Simon Oakden

After taking a serious look at how we live today, I have come to the inevitable conclusion that we need to radically change the way we live into the future. youtube.com/watch?v=NNUgmI…

@paulhutcheon Since 2014, post independence referendum, the SNP has busied itself treating more than half its population with utter contempt. Why would anyone trust these people?

First Minister to demand immediate summit with Downing Street on indyref2 if he wins election.

@SirSimonClarke Speaking as an ex-serviceman, why would anyone want to enlist to defend this country?

*Another* frigate, Iron Duke, has just de facto decommissioned ahead of schedule. And still Labour refuse to commit to the defence expenditure required to rearm.

@jameswoudhuysen @GHWTowler You're right about that, James. A resource based economy certainly won't be materialising in my life time. Thanks for your kind remarks.

@simon_oakden @GHWTowler I fear you may have quite a wait! But a gracious reply...

Alex Guinness takes an early bow in another corker from @GHWTowler, who writes like a dream. RECOMMENDED

@jameswoudhuysen @GHWTowler Interesting piece, James. It does rather put to bed the idea that unscrupulous manufacturers build in obsolescence to fuel increased demand for their products. But I would prefer to see the implementation of a global resource based economy to remove all doubt!

@simon_oakden @GHWTowler Politely disagree. See Myth 5 in this... woudhuysen.com/consumption-si…

@MirabelTweets1 Go ahead, sue the police and you'll lose. Firstly it's satire, secondly it's an accurate cartoon depiction of what he did in publicly undermining the police carrying out their duty to protect the public.

Sue the arse off them Zack

@KarlTurnerMP Don't do optics, do you?

I’m sick to death of the right wing press to be honest. I suspect that Keir didn’t even know he had a niece and this wouldn’t have crossed his desk. Why is he getting the blame for selections that he has absolutely no involvement with whatsoever? 🤷🏼‍♂️

Lucy Powell voted against a national statutory inquiry into Pakistani grooming gangs who have been raping underage white girls for decades on an industrial scale. So not on the side of all ordinary people then, eh Lucy?

@doctoriaindarcy You sound rattled, Iain.

If you are wondering why the confected Zack Polanski outrage has dominated the news for the last few days.... look no further....

@LibyanIntegrity Yes, it has been reported. Suleiman has been charged with the attempted murder of "the Muslim". What's your beef?

Yesterday a Jewish person and a Muslim person were stabbed by the same perpetrator just discharged from a mental health unit. Did you hear about the Muslim victim? No. No further comment required.

@MichaelLCrick Pedant demonstrates how to dance on the head of a pin.

Several times this morning the BBC Today sports reporter has suggested Millwall last played in the "Premier League" in 1990. No they didn't. In 1990 the top level in football was called Division One of the Football League.

@MarieTidball Right. Now tell us how many have left over the same period, you know, for the purposes of honesty and transparency. If you can manage it, that is.

🚨 8,500 extra mental health workers have been recruited in the NHS! We promised to recruit 8,500 more mental health workers in our manifesto, and we've delivered our target 3 years early. Promise made, promise delivered. Lots done, lots more to do.

@redrumlisa Outstanding movie starring Michael Caine. I really didn't like the ending!

Best British Film ever made is on BBC2 now but watching it is brutal and it never gets easier #GetCarter Best Film Soundtrack too

@AndyEdwardsR14C @OnthisdayRN I well remember that interview. We're seeing similar hand wringing today following the recent arrest of Essa Suleiman and the way in which the police subdued him in Golders Green. Armchair and keyboard warriors are often quick to condemn from the comfort of their own homes.

@simon_oakden @OnthisdayRN youtu.be/kcQMGgE3Gl8?si… from the 1983 General Election.

#OnThisDay 1982 HMS CONQUEROR torpedoed and sank the Argentine heavy cruiser General Belgrano (ex USS Phoenix) off Burdwood Bank with the loss of 323 hands, ending the Argentine Fleet's involvement in the war. This was the first torpedo attack by a nuclear submarine. #Remember

@daveainsworth63 'Johnny Nobody' is worth highlighting as an odd but fascinating movie, directed by & starring Nigel Patrick as Father Carey, investigating an 'act of God'. Some great casting including William Bendix, Yvonne Mitchell, Cyril Cusack, Aldo Ray & a rare appearance by Bernie Winters.

Remembering the great English actor Nigel Patrick (Nigel Wemyss-Gorman) who was born on this day in 1913. He died in 1981. #NigelPatrick #TheLeagueOfGentlemen #TheSoundBarrier #ThePickwickPapers #BattleOfBritain #Sapphire #TheTrialsOfOscarWilde #TalesFromTheCrypt

@policylaila It wasn't that long ago that Green folk were complaining that Polanski wasn't getting the air-time he deserved. Fast forward to today and Polanski just met the harsh world of realpolitik. Activists and agitators often come up short when they're properly held to account.

Zack perceives hostility

@I_amMukhtar Agitators and activists like Polanski soon find out how difficult it is to do politics. That man is a copper bottomed buffoon.

Zack Polanski should not have apologised. He'll be asked about it on every interview now by bad faith actors. If you really read what he RT'd, it was a fair comment. Meanwhile, Nigel Farage said Hitler was right, gas them, and he was hissing to simulate the sound of gas chambers

@OlafSNP @JohnSwinney Peak gaslighting.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 @JohnSwinney speaking in Stirling right now: "People in Scotland next Thursday have the opportunity to chart a new course, and to make sure that Scotland's future is taken into Scotland's hands." #BothVotesSNP

@StarmertheFraud @ZackPolanski Politicians shouldn't take the Metropolitan Police to task publicly, that's just not on. So Mark Rowley was entirely correct to rebuke Polanski in a similar manner. It just goes to show that Polanski is not a serious politician, he's a serial whinging, agitating activist.

Whatever one makes of Zack Polanski's retweet, Sir Mark Rowley's letter to @ZackPolanski is a needless and reckless political intervention during a highly competitive local election period and distraction during a time of considerable agitation, fear and upset. I have submitted a complaint to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. I encourage everyone who is concerned about Sir Rowley's conduct to do the same. I will post a template letter separately. You can make your complaints at: policeconduct.gov.uk/complaints/sub… MY COMPLAINT I am writing to complain about the letter from Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley to Zack Polanski, the Green Party leader. The letter was posted to X at 5:35PM on the 30th of April 2026. I do not repeat the text of the letter here. This letter constitutes a serious intervention by the Police Commissioner in a manner that will raise concerns about the political impartiality of the Met Police. I believe it violates the Met Police's requirement to act in a politically impartial manner. The letter was directed to a party-political leader in response to retweet that the leader was entitled to make, even if it was ill-informed or ill-conceived. It was made a week prior to major local elections taking place in London, in which the Green Party is actively campaigning. Mr. Polanski is a prominent figure in this campaign. The Commissioner must know that during election periods it is anticipated that civil servants and other public officials will observe customary ‘purdah’ principles. There was no reason for the letter to be made public. Mr. Polanski is part of the London Assembly, which regularly liaises with the Metropolitan Police on operational matters. The Commissioner’s concerns could have been raised constructively in private first. But it appears no effort was made to do so. Instead, the Met Police addressed an open public letter and then posted it on X without any consultation or discussion with the Green Party or Mr. Polanski. It did so when a private letter would have sufficed. If Sir Rowley had done so, it may have created an opportunity for the Metropolitan Police and Mr. Polanski to address these operational matters calmly, soberly and collaboratively, and to do so in ways that built public confidence in the Met Police. But to make it public during a time of considerable political turmoil was needlessly inflammatory and counter-productive. There is already significant public concern about this intervention. The proof of this is the response on X. On simple inspection, I identified a large number of posts expressing serious alarm at the tone and content of this letter, and widespread comment that this raises material concerns about police impartiality. Many commentators fear that the Met Police has intervened in this way because of Mr. Polanski's political views. Many have noted that the Commissioner has not made such interventions in the past, even where prominent politicians have made comments about police conduct or perceptions of ‘two tier’ policing (or made comments that might inflame political situations and give rise to violent disorder, including towards the police). I note that Sir Rowley appeared on Sky News on the morning of the 1st of May. He was asked whether his letter constituted an unfair political intervention. He has defended himself in robust terms. But the very fact that this question is being raised indicates that the Commissioner has created an impression he must rebut. He was also interviewed on Times Radio on the same morning. The interviewer plainly stated that Sir Rowley ‘intervened in politics.’ Sir Rowley thereafter sought to defend his intervention. But this plainly shows the political nature of Sir Rowley’s intervention is now a matter of significant public debate. It is appalling that in a moment where the country requires time to reflect, commune and heal in the wake of a terrorist attack, the Commissioner has created needless political scandal, spectacle and controversy that distracts from these concerns. The letter was sarcastic and condescending in tone. It made pointed and immature comments about 'armchair critics' that brings the Met Police into disrepute. This is an inane and dangerous formulation, and it does the Met Police significant discredit. Most people are 'armchair critics.' Most citizens do not serve, nor have they served, in law enforcement. This sort of language demeans legitimate civilian concerns. Can an ordinary citizen now feel confident to raise issues about police conduct without being criticised for being an 'armchair critic?' Or will citizens now fear being humiliated in public for a presumed lack of expertise? The letter is additionally inflammatory because of its tone-deaf and distasteful comments about Mr. Polanski in relation to the Jewish community. The letter refers frequently to the legitimate fears of the Jewish community and attacks Mr. Polanski's comments as insensitive to this community. It strongly implies that Mr. Polanski has failed to take these community concerns into account. But Mr. Polanski is Jewish. He is currently the only Jewish leader of a political party in this country. The text, as read, strongly implies that Mr. Polanski, in the Commissioner's view, falls outside of the Jewish community or is insensitive to its concerns. It certainly does not acknowledge his ethnicity or acknowledge that Mr. Polanski is part of the Jewish community that the Commissioner invokes. It does not even contemplate that Mr. Polanski might also feel the same fear that the Commissioner correctly notes is being felt by the Jewish community. Making comments about Mr. Polanski and the Jewish community would be entirely legitimate comment for a newspaper columnist or a user on X or an ordinary member of the public. I expect it will be robustly litigated in the court of public opinion and in the media. But is not the sort of comment that should be made by the Commissioner during a period of heightened inter-community tension. In the wake of a significant antisemitic terrorist attack emotions are running extremely high. The Met Police and the Commissioner must no doubt be alive to how community cohesion is threatened in these sorts of circumstances. Any intervention that the Commissioner makes must seek to calm fears and provide assurances of safety. But the Commissioner's letter has done the opposite. It is seriously inflammatory and will likely cause political controversy. It is reckless, undignified and provocative. The Commissioner should withdraw his letter and find a way to constructively resolve a needlessly controversial situation of his own making.