G4S ‘baby killer’ gives Olympic archery it’s Joan of Arc moment
TO Lord’s cricket ground where an “Asian” G4S worker providing security for the archers has called a soldier, a veteran of the Afghan war, a “baby killer”. He then spits at him. The Sun adds that the soldier, from the 35 Engineers, had asked to search the guard. Why? We don’t know.
It’s a horrible story. The guard is an obnoxious thug. But a soldier whose seen live action on the battle field can take bit of name calling, surely. Or not. The Sun call upon ex-Helmand commander Colonel Richard Kemp to thunder:
“This is an absolute disgrace. A soldier shouldn’t have to put up with this terrible insult. If there’s any possibility of a prosecution, then it should go ahead.”
A soldier who gets shot at as part of his job should not have to put up with being insulted? Well, no. But has one idiot upset him all that much? A spokesman for G4S, whose lack of staff necessitated that the Army step in to sill the breach, adds:
“We are urgently investigating allegations that a security officer spat on the ground in front of a soldier and insulted him after he was searched. We do not tolerate insulting behaviour and where necessary appropriate disciplinary action will be taken.”
It’s a great pity, of course, that the incident was not captured on TV. Archery can akin to watching an insecure form of darts stripped of charisma, massive pointy fingers, alcohol, excitement, walk-on hymns and nylon. Archery would benefit from a spot of history-driven showmanship, perhaps the archers firing their arrows at targets fashioned into a likeness of King Harold’s eye or NHS-styled syringes firing into bottoms modelled on the beach volleyball teams?
Eddie Butler did his best to enliven the show by telling BBC viewers: “Naomi Folkard would appear to be on fire.” Only, this was no Joan of Arc moment. Folkard duly fired wide and failed to immolate. But had she have caught fire, we can rest assured the fine men of the G4S platoon would have done all theory could to douse the flames.
Posted: 30th, July 2012 | In: Key Posts Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
