No Violence But Plenty Of Love, Fun And Sex At Notting Hill Carnival: A Daily Mail Nightmare In Photos
THE prospect of violence at the Notting Hill Carnival is exciting the Daily Mail to such a degree that it’s report on the first day’s festivities open thus:
The Notting Hill Carnival got off to a peaceful start today as Scotland Yard faces its biggest public order test since the London riots.
So says the wonderfully named Mail writer Chris Slack. His words appear below the headline:
Notting Hill carnival gets off to peaceful start despite ‘disruption chatter’ on social networks
The third paragraph informs readers:
Scotland Yard said there had been 33 arrests at the carnival, with 11 drugs-related, five for theft, four for public order offences, two for criminal damage, six for assault, one for offensive weapons, one for robbery, one on a warrant and two for burglary.
Yep, 33 arrests in a crowd of, says, between 250,000-450,000. Is that a lot? Is it a fact that should appear at the top of a report into Europe’s biggest street festival?
Oh, and:
The burglary offences were not committed at the carnival, the Met Police said…
31 arrests.
Commander Steve Rodhouse said he was ‘really confident’ he has the resources at his disposal to police the two-day event. But he said that there were some troublemakers plotting disruption via social networking websites.
Go on:
Commander Rodhouse said the ‘degree of chatter’ was around the same as in previous years – despite 40 pre-emptive arrests last week.
So. No change, then. Apart from police apparently arresting people for thought crimes, the story is that lots of people enjoyed a free day out in London.
Of course, if Mr Slack wants to find another way to make his readers afraid he might note that today’s Carnival was children’s day. Yep – all that bumping and grinding in front of the kids. It’s disgusting. Look!
Posted: 28th, August 2011 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
