Latest news with #CalumSteele
The Herald Scotland
22-04-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Look around you: you'll see we are in the age of the imbecile
Returning briefly to the challenges and imperfections he earlier alluded to, the 44th President of the United States paid particular attention to the hypocrisies that exist at a political level without ever identifying any of them specifically. But in doing so he demonstrated a hyper self-awareness of how some decisions were capable of being viewed whilst simultaneously showing us that despite this, conscious decisions were being made which defied any logical explanation, or objective scrutiny. Read more by Calum Steele I have thought about those words often over the years and especially when looking at political decision-making closer to home. Cracking down on benefit claimants while writing off billions in Covid fraud – hypocrites. Tacking child poverty but introducing a two-child cap on the old Family Allowance – hypocrites. Promising to cut energy bills while the costs continue to spiral – hypocrites, decrying the slaughter of innocents in one war whilst remaining silent on another, and well, you get the picture. It was inevitable I suppose that the relentless drive for human advancement would stall eventually, that as a species we had achieved all that was going to be possible and the pendulum would start to swing back the other way. It is eminently arguable that 2017 when Obama addressed his audience in Edinburgh was the very pinnacle of human achievement. If you look at the events in the years since you'd be hard pushed not to conclude that whilst we are still firmly in the age of the hypocrite we are simultaneously embracing a new and more dangerous phase in the modern era of man – that of the imbecile. Imbeciles are not new. They have lived amongst us since the beginning of time and have been largely simple creatures who mean us no harm and cause us little angst. They have occasionally popped up in positions of historic significance as Caligula and his horse show, but by and large they have been inconsequential beings, more to be pitied than admired. And yet, despite the historic wisdom of humouring rather than entertaining such folk, our nation is suddenly awash with imbeciles in positions of power and influence whose decisions now have a disproportionate influence on our daily lives. I could just point at Boris Johnson and Liz Truss and claim QED but that would let those who put them there off the hook. From driving a Brexit campaign that hammered our national interests, through to crashing the economy, we are all paying the price for their disastrous stints behind the door of No10, and will be for decades to come. But for as much as the case against Johnson, Truss, and their enablers is a slam dunk, we have no shortage of qualifying candidates on our own shores too. I mean who could ever imagine that in a nation substantially surrounded by sea anyone would seriously have contemplated banning fishing in our waters? Or that a country as cold and wet as ours would ever entertain the outlawing of actual fire to keep us warm? There's so much more of course and that's without talking of cutting the bottom off school doors, attempts to silence criticism and ridicule by criminalising words, or the dogged refusal to sex rapist Adam Graham as a man lest it bring down a house of cards. Liz Truss and Boris Johnson (Image: PA) And inevitably it is the collapse of that house of cards that now exposes the endemic layers of imbecility that courses through almost all of our public institutions, and just as alarmingly amongst many opinion formers and shapers, and even some of those who claim to be legally qualified. Imbeciles in parliament are far from new but I must confess to having missed the memo that mandated increasing their quotient or giving them air time for anything other than scorn and ridicule. The sudden pretence we needed the Supreme Court to tell our police, hospitals, schools, councils, charities what we all instinctively know to be true really is pitiful. It takes imbecilic levels of mental gymnastics to convince yourself that allowing male-bodied individuals into rape crisis centres wouldn't be problematic, or that populating gynae wards with folk seeking prostate exams was a splendid idea. So too the hypothesis that sex at birth is determined by a coin toss rather than looking at what's between your legs, the expectation that victims of sex attacks refer to their male assailants as she when in the dock, or contemplating for a nano-second that recording the sex of rapists as anything other than male was going to pass unnoticed. And all of that is before you get to toilets and changing rooms! The famous Russian journalist Fyodor Dostoevsky may be nearly 150 years dead but he could easily have been describing modern Scotland when he wrote tolerance will reach such a level that intelligent people will be banned from thinking so as not to offend imbeciles. Almost without exception every public institution and their not-insignificant oversight bodies failed. They didn't fail by accident – they took leave of their senses and conspired to do so. Every chief, chief executive, and leadership team failed. Every CEO, chair, and board member failed and they all did so at the most basic level possible. Let's stop for a minute and remember our public services are under the most phenomenal of pressures and face constant calls to reform. What possible confidence can any of us have that any of them are up to the complex jobs in front of them when they got something as simple as this so spectacularly wrong? Calum Steele is a former General Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, and former general secretary of the International Council of Police Representative Associations. He remains an advisor to both
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Police may have been pandemic ‘super-spreaders' according to union
Police officers may have acted as 'super-spreaders' in the pandemic as expert advice was 'ignored' by the Scottish Government and the ex-chief constable of Police Scotland, an inquiry heard. Calum Steele, ex-general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), former chairman David Hamilton, and vice chairman Brian Jones, gave evidence at the Scottish Covid-19 Inquiry on Monday and condemned decisions from the Scottish Government and ex-Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone. A Scottish Government decision not to prioritise frontline police during the vaccine rollout was branded 'perverse' and a 'betrayal', with one officer attending 75 callouts to different households in a single weekend, the inquiry heard. Allegations that Sir Iain rejected calls for frontline officers to be given spare vaccines, refused to issue reusable rubber masks used by officers in Northern Ireland due to appearance, and refused an alternative to roadside breath-testing despite concerns about Covid-19 transmission were aired at the inquiry. Giving evidence, union leaders said ex-Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf branded the SPF a 'disgrace', recalled they were a 'pain in the backside', and the conflict 'became personal', while evidence from a panel of experts commissioned by the SPF was met with 'suspicion' and 'ignored' by the government. Mr Steele told the inquiry Police Scotland 'substantially absolved itself of health and safety responsibility' regarding adequacy of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), despite an agreement before lockdown that FFP3 masks would be issued. He said the force 'refused' to log the rate of usage, and the risks were 'exacerbated' by using the same mask throughout a shift – while another trade unionist said a 'cost-effective' alternative was rejected due to appearance. Mr Steele said: 'The issue of FFP3 masks is probably the best example of the police service knowing it has a health and safety obligation and then ignoring it. We were largely dealing with people who were not complying with restrictions, people sceptical of the pandemic and therefore at greater risk. 'If a police officer attended an address that required them to wear an FFP3 mask, a risk assessment said it should be discarded. But the police service was not counting the masks that were being burned through.' He said officers were 'reusing the mask at other addresses, making physical contact with the mask with their fingertips, the risk was exacerbated', and that calls to log the burn rate were 'refused', the inquiry heard. Mr Steele added: 'One of my colleagues went to 75 different households in one weekend. We were worried about acting as super-spreaders and have evidence that happened.' Mr Jones said: 'There were other items that would have saved money. The Police Service of Northern Ireland bought a rubber mask which can be cleaned. That was thought to be militaristic. That was the decision of the chief constable at the time.' The use of FFP3 masks was 'constantly criticised' due to the needs of frontline medics, the inquiry heard. The SPF called for roadside breath tests to be replaced, and Mr Steele described the 'totally dismissive' response as 'institutional dishonesty', and said Police Scotland 'took 'absence of evidence' as 'absence of risk',' the inquiry heard. Mr Steele said: 'We had advice from experts there was a risk from aerosols. This was introducing risk. We suggested we should take a different approach, taking an assessment of if someone is under the influence and taking them back for analysis. 'The response from the police service was totally dismissive.' Mr Hamilton added: 'It showed the force in a quite ugly way. We always accepted we had a job to do but we could minimise the risks.' He said it was 'wholly inappropriate' that frontline officers were not given priority during the vaccine rollout, and alleged that Sir Iain refused to allow officers to use spare jabs, saying: 'It's bad optics,' the inquiry heard. Mr Hamilton added: 'Frontline officers tended to be the youngest and the last to get it. I would have given my vaccine to someone in their 20s. Those most at risk were last to get it. It was a Scottish Government choice not to vaccinate police officers they accepted were high risk.' Mr Steele said: 'That remains one of the most perverse decisions that really reinforced that they were casually disregarded. It had a really damaging impact on institutions of the state including their employer, the chief constable, to look after them.' The inquiry continues before Lord Brailsford in Edinburgh.
Sky News
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Police Scotland officers may have been COVID pandemic 'super-spreaders', inquiry hears
Police Scotland officers may have acted as "super-spreaders" during the pandemic as expert advice was "ignored" by the Scottish government and the force's ex-chief constable, an inquiry heard. Calum Steele, ex-general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), former chairman David Hamilton, and vice chairman Brian Jones gave evidence at the Scottish COVID-19 Inquiry on Monday. A Scottish government decision not to prioritise frontline police during the vaccine rollout was branded "perverse", with one officer attending 75 callouts to different households in a single weekend, the inquiry heard. Allegations that ex-chief constable Sir Iain Livingstone rejected calls for frontline officers to be given spare vaccines, refused to issue reusable rubber masks used by officers in Northern Ireland due to appearance, and refused an alternative to roadside breath testing despite concerns about COVID transmission were also aired at the inquiry. Giving evidence, union leaders said ex-justice secretary Humza Yousaf branded the SPF a "disgrace", recalled they were a "pain in the backside", and the conflict "became personal", while evidence from a panel of experts commissioned by the SPF was met with "suspicion" and "ignored" by the government. Mr Steele said Police Scotland "substantially absolved itself of health and safety responsibility" regarding adequacy of personal protective equipment (PPE), despite an agreement before lockdown that FFP3 masks would be issued. He said the force "refused" to log the rate of usage, and the risks were "exacerbated" by using the same mask throughout a shift. Mr Steele said: "The issue of FFP3 masks is probably the best example of the police service knowing it has a health and safety obligation and then ignoring it. "We were largely dealing with people who were not complying with restrictions, people sceptical of the pandemic and therefore at greater risk. "If a police officer attended an address that required them to wear an FFP3 mask, a risk assessment said it should be discarded. But the police service was not counting the masks that were being burned through." He claimed officers were reusing the mask at other addresses, and that "making physical contact with the mask with their fingertips, the risk was exacerbated". Mr Steele said: "One of my colleagues went to 75 different households in one weekend. We were worried about acting as super-spreaders and have evidence that happened." Mr Jones claimed there were other items "that would have saved money". He said: "The Police Service of Northern Ireland bought a rubber mask which can be cleaned. That was thought to be militaristic. That was the decision of the chief constable at the time." The SPF also called for roadside breath tests to be replaced amid transmission concerns, but the response from the police service was said to be "totally dismissive". Mr Hamilton said: "It showed the force in a quite ugly way. We always accepted we had a job to do but we could minimise the risks." Mr Hamilton further said it was "wholly inappropriate" frontline officers were not given priority during the vaccine rollout, as he alleged Sir Iain refused to allow officers to use spare jabs, citing "it's bad optics". Mr Hamilton said: "Frontline officers tended to be the youngest and the last to get it. I would have given my vaccine to someone in their 20s. "Those most at risk were last to get it. It was a Scottish government choice not to vaccinate police officers they accepted were high risk." Mr Steele added: "That remains one of the most perverse decisions that really reinforced that they were casually disregarded." The inquiry, before Lord Brodie, continues.
