress is to discuss President George W Bush's new strategy for Iraq - including the despatch of 21,500 additional troops. The protesters, chanting "Bring the troops home", were joined by Vietnam War-era protester, actress Jane Fonda. Violence continued in Iraq on Saturday, with at least 15 killed in a suicide bomb attack in a Baghdad mark…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6319451.stm US warns Iran on Iraq insurgents The US says Iran is providing more lethal bombs to insurgents The US has issued the latest in a series of warnings to Iran, telling Tehran to stop helping Iraqi militants make lethal bombs to attack US troops. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said US forces had detained several Iranians suspected of providing weapons technology to Shia insurgents. He said Iranian help for insurgents had spread from Basra north to Baghdad, leading to higher UK and US casualties. Tehran has repeatedly denied that it is fuelling the violence in Ir…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6322267.stm Senate grills US Iraq commander General Casey faced a hostile committee hearing President Bush's choice for the new army chief of staff has denied that current US policy on Iraq has failed. General George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq for the last two years, faced tough questioning at his Senate confirmation hearing. But he disputed Republican Senator John McCain's suggestion he had painted an overly "rosy" picture of events. "I do not agree that we have a failed policy," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee. President …

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/6320879.stm 'Save good subway graffiti' plea Graffiti artists face £80 on-the-spot fines if caught A councillor has asked for graffiti on the walls of an underpass not to be removed as he says it brightens it up. Spray painted murals are appearing in the subway under the Carmarthen east bypass used by people walking to town. Alun West said the drawings were not offensive but colourful and had taken a lot of time to complete. He said people had commented on how good they looked. Carmarthenshire Council said the graffiti was illegal but would not be removed if there were no …

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6320000/newsid_6321500/6321517.stm?bw=bb&mp=rm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6320719.stm An uncomfortable place for a Muslim? Muslims make up a tiny proportion of Britain's armed forces - less than 0.2% of the total. But they are vital to an organisation that wants to show military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are not wars against Islam. Jabron Hashmi - the first British Muslim soldier killed in Afghanistan Wednesday's news of an alleged plot to murder a Muslim member of the British armed forces will do little to encourage other Muslims to join up. When L/Cpl Jabron Hashmi became the first British Muslim soldier to die in Afghanistan last July, his death …

I'm in the process of booking next year's holiday and I'll be taking my good lady, Livia Drusilla, and our youngest daughter, Decima, to Japan for a fortnight. It's not really a beach holiday - more sightseeing and cultural stuff. We have never been to the Far East before and so we are a bit in the dark about how to carry on. I'm a member of IPA, and the Tokyo Section are helping me make the arrangements and no doubt our Japanese colleagues will be helpful when we arrive. Anyhow, before we make final arrangements, I need to draw up some kind of itinerary and so I would be interested to know if anyone on here has been to the Land of the Rising Sun, and can tell m…

Hello I am new to this site. I work within the prison service as a medical administrator. I have worked at many prisons including highdown downview and maidstone HMP. I like to join many types of forums for chat and general discussions. So enough about me - hi all

Am a plod on the beat and found this site via DCs Coppers Blog. I started reading the other linked blogs and even bought DCs book which is fantastic. This is a great forum and another way to get stuff off of your chest or pass on your expertise. Well done Oracle. I have just started my own Blog - http://bigfellainblue.blogspot.com/

This amused me even more that the Jade Goody saga. SHIPWRECKED - Channel 4 "Public schoolgirl Lucy Buchanan from Edinburgh said: "Britain is a complete mess. I just don't appreciate people coming into our country and taking over our culture. "We've got way too many cultures. Britain's not really Britain any more. "I'm for the British Empire and things. I'm for slavery, but that's never going to come back." Media watchdog Ofcom said it had received 196 complaints about racism on the show and expected that number to rise. Online message boards were deluged with outraged posts. One viewer wrote on the Digital Spy website: "Channel 4, giving a voice to the B…

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://atangledweb.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/kelly.jpg&imgrefurl=http://atangledweb.typepad.com/weblog/2006/04/index.html&h=192&w=372&sz=22&hl=en&start=46&tbnid=dMbfWLTPAQgdWM:&tbnh=63&tbnw=122&prev=/images%3Fq%3Druth%2Bkelly%26start%3D36%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN Kelly raises her profiling targets for five-year-olds By Sarah Womack, Social Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 2:46am BST 27/04/2006 New targets to assess five-year-old children in England were announced yesterday by Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary. She said that 30,000 mor…