Events | 2009.04.16
Duncan Campbell's diary
You need plenty of police medics at a mass demo. But they really should stick to the day job
One of the intriguing aspects of the G20 demonstrations was the presence of so many police medics, notable by the badges stating their qualification. One was spotted by a protester in Queen Victoria Street making liberal use of his truncheon on demonstrators. "Are you trying to make work for yourself?" inquired the protester. The response consisted of two words, the second of which was "off". Still, every medical team needs a good anaesthetist.
• Pressure is now mounting for a new sport to be included in the London Olympics in 2012. Shoe-throwing - which proved so popular last year when it was inaugurated by Iraqi journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi, as a going-away present for George Bush - has really taken off globally. In India, the latest potential contestant is another journalist, Jarnail Singh, who lobbed a size-eight Reebok at home minister P Chidambaram during a press conference in New Delhi. It was an underhand lob and missed Chidambaram, who has now very decently said that he does not want any action taken over the incident, in stark contrast to the lengthy jail sentence handed out to al-Zaidi. Olympic officials will obviously have to work out the rules: should it be distance or accuracy that determines the winner? Should there be different events for different sizes of shoes? Should the shoes be spiked, like those in the running events? Should there be an overhand and an underhand event? Should entry be limited to journalists who have, after all, pioneered the sport? One for Lord Coe\'s in-tray.
• The Diary has long been a supporter of the Slow Food movement. We would also like to throw our weight behind the Slow News movement. Readers with evidence of what might be called a Slow News day are asked to supply recent headlines from either the local or national press that fit the category. A prize will be awarded to the best in a couple of weeks. (The cheque may be a bit slow in reaching you but, trust us, it will be "in the post".) The first entry comes from the Ellesmere Port Pioneer: "Drunk Ellesmere Port man nearly run over in the middle of Overpool Road."
• In the old days, when former great train robber Ronnie Biggs felt that it was time to leave jail, he just got a rope ladder thrown over the wall at Wandsworth nick and climbed to freedom. Alas for Biggs, now 79, it\'s not so easy these days and he has to wait in his cell for a parole hearing before he can rejoin the outside world. Mike Gray, co-author of the new Ronnie Biggs book, The Inside Story, claims that Biggs - who has suffered a series of strokes - will finally be released in July. Mike, also the organiser of the Free Ronnie Biggs Campaign - don\'t send rope ladders, this time it\'s being done legally - has been promoting his opus in the bookstores of the land. Imagine his surprise when, at a book signing in Poole in Dorset, he was bearded by an ex-CID chap, Charlie "Chas" Case, who arrested two of the other robbers, Roger Cordrey and William Boal, in Dorset not long after the robbery. The Bournemouth Echo reports that Mr Case, whose attitude to Biggs has not softened over the years, said: "If it wasn\'t for the fact they used violence, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall while the robbery happened. It must have taken military precision."
• If you are holding a copy of the Guardian in your hands, be grateful. It was not so very long ago that the paper, along with all its rivals, did not publish on Good Friday. As a result, there used to be an ancient printer\'s holiday on Maundy Thursday, called the Wayzgoose, the exact origin of which is disputed. The writer, Keith Waterhouse, has been reminiscing this week about the event, which was celebrated in the newspaper industry by day trips to places like Calais and Brighton, and industrial quantities of drinking by ancient printers and journalists alike. There are still people on the Guardian staff who talk wistfully of that day in Boulogne when ...
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/10/police-medics-g20-protests
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