The Metropolitan Police has revealed that not only did the residents of W12 have to put up with the disorder that inevitably accompanied the appearance of racist Party Leader Nick Griffin on the Question Time programme, we are now all being asked to foot the £143,000 bill for the BBC's ratings chaser.Thousands of extra officers were drafted, many of our roads were closed, helicopters hovered overhead (presumably eating up gallons of fuel) for hours and then the traffic chaos that ensued. And those are just the costs that we know about, because the police are good enough to tell us.
The BBC, on the other hand, are refusing to reveal how much extra security they too had to put on for the night (at our expense don't forget), with their heavily overpaid Chief Executive Mark Thomson claiming that Freedom of Information laws don't apply, so they won't tell us. A stance which Andy Slaughter, our MP, brands simply "ludicrous".
Lots of people in the Bush and the surrounding areas work for the BBC or their suppliers, they are at the heart of our community in many ways. But surely, surely, even they must realise that they should do the decent thing now and foot the bill themselves out of existing reserves rather than seeking to take it out of our pockets too.
What do you think?
Hrm. In that case, shouldn't Westfield pay for all the extra aggrivation caused by all the extra policing required for Mariah Carey?
ReplyDeleteAt the next trial caused by someone from W12 reporting a crime, shouldn't they therefore have to pay for all the extra work done because of their report?
I see the principle but to the best of my knowledge no extra police were required for Westfield and therefore no additional cost; no roads were closed and no-one was in potential danger of being hurt.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I really understand the logic of your second point.
[...] 14, 2009 by chrisunderwood You will all remember the events which surrounded the BBC’s decision to invite Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, onto the [...]
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