The following post appeared on the popular Police Inspector Blog, whining about how poor little coppers were lied to by their employers and about how their pensions are going to be butchered by the Coalition government. The police "cannot strike in protest about serious changes to their pay, pensions & conditions, unlike many public sector workers whose unions are planning forthcoming strikes". So, rather than asking cops to express ANY solidarity with other sections of society (and despite conceding that "debate via democratic means and peaceful protest" are actions "neither of which seem to carry much weight or have much effect on the government’s current stance") the Police Inspector Blog asks people to sign a petition requesting a Parliamentary debate about police officers' pension rights. Seriously, have these people never heard of the word "Solidarity"?

The self-styled "skipper" who wrote this bollocks goes on to pretend that cops "do not claim to be superior to any other person", before describing the early release of an anti-cuts protestor (whose crimes included assaulting absolutely no-one) as being part of the "Great Criminal Justice Swindle". This genius might have noticed that, 2 years after killing Ian Tomlinson, TSG thug Simon Harwood has yet to be jailed at all, let alone released early, while the Inspector Gadget blog is strewn with articles which abuse and insult people for protesting against the very austerity measures this blog now whines about. No shit Sherlock, if you think the cops like Simon Harwood and Delroy Smellie should be allowed to baton, punch and kidnap protestors without fear of prosecution, then you DO think coppers are "superior to any other person".

Your jobs ARE next, and if you want public sympathy, on the Nov 30 pensions protests, behave like decent people, not like thugs. Don't threaten use of plastic bullets to frighten people away from legitimate protests, don't use plain clothes snatch-squads and agent-provocateurs, don't use FIT teams to spy on ordinary members of the public, don't use bait vans, don't put up steel barricades to prevent protest groups from linking-up with each other, don't use kettling, and do leave your punching-gloves, telescopic truncheons, steel-cored batons, tasers, CS gas and GUNS at the station IF you have the courage to approach other members of the public as genuine equals.

 http://inspectorgadget.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/heads-up-a-message-from-the-skipper/

And while the cogs are grinding over that complex calculation, the rest of us are listening to sweet music from the world's tiniest violin...