I changed career mid 60s. I was working in the City, in insurance, and also studying in the evenings, but the pay was very poor. I got married young and became a dad. We were living with my wife's family. My brother, also a Palace fan, helped me get a job with his employer as a salesman. This was better money, and provided a car, but was in the West Midlands. I didn't know that my manager at that time had been told that if I proved useless he could sack me after 2 months, so I was taking quite a big, but unseen, risk. By the time 2 months had passed, I had bought a new build house. Not for 3-4 k but for 2.2k. I remember it well! He later told me his compassion meant he wouldn't have sacked me, but fortunately he didn't want to either. In 18 months I was promoted to his No 2 and had to move again. The rest, as they say, is history.

former Police have themselves stated that they asked to investigate this and were told not to....that's on video and I'm not aware of any denial.

Edited by Stirlingsays (24 Nov 2021 4.58pm)

are politicians afraid of incurring the wrath of bloc-voters in their constituency ? bloc-voters from certain religious persuasions ?

well its not the Seventh Day Adventists, nor the Mormons.

Edited by PalazioVecchio (24 Nov 2021 5.21pm)

I don't see the concern of block voting as a religious or racial issue.

Any politician is scared of incurring the wrath of the locals en bloc. Be it a Tory who supported the banning of blood sports to a labour MP who did not support letter cal unionised industry.

Look at the concerns of Red Wall Tories when the investment in HS2 was withdrawn...

I think Wisbech just designs posts to make me angry.

Feck...that bulls***.

Every policy, in any branch of Government, is impacted by budgetary considerations. Decisions about police budgets are not taken at a local level. They are taken centrally. When politics produces reactions to events, such as a newspaper article, then policies can be changed and budgets re-directed.

It is a well established fact that austerity reduced police budgets and some programmes suffered, or had to be rethought to try to handle them at a lower cost.

Maybe some senior officers did argue to be allowed to allocate more resources to this issue, but they weren't allowed to, because the funding wasn't there. Once the story gained traction, then money was diverted from elsewhere to save face, even if there was a belief that the quiet approach was the best, and cheapest, way forward. I wasn't party to those decisions any more than anyone else here was.

Whatever was the reason, it is certain that more resources diverted to one issue means less being spent on another.

No situation ever exists, in business or life, in which boundless resources exist to meet unlimited needs. Priorities need to be determined, budgets set and funds used wisely and effectively.

One person's priorities won't be another's. Someone will always disagree and claim that the decisions made are wrong. However, we don't make the decisions. We vote in people to do it for us. Don't like the decisions. Change who you vote in to take them.