Paddick will not face tribunal
I find it unpleasant, to say the least, that the tabloid press can run scurrilous stories about someone, with the intention of destroying their career, despite the fact that Brian Paddick, as borough commander, was, and remains, astonishingly popular.
Two - not one, but two - public meetings were called in support of him. In an area which has a long history of conflict between the police and the populace. A website has been set up in support. If, as it seems to be the case, his erstwhile partner smoked cannabis, it seems facile to assume that Paddick "allowed him to". I would not be surprised to hear of other senior police officers allowing their partners to do much worse - drink drive, perhaps, or evade tax.
The stories of sex in the toilets of the Gatwick Express are not exactly to my taste, but I would be extremely surprised if there is not one straight senior police officer who has not indulged in tacky sex in a public place or whatever.
I find it serious amiss that a scum *newspaper* can run a story to sell and make money that undermines a serious attempt to tackle crime in an area with a high crime rate. It is verging on corruption: the tabloids are accountable to no-one.
No doubt they would justify it in terms of "investigative reporting", which convinces me not. Perhaps it's about time they realised that their role is to report on the clothes worn by nonentity wannabes and leave the serious stuff to people who are committed to making a difference.
I have no doubt in my mind that there are forces at work who are determined to ensure that an out gay person could never reach the very senior level Brian was tipped to reach. Remember the senior police officer in Merseyside, Alison (whose name escapes me and I don't have time to google) who is now a member of the Welsh Assembly, who was victim of a dirty tricks campaign because she was not only *shock horror* a woman, but, *gasp* a lesbian.
Freemasonry stinks.
