Met Police Commissioner resigns over hacking scandal

[Fareast]

I think what BoyFriday misses, as do a lot of people who compare the past to the present, is that people tend NOT to compare their current living conditions with a possible future......but with a solid past.

I don 't think people thought in the 3 decades after 1945, " Oh dear, I haven 't got a colour t.v and we 've only got a bicycle and people in the future will look down on us........."

They compared their living standards with those of their parents, grandparents.....etc....They could see that materially everything was generally improving year after year.

Perhaps more importantly, personal freedom was expanding, there was virtually no unemployment, our economic situation vis-a-vis the rest of the world was pretty good. Crime was increasing gradually but the streets were safer----there were very few knife crimes and practically no gun crimes. People respected the police and politicians more and had more interest in politics-----a much higher proportion of people voted. Family life was more stable and children therefore tended to be brought up in a more stable environment.

As Rubydazzler implies there was a more wholesome feeling in the air. Obviously, only an idiot would claim that everything was ' rosy ' or perfect and we had our share of problems and scandals but I 'm sure if someone could dig up some ' well-being ' surveys from pre-1975 and compare them with today, they would see that people WERE happier, pre-1975, tin baths or not !

[ Incidentally, I did say in my O.P that I couldn 't remember all these scandals coming so close together.]

[boyfriday]

I think what BoyFriday misses, as do a lot of people who compare the past to the present, is that people tend NOT to compare their current living conditions with a possible future......but with a solid past.

I don 't think people thought in the 3 decades after 1945, " Oh dear, I haven 't got a colour t.v and we 've only got a bicycle and people in the future will look down on us........."

They compared their living standards with those of their parents, grandparents.....etc....They could see that materially everything was generally improving year after year.

Perhaps more importantly, personal freedom was expanding, there was virtually no unemployment, our economic situation vis-a-vis the rest of the world was pretty good. Crime was increasing gradually but the streets were safer----there were very few knife crimes and practically no gun crimes. People respected the police and politicians more and had more interest in politics-----a much higher proportion of people voted. Family life was more stable and children therefore tended to be brought up in a more stable environment.

As Rubydazzler implies there was a more wholesome feeling in the air. Obviously, only an idiot would claim that everything was ' rosy ' or perfect and we had our share of problems and scandals but I 'm sure if someone could dig up some ' well-being ' surveys from pre-1975 and compare them with today, they would see that people WERE happier, pre-1975, tin baths or not !

[ Incidentally, I did say in my O.P that I couldn 't remember all these scandals coming so close together.]

 

I wasnt missing anything fareast because quite simply I wasnt claiming we're better off now than we were in days past-things are different, some better, some worse.

 

If you look at my reply to yr post I was referring to the freedom of information which gives the impression that things are worse than they used to be in terms of scandals and the behaviour of people in public office.

 

The later reference to tin baths and outdoor loos was a playful response to another poster, I wasnt necessarily disagreeing with you as I have my own positive reflections of life 40+ years ago, although I do prefer the one I have now but things are far more widely reported now than they were then, that really was my main point.

[rubydazzler]

People have been saying exactly the same thing for over 3000 years. Yet here we are. Life expectancy, education, health and nutrition all measurably better than 100 years ago.

 

It's a tendency of age, not of the world.

So shortly we can expect to hear you harping on the same tune?

 

I come into contact with diverse people, not just the same group constantly as do many of you. And when you hear people in their late 20s/early 30s bemoaning the state of the nation and that it was never like this in their day ... and even sixth formers commenting adversely on the behaviour of the new intake at their school, you do start to realise that things have changed a lot recently.

 

Although frequenting these pages and getting the regurgitations from the media that people insist on linking to does give you a bit of an uneccessary downer most days. I still have faith that most people out there in the real world are pretty good eggs on the whole.

[rubydazzler]

Things will never get any better as long as the PC obsessed university types keep dominating all areas of society.

Yeah, because the place would be so much better with thicko, uneducated racist types running it.

Now, now, play nicely, you two!

 

Surely there's some middle ground, somewhere between you and HH, wherein the normal people dwell? We could run it, and compromise would be the order of the day

[poppins]

What makes me angry is why didn't all these people in high positions use their phone spying, hacking expertise on tracking terrorist ect, instead of spying on innocent people who were out to do no harm to others.

[mj.scuba]

I reckon this afternoon or evening.

 

On the money!

 

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Met-Police-Chief-John-Yates-Resigns-Over-Phone-Hacking-Scandal/Article/201107316032564?lpos=UK_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_16032564_Met_Police_Chief_John_Yates_Resigns_Over_Phone-Hacking_Scandal

[Fishcake]

I once asked a policeman if he thought I should buy sherbert from a big jar or a pack of dib dabs. He said dib dabs are the way forward but it just makes me wonder

[altus]

And the prize for least convincing actor goes to

. I wonder if he's going to be next.

[Magilla]

What makes me angry is why didn't all these people in high positions use their phone spying, hacking expertise on tracking terrorist ect

 

What makes you think they don't?

 

, instead of spying on innocent people who were out to do no harm to others.

 

I can see you've thought this through. How does someone know who is a terrorist in the first place in order to begin tracking without listening to potentially innocent people?