Will Littlejohn

A life spent teaching the young to think critically, beware believing everything they read and hear, and look for the author’s motives. Retired HMI 2005.

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

@MichaelRosenYes If you have not seen it, Jacob Bard-Rosenberg @Prolapsarian
wrote an interesting thread on 300526 re how Univ’s spend their funds on real estate and capital investment instead of teaching and learning.

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

Dad recognises there’s a problem; after 50 mins returns to the changing room with son intermittently crying. Will he want to come again? /5

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

Reluctantly keep counsel. Eventually they enter, the tears of fear don’t stop. Dad initially keeps him cuddled. Tears continue; parent moves to middle of shallow end, tears escalate /3

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

Eventually moves back to side, sits infant on side trying to comfort him. He quietens, sees another younger infant enjoying the water with mother; watches intently but eventually returns to distress mode /4

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

Would like to say - just take a seat and let him absorb the environment; if changing and entering water don’t let him go; keep to a corner or the side in flat water; have you brought a bath toy, etc /2

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

#howchildrenfail Swimming: public pool, parent arrives in changing room with infant son who’s crying incessantly whilst eyeing the water, clearly distressed. Should I intervene having seen such scenarios frequently. Difficult? /1

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

#PhysicalEducationfunding

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

@nigelfarage The judge’s summing up …!

[Muhammad Shehada @muhammadshehad2]

Israel is weaponizing mountains of garbage in Gaza against the population. The Israeli army is blocking access to Gaza's landfill & banning the entry of trucks or other heavy equipment to the enclave

This created a giant overpopulation of rodents, insects, scorpions & snakes, & rapid spread of diseases

UN says it'd take 180 days to clear out those piles if 50 trucks are used each day

Israeli general (res.) Giora Eiland has called for the deliberate weaponization of disease & starvation in the genocide

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

The best analysis read on this desperate matter …

[Lee Broadbent @leembroad]

The death of Henry Nowak is a tragedy in every sense, and the public reaction to the body‑worn video is completely understandable. It is painful to watch. It is painful for officers to watch. And it is painful for Henry’s family to know that his final moments were chaotic, confused and shaped by a lie told by the man who killed him.

But if we are going to talk about this case, and especially where/if politicians make highly charged statements, I believe it’s important to stay anchored to what was actually established in court.

The judge was clear that the responsibility for Henry’s death lies solely with the man who stabbed him. The fatal wound to his chest was described as “catastrophic” and “unsurvivable”, and the pathologist confirmed that no medical intervention, immediate or otherwise, could have saved Henry. That does not erase the distressing nature of the footage, it does not mitigate the seemingly dispassionate response of the officers in attendance, but it does matter when we are trying to understand what happened and what could or could not have changed the outcome.

It is also a matter of record that the officers were responding to a 999 call in which the offender falsely claimed he had been the victim of a racist attack and insisted no weapon had been used. That deception shaped the first few minutes on scene.

The IOPC has been involved from the outset, and the officers have remained as witnesses throughout. This is an important distinction, as those familiar with post incident procedures can tell you. If there was a shred of doubt or suspicion that the officers actions at the time, when balanced against the information known at the time and their reasonable held beliefs, amounted to potential misconduct, the IOPC must at the earliest opportunity review their status. The IOPC have confirmed that the officers status remains unchanged. That indicates that the officers initial decisions/actions have already been assessed against the information known at the time and is unlikely to now change and amount to misconduct.

None of this means the initial assessment was correct. It wasn’t. The officers misread the situation, and the body‑worn video shows that plainly. But policing is full of moments where decisions are made in seconds, under pressure, with incomplete or misleading information. Sometimes those decisions are right. Sometimes they are not. And sometimes…as in this case…the consequences are unbearably tragic even when the mistake does not change the final outcome.

What we cannot/should not do is turn this into a proxy battle in a wider culture war. Henry’s family have asked that his death is not used to fuel division, hate or to propagate political agendas.

It is possible to hold two truths at once:
that the initial response was flawed, sloppy even…and the investigation needs to establish how policy, procedure and relied information impacted those decisions and events; and that despite the officers clear mistakes and compassion fatigue, they did not cause Henry’s death, nor could they have prevented it.

Policing is at its worst when it becomes defensive, but it is also at its worst when it becomes a canvas onto which people project their own political battles and/or bitterness. This case, if it is to be a turning point, deserves better than that.

We can demand accountability without abandoning fairness. We can acknowledge mistakes without inventing motives. And we can talk honestly about the pressures and imperfections of frontline policing without turning every tragedy into a referendum on the entire profession.

That balance is difficult. But, to my mind, it is the only way we avoid repeating the same cycles of outrage, distortion, division and defensiveness that have done so much damage to public trust… and to the people who still turn up, every day, to do a job that is getting harder by the day.

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

Addendum: Parliament will debate Israeli influence on UK politics on 22 June’26 (broadcast on the UK Parliament YouTube channel)after the Labour government said it does not support a public inquiry (see Lab MP’s latest statements on the terrorist State)

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

Read the @bbc investigation into @ZiaYusufUK and decide whether he’s a fit citizen to be commenting on any aspect of UK life.

[Zia Yusuf @ZiaYusufUK]

On the day the whole political establishment claims we do not live in a two tier country, they announce this.

Note, the NHS makes NO drugs available exclusively to white people.

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

@Hamza_a96 Note also, it’s not just UK govts who stood by and watched, @BBCNews via @raffiberg et al manipulated the facts with language & reframing!

[Hamza Yusuf @Hamza_a96]

“We failed to intervene… we failed to apply enough pressure…”

This audacious moral grandstanding is quite something.

Emily Thornberry, like most Labour MPs, failed to condemn the genocide when Israel was making it crystal clear what was coming.

We won’t forget.

[Hamza Yusuf @Hamza_a96]

Emily Thornberry has today said the government has let down the Palestinian people, and allowed Israel to act with impunity.

The audacity.

Here she is in October 2023 refusing to condemn Israel cutting off power and supplies to Gaza.

Don’t let these people rewrite history.

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

@ZiaYusufUK has just been given 8 mins on @Channel4News to stir his racist pot.
Has @Channel4News news read the @BBC investigation into ZY referring to his behaviour and status in public life!

[Prem Sikka @premnsikka]

'Utter disaster’: Alan Bates attacks schemes compensating post office scandal victims.

7 schemes. £1.5bn paid from public purse, could hit £3.5bn.

Zero contribution by Fujitsu, PO execs, other perpetrators.

No one charged for false criminal convictions.
https://t.co/1pkj4Fx051

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

Astonishing. Some excellent comments given #Ofcom became toothless under previous regime.

[Michael Savage @michaelsavage]

NEW: Freed from office, ex-Ofcom chair & Tory peer Michael Grade gives view on GB News.

Other broadcasters “embarrassed” because it covers “the agenda of the majority”.

Big intervention in debate over UK’s impartiality rules.

He spoke to Politics Home.

https://t.co/1dE2HQe2ro

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

Excellent win by #ExeterChiefs (if you forget the number of penalties they gave away!)

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

In marked contrast, Irish citizens receive very full coverage of Israeli’s crimes against humanity from their media, and their government takes a very different stance on the international stage to that of this & previous UK govts /2

[Will Littlejohn @insiderjon]

Martin Asser’s detailed coverage of #Bbcnews partiality in broadcasts on #Israeli matters, particularly the dishonest framing of news instigated by @raffiberg, has led to the truth of Israel’s criminal acts being hidden from this news audience, despite the #bbccharter /1