The Special Escort Group - Whistle While You Work

Recent news articles have reported on new British Prime Minister David Cameron's decision to cut back on his personal security to help him remain "one of the people". The most notable change is the one to not use the "motorcycle outriders" available as part of his motorcade.

There have also been some instances where he has elected to walk short distances (for example from Downing Street to the Houses of Parliament). This is often seen in new leaders who, quite understandably struggle to adjust to a life more in the public eye -- one authorised with more power, access to classified information, and the inevitable risk to their security. Simply Googling obama blackberry will provide a prime example of this.

Steering clear of the whole discussion around whether Cameron is right to do this, I instead shall focus on these elusive "motorcycle outriders", for their job interests me. I don't know why it does, though most likely it's because I'm a guy and anything involving the police, guns and bodyguards gets my interest. So yeah, I'm going to blame testosterone! Also, I suspect there's a little "hippocampal stimulation" (no way is that a real phrase!) going on as I greatly admire those who can confidently and successfully navigate London's maze (where much of these elusive motorcycle outriders carry out their work).

As usual, the press spend little time focusing on all the elements of the story and instead seek to sensationalise it. So you end up with headlines such as (I may have made these up by the way!):

Guardian: "Cameron elects not to use his motorcycle escorts."
Daily Mail: "Cameron ditches bike cops."
The Sun: "Our new dear leader sticks two fingers up to Bin Laden selflessly facing terror threat!"
Daily Express: "Will new PM Cameron re-open investigation into Diana murder?"

So this blog post focuses on a unit of the Metropolitan Police Service, -- a specialist operations unit known as The Special Escort Group


"This elite unit of the Metropolitan Police consists of officers with a range of skills and operational experience from various policing backgrounds. One motorcyclist (lead bike) positions himself in front of the escort, controlling the pace and position of the escort, whilst the others forge ahead, dealing with traffic situations and advising the lead bike of the safest path through the traffic they are controlling. SEG officers on BMW motorcycles, use whistles in preference to the sirens on their motorcycles. This reduces the level of noise that precedes an escort and reduces the environmental impact on the escorted person and general public.

Officers from The Special Escort Group are among the few police motorcyclists within the UK that carry firearms openly whilst riding."
- "Sourced from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License."

It's a well regarded opinion that one of the biggest threats faced by a motorcade is when in a stationary position. The old adage that "a moving target is harder to hit" certainly applies here. At the same time, it is much less accepted in the UK that even a VIP (royal, or ministerial) and their close protection team should be able to cause much disruption to the lives of every day citizens. So the policy of completely closing roads and shutting down cities to allow a huge motorcade to pass for the visit of the Prime Minister or Queen would be met with much disdain and anger. Instead, a much more low-key, hassle free stance is taken. This approach is in generally much different to that of the U.S. authorities -- and that's not to criticise this method, it's simply to highlight the differences.

I have never seen the Special Escort Group in action, but hope to do so one day as I'm a sucker for watching the work of masters.

On doing a search for further information about the Special Escort Group, I came across a very interesting article (one which I recommend reading) written several years ago by a journalist who had the fortune of riding with SEG. The video (sadly it's been edited to have loud music in the background - I'm presuming to block out the important transmissions) which goes with the article is also available here.

Below are a few examples of the Special Escort Group (SEG) in action. I just love how quaintly British the use of their whistles to control the situation is. Perhaps we're just too desperate not to offend anyone!

(Note that some of these videos are quite jerky so might not be suitable for those who don't cope well with those things)

You can hear many whistles from the bikes that have ridden ahead here



Princess Anne motorcade. Good view of the officers controlling the situation



Kate Middleton Motorcade




Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown on his way to Buckingham Palace to resign.



Prince Charles being taken through the streets of London.



A surprise for one cyclist riding around London.



Another good example of quick control of the traffic.



You can see more photos of the "Special Escort Group" on Flickr.

From The Undecided Electorates

- An open letter from decent undecided electorates.

Dear Decided Electorate and Politicians,

We are perfectly capable of deciding, through the intelligent studying of each of the party's policies who we will vote for.

Scare mongering tactics have the following two effects:

A) Causing offense because you forget that like you do, we actually all have a complete independent and equal entitlement to vote for whoever we like. Please look up the phrase "mutual respect" in the dictionary.

B) Those who engage in a media frenzy of saying why one would be wrong for voting for option A, B, or C seek only to risk loosing the votes of undecided electorate due to presenting a set of behaviours that produce feelings of "Actually, don't think I really want to associate myself with a psyche such as that".

We do not plan to criticise or praise your chosen party. Instead, we simply applaud that you recognise the importance and fortune you have in being able to vote, freely.

Yours sincerely,
Phil, on behalf of all equal individuals.

I'm Feeling Lucky

Well it's official, I'll be voting in the general election.

To me, this small, innocent looking piece of card makes me feel fortunate and appreciate what my grandparents (and their compatriots) did for us, along with the continued commitment being made right now around the world that allows these bits of card to be issued.

Yes, Prime Minister

So, on Tuesday 6th April 2010, British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown called a general election for Thursday May 6th 2010. On Tuesday morning, Gordon Brown visited Buckingham Palace to meet with Queen Elizabeth II where she granted her 11th Prime Minister permission to dissolve parliament, while the campaigning and election of a government takes place.

The question is, who will win? Will it be Labour? (the current government), will it be The Conservative Party? (the main opposition party), and how significant will the role of the Liberal Democrats be? (traditionally not considered to be the main opposition but are included in the list of the main political contenders in British politics - there are three).

My view (and since you are visiting my blog, you must care on some level what that is!), is this. Many people (or enough that makes a fourth term look unlikely) feel they have had their full dose of Labour and are ready for change - they have been in government since 1997 (in the UK there is no maximum term in office for a party). Few people (or few enough people who'd vote for them because they felt they were the better party) actually want the Conservatives to win because they are unlikely to deliver real change and improvement, along with much disillusionment still remaining in the mind of the electorate from their previous time in government. So that leaves us with the Lib Dems....I think this is the party most people would feel the greatest connection to (if the modern day electorate feel any positive connection to the parties), but are still unlikely to vote for them (in numbers required to give a victory) due to the fact that whilst the Lib Dems are classed as the third main party, in reality many people regard the election as a two horse race, and people would not vote for them because they would be in too much doubt that their fellow electorates would do the same. So basically, not enough people will plan to vote for Labour (because they don't want them), not enough will plan to vote for the Conservaties (because they don't want them), not enough will plan to vote for the Lib Dems (because they don't think enough will, and the psyche as I say remains that this is a two horse race) - which is a real shame as I think now, more than ever, it would be healthier if they were in real contention - maybe they are. What result all this will create, well we'll have to wait and see.

As for voting. Voting is for me a must and this week, I will be checking my voting status is up to date*. I believe very strongly in exercising my right to vote. When I vote, I vote for three reasons.

1. I can. Many people in many countries cannot and whilst people could argue for hours over whether there is much point nowadays when "ultimately they're all the same and won't do anything once in (government)", I feel very lucky that I can choose, in complete freedom who I feel best suited to lead my country and do the best (or least worst perhaps!) for me.

2. My grandparents. I can vote because of their sacrifices in WWII and previous wars. I should honour that.

3. Aside from the history, rights and freedom, I still believe it's important to have a voice when invited to.

So, who will I be voting for? Well....I have a democratic right to privacy and not to say. At this stage however, I can honestly say I am undecided. I like the idea of a victory by the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, but it's rather unlikely - and they're not standing in my area anyway!

Happy voting people!



* = I called my local voting authority and was told I'm still up to date and able to vote! Great!

Breaking News...

So, I have a modern day gripe about news. I enjoy watching the news (although don't think there are enough happy stories in it). I think it's important to keep up to date with what is going on in our world.

What bugs me is the (in my opinion at least) over-use of "Breaking News". Most likely, because nowadays many of the major networks have their own rolling 24 hour channels and they have to try to keep interest up.

To me, the term breaking news should be used as it once was (exclusively for major stories) and not for 'new news'....I can conclude from the word "news" itself that the clue in how current I should expect the information to be is in the first three letters! Instead it should be for when a story of great significance breaks, that is truly world changing, affecting potentially millions of people.

As far as I'm concerned, "Breaking news", is a term to be used only in the announcement of news such as a terrorist attack, the assassination of a leading figure, a natural or man made disaster, significant threat to public health or safety, significant political event or declaration of war etc. It should not be used to announce the resignation of a minor celebrity from his or her reality TV show, or the England football manager naming his squad for an upcoming match.

Taking a quote from my manager, a very inspirational man, best describes this situation:

"When people (journalists, politicians, TED awardees, etc.) want me to be excited about something I ask myself, "Will this matter in 1/10/100 years?" This test helps you get through the news efficiently in a few minutes and most political conversations in few seconds. Best part is that it frees time to engage in important issues like education, clean water, valid elections, ocean health, and interpersonal concern."
I would much prefer news makers to take the attitude of considering the impact the breaking news story actually has. Perhaps one solution would be to have a new phrase, or scale of breaking news.

At the moment, if I have the news on the TV on in the background (often on mute), or pottering around and I see the "Breaking news" ticker appear on screen, or the news presenter utter "We're just getting some breaking news", I have no idea whether I'm about to hear that nuclear war is starting and I should probably not bother setting a programme reminder, or a golfer is apologising for not being able to keep his pants on (which really should not by classed as breaking news in my view!). Maybe Breaking News 1 (news just in) and Breaking news 2 (terrorists attack a major world city) are needed. Personally, I'd rather just cut out the 'news just in' and go back to breaking news only being something significant.

Well anyway, sometimes I decide to write a blog post but don't necessarily know what'll unfold. Today, my neurons just happen to make these thoughts.

There Are No Tigers In Africa

So, apparently there were some people in Africa who died today because of lack of access to basic clean water. Still, main thing is Tiger is sorry....

There is something very wrong with how news is broadcast sometimes.

To Bee, Or Not To Bee

As Buzz is the noise a Bee makes.

Well, this is just me testing to see if my blog has synced (I hate that word!) with my Google Buzz.