"Lesbian Nana" And The Decline Of The British Police
Part 2 of The English Character, Thoughts on chapter three of Roger Scruton's England: An Elegy
According to police data ‘across 30,100 areas, 48.2 per cent had no reported burglaries solved in the three years to this March’ in England and Wales. While this might help police gain the trust of criminals, it does not inspire confidence in law and order. Perhaps this failure would not be so terrible if we were to find that police energies and resources prevented other serious incidents like the endless line of rapes, stabbings, and shoplifting sprees in today’s help yourself run amok society. Alas, overall crime in England and Wales increased by ten per cent from June 2023 to June 2024, with the number of incidents rising to 9.2 million. This rise was due to increases in violence with injury and consumer and retail fraud.1
Some of you may recall a parent or grandparent talking about their ‘‘local bobby’’ on the beat in their community. A few of you may remember when this was the case. Those days have long gone. In England today, you seldom see police officers on foot in residential areas. Many of us would be as stunned to see a constable walk by our front door as we would if we found an escaped patient engaging in a spot of indecent exposure outside our living room window. A visible crime deterrent is often absent from our streets.
In the third chapter of England: An Elegy, The English Character, Roger Scruton asserted that ‘The English character was profoundly influenced by the common law. For English people the law was an objective reality; it did not depend upon the will of sovereigns or parliaments, but stood in judgement upon them. It was a version of the Holy Ghost-always vigilant, always personal, always benign. The policeman on his beat was its real embodiment, kindly, impartial and the guardian of the community.’2 Here, I will not focus on the common law as Scruton devotes a whole chapter to English law later in his book, which I will cover in due course. This piece considers whether the police in England today can be said to be kind and impartial guardians of a community who embody the positive qualities Scruton discerned in the law. I will argue that the police in England has undergone a moral inversion. Before going further, I want to make it clear that I think most police officers are probably decent people who have the best intentions. In the future, I may be very grateful if I receive their support.
"Lesbian Nana" is an exemplar of the inversion of the police in England. I will use that sobriquet to refer to her as I have not been able to find out her real name despite looking at several articles. Last year, officers from West Yorkshire police returned a sixteen-year-old girl to her home address after reports that she was drunk and at risk in Leeds City Centre. Not a lot is wrong about the police approach so far. It seems some of the kindly and community-minded policing Scruton referred to was applied. However, once the girl was home, things escalated. A video of an incident went viral, (see below) and several videos covering this episode have hundreds of thousands of views each. In the footage, a confrontation ensues, and we hear the mother say the girl made a comment in her home. We then hear Lesbian Nana, forthrightly state her intention to arrest the girl.
The mother cries, “She is autistic!”
‘‘I don’t care” is the reply.
They showed no compunction and remained steadfast in their unfeeling treatment of the child once they believed she had transgressed the strictures of leftist orthodoxy.
We can at the very least say the ‘‘I don’t care’’ remark is insensitive.3 We can see that the girl is in a heightened state when the camera veers to the side. The editor of the video states the girl is punching herself in the head. The officer and her colleague remain firm in their course despite the mother’s pleas. The mother’s upset when told her daughter will be removed is palpable. She beseeches the police to see sense, explains her daughter is not homophobic, and says the girl’s Nan is a lesbian who is married to a woman. A male officer is heard referencing a remark made by the girl before the mum reiterates that her daughter is not homophobic. She asserts her daughter said, ‘‘I think she is a lesbian like Nana”. A male officer applies force to the girl. The crying becomes louder. The mother repeats that her daughter is autistic. The child is visibly overwhelmed as she is hauled away. A note at the end of the video reads, ‘I also explained to them she has severe scoliosis and a twisted spine so them pulling her arms will cause her extreme pain in her shoulders.’
But what about the other side of the story? Is there a counter to the view that the child was a victim of appalling police brutality for doing nothing wrong? In February this year, an ITV report stated that the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) launched an investigation into the officer's conduct after claims she was heavy-handed during the incident in August 2023. The article states the mother uploaded the video of the incident to Tiktok. The IOPC confirmed the girl was detained by seven officers.
‘The IOPC said it had examined the officer’s "actions and interactions with the girl on the night to determine whether they were appropriate and proportionate".
It said: "The evidence suggested a potentially homophobic comment was made by the girl, which the officer believed was directed towards her.
"The evidence identified that the comment made was not as was reported on the short clip which appeared on social media. As a result, the officer took the decision to arrest the girl in relation to this offence."‘
For the sake of argument, let’s assume the video paints an unfair picture of what happened. Let’s say that the child said to the officer something along the lines of ‘‘I don’t like lesbians.” Does this necessitate dragging her away kicking-and-screaming? If she said something terrible, not captured on camera, it would have been prudent to speak to the child on another day, check on her welfare, and explain any offence caused. Or perhaps the comment should have been forgotten, given the vulnerability of the child and her intoxicated state. Such courses of action should have seemed obvious. Rage is all over the uppity officer’s face throughout the clip. It is ridiculous she was so angry in the circumstances.
The mother’s contention is more believable than the unsure statement from the IOPC. While they claim the comment was not as reported, they concede the evidence only ‘‘suggested a potentially homophobic comment was made”. Had the girl said anything severe, the IOPC would have been wise to disclose what was so offensive given the furore the incident caused. These factors bolster the credibility of the mother’s account over that of the IOPC.
The IOPC maintained the use of force was appropriate, and said the officer did not have a case of misconduct to answer. They added: "We decided that it would be appropriate for the officer to undertake reflective practice – to reflect and learn from the incident to prevent any issues identified from re-occurring, as their actions fell short of the expectations of the public and the police service as set out in the code of ethics.
They also stated: "Our investigation looked at the whole picture of the incident and we decided the officer should now work with their supervisor to reflect, learn and improve from what occurred, to prevent this from happening again.
"We also felt that a letter of apology should be sent to the girl and the family in attempt to remedy any dissatisfaction. The force agreed with this suggestion and have written to the family."4
That force was deemed appropriate in this situation attests to the ridiculous state of the IOPC. The ruling diminishes any sense of reassurance one might feel in light of the admissions made. The IOPC findings are indicative of a remorseless adherence to the tenets of a rainbow regime ready to fiercely pounce on any perceived infringement, no matter how slight, against groups assigned a special status. Their statement is a confused mess. The use of force used was defended, but an apology was issued.
In the past, there were bad police officers, but appalling police behaviour was not given the same impetus by hard-left ideology entrenched in national institutions as it is today. This was clearly the case with this officer when dealing with a vulnerable person.
Lesbian Nana showed a sense of complete moral certainty when arresting the girl; this did not come from nowhere. She probably passed through training that impressed on her the importance of so-called ‘‘hate’’ crime while sanctifying the usual range of special identities. Moreover, many police officers graduated from leftist universities where dogma is often inculcated into students. Lesbian Nana probably thought her superiors would not condemn her for her actions. We must not forget six other officers were involved in this incident. They showed no compunction and remained steadfast in their unfeeling treatment of the child once they believed she had transgressed the strictures of leftist orthodoxy.
If you have any doubts about the incompetence of Lesbian Nana, her antics in the above video might persuade you.
Not content with traumatising an autistic child for no good reason, Lesbian Nana went viral again a couple of months later.5 In the video above, she rabidly pursues people with pepper spray. The relatively calm demeanour of her colleagues in the clip attests to the needless nature of her attack. It does not look like she did a lot of reflecting, learning, or improving since the incident involving the teenager.
The desperate pusillanimity seen in Leeds turned to force. Serried officers in full riot gear were on hand to serve up punishment.
By September 1990, the police in England had abolished the minimum height requirement for officers. I have no concrete opinion on how tall a police officer should be, although sense would dictate that a minimum height requirement would be wise.6 I am not sure exactly how tall Lesbian Nana is, but she seems quite diminutive. It may be the case that her small stature factored during the pepper spraying incident and that a feeling of heightened vulnerability contributed to her rash actions. If this is the case, this alone would not justify height restrictions on police officers. Certainly, not every officer who is her height would have acted the same, but height should be considered when violence is a possibility. Scruton refers to a time when officers were chosen for their height, and he indicates no disapproval of this.7
A January 2010 report in The Telegraph read, ‘The MacPherson report of 1999 ruled the height restriction discriminated against those of ethnic backgrounds such as the Chinese, who are generally shorter.’ The policy changed to satisfy universal over particularised imperatives. Without the clamour or acclamation of a majority, our institutions are deemed defective should there be any suggestion of insufficient accessibility to members of any given group, wherever they hail from. Extraordinarily, an institution purporting to be national gave this consideration. The 2010 article does not cite a refutation of the view that police height restrictions were necessary or supportive of an effective police force.8
Too regularly we hear about police disturbing and arresting people for expressing views opposing cultural leftism. In August 2022, actor Laurence Fox hit out at a politicised police following the arrest of army veteran Darren Brady. Brady was said to have reposted an image uploaded to X by Fox that showed a swastika made of computerised LQBTQ+ flags. The police came mob-handed to his home and handcuffed him before taking him away. Brady was told by an officer, “Someone has been caused anxiety based on your social media post. That is why you have been arrested.”9 Police actions like this and the behaviour of officers during the Lesbian Nana incident support the point made by Fox’s modified symbol.
Not content with compelling speech and criminalising creative memes, some want to interfere with prayers. This year, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce received £13,000 in compensation from West Midlands Police after her arrest for praying outside an abortion clinic. A civil claim was settled ‘‘without any admission of liability’’ by the authorities. Vaughan-Spruce argued that the arrest breached her human rights. No ‘service user’ was using the clinic while she was praying. Even this did not prevent her arrest.10
Earlier this year, West Yorkshire police were at their feckless best when running away from a riot, involving predominantly non-white people, in Harehills, Leeds. Police officers were attacked when helping social care staff to safety during a child protection incident. They retreated ignominiously as carnage and arson won the day. It's doubtful Lesbian Nana was on hand with her pepper spray for this one.
Not long after the Harehills riots, some English people finally snapped and expressed their anger following the massacre of children in Southport. The desperate pusillanimity seen in Leeds turned to force. Serried officers in full riot gear were on hand to serve up punishment.11 We have seen a two-tier approach before on other occasions. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots in London in 2020, for example. Officers allowed someone to attempt to burn the Union Flag on the Cenotaph; this approach contrasts markedly with the violent response from police to those trying to protect the same monument earlier in 2024. The failure of the police to secure the cenotaph in 2020 no doubt led protesters to try and achieve this.12 Scruton detected an impartial police force in the past. We do not always have this today.13
The most poignant example of institutional inversion in this country must be the cover-up of the epidemic of racially targeted rape and torture of English children. These crimes were committed by alien gangs. In January 2024, an ‘Independent assurance review of the effectiveness of multi-agency responses to child sexual exploitation in Greater Manchester’ revealed that Greater Manchester Police ‘‘failed in their duties’’. That statement is a euphemism for enabling mass rape and torture of children. The horrific betrayal by the police goes far beyond Greater Manchester, and it compares most appallingly with the force Scruton recognised in the England that once existed.14
Thanks for reading this piece, please like and share. I will publish one more article before the end of the year, it will certainly be lighter and less serious than this one.
Office for National Statistics (ONS), released 24 October 2024, ONS website, statistical bulletin, Crime in England and Wales: year ending June 2024
Roger Scruton, England: An Elegy, 2000, 56
Lee Willcox, Lesbian Nana Full Video, She is autistic-I don’t care, 24/10/23, Youtube
ITV, West Yorkshire Police officer involved in ‘lesbian nana’ arrest video told to ‘reflect’ by IOPC, 23/2/2024, https://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2024-02-23/officer-involved-in-lesbian-nana-arrest-video-told-to-reflect, accessed: 7/12/24
The Telegraph, female police officer pepper sprays multiple people In Leeds, 24/10/23, YouTube, accessed: 7/12/24
Wikipedia contributors. (2024, October 28). History of law enforcement in the United Kingdom. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:03, December 8, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_law_enforcement_in_the_United_Kingdom&oldid=1253966162 : The Telegraph, Britain's smallest police officer nicknamed laptop, 16/1/2010, accessed: 8/12/24
Scruton, 56
The Telegraph, Britain's smallest police officer nicknamed laptop, 16/1/2010, accessed: 8/12/24
Aden-Jay Wood, Laurence Fox hits out at 'politicised police' after army veteran arrested for 'causing anxiety' over meme, 1/8/22, GB News, https://www.gbnews.com/news/laurence-fox-hits-out-at-politicised-police-after-army-veteran-arrested-for-causing-anxiety-over-meme/346744, accessed: 14/12/24
BBC, Abortion clinic payout woman shocked at prayer arrest, 21/8/24, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gze361j7xo, accessed: 14/12/24
Tim Dieppe, Two tier policing is not new, The Critic, 9/8/24, https://thecritic.co.uk/two-tier-policing-is-not-new/, accessed: 16/12/24
Elisa Menendez, Protester, 19, who tried to set Union Flag alight on Cenotaph avoids jail, The Metro, 3/12/2020, https://metro.co.uk/2020/12/03/protester-19-who-tried-to-set-union-flag-alight-on-cenotaph-avoids-jail-13696832/, accessed: 16/12/24: Sami Quadri, People shouting ‘England til I die’ clash with police near cenotaph, 11/11/23, https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/police-cenotaph-clashes-london-whitehall-b1119716.html, accessed: 16/12/24, Ewan Somerville, Dozens of police officers injured during Black Lives Matter protests in London as police woman is stable after fall from horse, The Standard, 7/6/20, https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/black-lives-matter-protests-london-george-floyd-police-racism-a4462021.html, accessed: 16/12/24
I want to make it clear that I do not support or advocate violence.
Lauren Hirst & Rumeana Jahangir, Police left children at mercy of grooming gangs in Rochdale, review finds, BBC, 15/1/24, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-67967919, accessed: 9/12/24: BBC, West Yorkshire grooming gang jailed for raping teenage girl, 18/2/22, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-60436691, accessed: 16/12/24
This reminds me of a passage from The West and the Rest from 2002.
Near the end, he says something to the accord that most UN Ambassadors merely represent one faction within their country, but the Ambassadors for Western nations, and especially the UK, represent the whole of that nation.
Compare this to Lammy's debut speech at the UN.
I have completely lost respect for the police. These days whenever I encounter them, I just say something like "transwomen are men" or "White lives matter".