[Sparkle]

Originally Posted by Chris

... all of which has precisely nothing to do with the point you were dodging, which, lest we forget, was the issue of whether you are prepared to accept that the police ever behave in a proportionate manner, or whether they are always either over-reacting (in which case it's Police brutality, Police State, name your left-wing mantra of choice) or else failing to act due to an over-riding need to cover up some other misdemeanour.

Chris, whether you choose to open your eyes to reality or not - police heavy handedness is a fact. This has been shown to be true time and time again. At the last student demo, police provacateurs were seen throwing bottles at police, and later ran to the police lines (after being identified), flashed IDs are were let through the line. The police lie to cover their own tails and even make a mockery of investigations into their activities (such as the recent case of the police marksman who replied in court using as many song titles as he could). Even the case of Mark Kennedy who was spying on environmental campaigners sheds considerable light on this. Environmental campaigners for FS!! The police have lost much of the respect of the public, they often behave like thugs and care not whether their actions are ethical or not. Do they have a conscience or just follow orders no matter how ridiculous they may be? I often wonder.

For reference, this all has to do with your earlier conjecture that the Police's 'failure' to charge Alfie's mum with slander (or 'wasting police time' once it was pointed out to you that the police can't charge someone with slander) was due to some cover up or other, as opposed to Derek's suggestion that not charging someone who was clearly angry and upset and reacting accordingly was the fair and proportionate response.

For your reference, no it hasn't. I was merely criticising the notion of your and others' conjecture being twisted into fact, the conjecture that Alfie Meadows was guilty and should be jailed before there's even been a trial. That is unprofessional and against the founding principles of our legal system, no matter which way you twist it.
You carry on as if you're reserved and logical in your thinking, but by contrast I find your thinking to be about as contained, reserved and logical as that I'd expect from the type of mob I read about here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4040815.stm

---------- Post added at 15:03 ---------- Previous post was at 15:00 ----------

Originally Posted by Hugh

You say pedantic, I say accurate - up to next year, no one in the "current generation" will have paid £9k per year, as you stated; if you are now changing the goalposts, please have the courtesy to state so.

Accurate/pedantic/tiresome focus on trivial aspects.
The funny thing is Hugh, you're still doing it and don't even know it.

pe·danti·cal·ly adv.
Synonyms: pedantic, academic, bookish, donnish, scholastic
These adjectives mean marked by a narrow, often tiresome focus on or display of learning and especially its trivial aspects: a pedantic writing style; an academic insistence on precision; a bookish vocabulary; donnish refinement of speech; scholastic and excessively subtle reasoning.