40 years in the Military & Police. Proud of my service as a detective. I fight for what I think is right not following the crowd.
Uk, USA, Ireland & Italy.
Joined January 2011
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Joe Whelan retweeted
An early piece I wrote on policing and dealing with death. I'm reporting it after reading @IsabelHardman's Spectator article on the subject.
dominicadler.substack.com/p/…
Joe Whelan retweeted
An oldie but a goodie. In 1968 a bunch of entitled hippy bastards sent a letter detailing their specious demands to the Warden and Fellows of Wadham College, Oxford. This was their letter of reply, which speaks to how far the academy has since fallen.
Joe Whelan retweeted
Stephen Kinnock’s claim that there were no boat people because we were in the European Union is a straightforward lie. Illegal immigrants flooded in by lorry, train and cars. They disappeared into towns/cities and couldn’t be properly counted. When advances in technology made these methods of transport much harder to use the illegal migrants took to boats, courtesy of the people smugglers. Since the boats are usually interdicted on arrival the counting is easier. Nothing to do with being in or out of the EU.
Joe Whelan retweeted
Another excellent comms update with a detailed explanation about 'mask wearing'.
S.60AA gives officers powers to require removal, in certain circumstances- it does not make mask wearing an offence
Met announces conditions for Palestine Coalition protest mynewsdesk.com/uk/metpoliceu…
Joe Whelan retweeted
The Lost Explorer - Sir Ranulph Fiennes and the Mental Capacity Act 2005
I have written about the use and abuse of lasting powers of attorney, deprivation of liberty safeguards, and the powers of the Court of Protection - link in reply
Joe Whelan retweeted
The idea that Hislop/Private Eye are the Ministry of Truth is beyond parody. He’s delusional.
Older people are now reading "a lot of chatbot rubbish" and that's "dangerous."
After four decades at Private Eye, Ian Hislop tells #Newsnight it's not just young people falling for disinformation and why it "is always worth correcting."
Joe Whelan retweeted
I don’t think you’re very familiar with the details of the case.
For example, the notion of a cover up makes no sense.
The only people that were pushing for the deaths to be investigated were the consultants who were under no pressure.
If they hadn’t have said anything and pushed as hard as they did nothing would have happened. The execs were desperate to just put a stop to the questions from the consultants and failed to do because they instigated reviews that weren’t fit for purpose.
I’d love for you to outline who you think was doing the covering up and why?
Similarly there’s no evidence that it was down to poor sewage or infections. The hospital plumber was called as Letby’s sole witness and none of the plumbing issues recorded could be associated with any of the babies.
Joe Whelan retweeted
Remember - this is really important. Any Labour MP or party official advocating rejoining the EU, is *also* advocating:
💷 A £35 billion annual membership bill
💶 A commitment to use the Euro
🛂 A commitment to join Schengen zone
⛺ To be allocated even more refugees
Joe Whelan retweeted
Diana died on 31 August 1997.
The decision to bury her on the island at Althorp was only announced on 5 September, the day before her funeral. Until then, the plan was for her to be buried in the Spencer family vault at the church in Great Brington.
The island grave had been consecrated and prepared by 6 September, when Diana was buried there after the Westminster Abbey funeral.
Within 10 months, chucky Spencer has altered the visitors parameters to including viewing Diana’s gravesite.
Prior to Diana’s death, Althorp received approximately 2,500 seasonal visitors.
After Diana’s death, seasonal visitors increased to 150,000.
Cost of admission pre Diana: £5.00
Cost after Diana’s death: £9.50
Total: £12,500 (pre)
Total 10 months later: £1,425,000
‘I will not make money from my sister’s death’
He is unscrupulous but fucking savvy at making money!
Joe Whelan retweeted
Ed’s always had the reputation of being one of the decent ones. The rare guy in the music industry who actually lifts people up, nurtures them and genuinely sees music as a way to inspire and bring people together. His entire vibe is wholesome and earnest, the kind of guy who believes in the power of love and all that (it’s way too kumbaya and saccharine for my tastes).
Which is what makes this whole affair so grim.
Because he should be the last person to receive so much hate and vitriol.
When he says he’s lost friends over this, the thing that jumps out to me is the really bad behavior of his “friends” in the music industry.
You know, the ones he actually invited out on his massive tour. Macklemore and the other opening acts get bigger crowds, bigger paydays and a platform most of them wouldn’t have had on their own.
First, Macklemore used Ed’s stage to make the night all about his own cause. Bro you’re the opening act, nobody is paying for those tickets to see you.
Second, after Robert Kraft and the other stadium owners made it clear the shows weren’t happening with Macklemore on the bill, what did he do? He threw his “friend” under the bus.
The decent move would’ve been for Macklemore to say to the public, “this wasn’t Ed’s fault. Don’t turn him into the villain.”
Instead he’s watched Ed take every arrow on social media and get churned through a full-blown media storm. He lets the climate in which activists hysterically accuse Ed of being complicit in genocide and post absurd cartoons of him personally shooting a Palestinian kid with an RPG fester and bloom.
There were lots of things Macklemore could’ve said to take some of the heat off the man who actually put him on that stage. But he didn’t.
Neither did the other openers who walked. Instead they framed it as principle and solidarity. From the outside it just looks like they took the opportunity, cashed the goodwill, and then left Ed trying to figure out how to keep the tour alive for hundreds of thousands of ticket-holders and the crew who actually depend on the tour to get paid. Ed is the one who took all the risk after all.
This dynamic reminds me of those child actors who built careers off @jk_rowling’s work and then publicly disowned her the second her views became inconvenient. These are not good people and they don’t know gratitude.
Ed’s finding out, the hard way, just how many shitty people were around him.
It’s a terrible experience to go through but in the long run, he would be all the wiser for it
Joe Whelan retweeted
🚨Breaking: Irish superstar Bambie Thug has donated 10% of her total net worth to Palestine, following the Macklemore and Ed Sheeran controversy.
A spokesman for the Palestinian Authority said: “The f*ck we supposed to do with $10?!”
Joe Whelan retweeted
Meghan Markle has spoken repeatedly about reaching a point where she didn’t want to be alive anymore. She said she told Harry. She said she asked the institution for help. Harry later said he felt helpless and ashamed that things had got that bad.
But Harry was not a helpless teenager. He was her husband, a grown man in his 30s, and someone who had already experienced therapy himself.
In fact, Harry says William had previously told him to go to therapy. Harry tried it, said he hadn’t found the right person, and later Meghan encouraged him to try again.
So why is the story always framed around what the Palace supposedly failed to do for Meghan?
Where was the emphasis on her husband helping her get the support she needed?
And this is the same Harry who has repeatedly spoken about therapy and his own mental-health struggles. He knew what seeking help looked like.
The same question applies to the royal protocol complaints.
Meghan was entering a family Harry had spent his entire life in. If she didn’t understand the protocols, why wasn’t her husband guiding her? If she didn’t understand the culture, why wasn’t he preparing her?
Why does Harry somehow disappear from the story whenever responsibility enters the room?
The Palace failed. The family failed. The institution failed. The press failed.
Everything somehow becomes somebody else’s fault.
At what point does Harry’s responsibility as her husband enter the story?
And at what point does Meghan’s responsibility for learning, adapting and navigating the world she chose to enter enter it?
Because if their own accounts are the evidence, Harry wasn’t a bystander.
He was right there.
These two are so busy blaming the Palace that they seem to forget they were two grown-ass adults capable of making their own decisions. And they have made plenty of decisions when it suited them.
Except apparently when it came to learning, adapting and serving.
Blaming everyone else, however, they have excelled at.
And that is precisely why I don’t understand how every uncomfortable part of this story somehow ends with everyone being responsible except the two people at the centre of it.
Joe Whelan retweeted
Goose Green was a remarkable British victory in the Falklands War, & one of the great military victories of the 20th century.
Around 600 British paratroopers faced more than 1000 Argentine troops in prepared defensive positions.
Despite those numbers, they won decisively.
🇫🇰🇬🇧
Joe Whelan retweeted
My favourite Parliamentarian question - The "President of Europe" Speech (sometime during the Brown years)
Joe Whelan retweeted
For those that know
We all know that feeling of being sat in a police car with your colleague at 3am, trying not to count down the hours until the end of the shift. The radio going in the background ( depending on your driver) usually the driver's choice of what is playing, jobs coming over the net, I-grades dropping, a high grade misper, a welfare check, and you're either on your way to the next job or just clearing the last one.
And in between all of that, you're just talking rubbish with your colleague.
Football, rugby, music, movies, whats for the quick early morning snack, what you're doing on your rest days, taking the mick out of the music choice, or talking through the job you're heading to and making a plan before you get.
PC blades and Pc Clough could have been doing exactly that.
Maybe having a laugh and a joke. Maybe talking about their upcoming rest days. Maybe just having one of those completely normal conversations that happen countless times during a night shift.
Then, in a split second, everything changes.
For those still serving,
Stay safe out there.
💙🖤
Rest easy. Your service and sacrifice will never be forgotten.
#police #response #afo #standdown
Joe Whelan retweeted
At just 18 years old, #Private @JohnathonYoung volunteered to walk at the very front of patrols in #Sangin — searching for the #bombs that could kill the men behind him.
He had not even been in #Afghanistan 🇦🇫 three weeks.
Johnathon had joined the #Army at 17 and served with #3rdBattalion, The #YorkshireRegiment 🏵. In July 2009, when volunteers were needed at short notice to reinforce #British 🇬🇧 troops in Afghanistan, he stepped forward.
On 2nd August, he deployed to #Helmand and was attached to #2ndBattalion #TheRifles in Sangin.
Then came another choice.
Johnathon volunteered to become #LeadScout — one of the most dangerous jobs on patrol.
He would move ahead of the others, helping to find and confirm #IED's "improvised explosive devices" and clear a route through tracks, compounds, and alleyways.
He took that responsibility seriously. Fellow #soldiers remembered him spending his own evenings practising the skills and drills he would need at the front of the #FootPatrol. #PrivateYoung was the #Epitome of an #English warrior.
On 20th August 2009, Afghan election day, Johnathon was helping clear a route near Forward Operating Base #FOB #Wishtan.
He was using a metal detector on the ground known to contain IEDs when he stepped on a concealed device.
He was #killed #instantly.
He was 18 years old. JUST A KID.
Around half an hour later, #Serjeant #PaulMcAleese of #2RIFLES was also killed by an #IED while attempting to recover Johnathon’s body.
Two soldiers lost on the same dangerous stretch of ground.
Johnathon had been a trained soldier for less than a year and had been in Afghanistan for only 18 days. Yet in that short time, he had already placed himself where the danger was greatest.
Not for recognition.
Not for reward.
He simply volunteered to do the job.
His comrades remembered “Youngy” for his humour, #loyalty, and the way he lifted those around him. But his service is remembered for something even more lasting: when others needed someone at the front, Johnathon stepped forward.
Private Johnathon Andrew Young was only 18 when his life ended in Sangin.
But the courage shown in those final weeks has outlived them.
#John 15:13
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” 👑
#KingJamesVersion #KJV
"REST EASY SOLDIER - YOUR DUTY IS DONE"
Lest We Forget. 🏴🌺🇬🇧🏵👑🦅
#JohnathonYoung #YorkshireRegiment #Afghanistan #LestWeForget #3Yorks #BritishArmy #Warrior #Hero #SupremeSacrifice
Joe Whelan retweeted
'The populist Right increasingly views all police actions through a hostile lens.'
@DomAdlerUK defends the police's decision to review Henry Nowak's messages 👇
unherd.com/newsroom/new-henr…
