Yobbish yob tsar to lead 'respect' "task-force".
There are some stories that you couldn't really make up. This is another piece of the fiction we live:
A government adviser who praised binge drinking and threatened to "deck" Downing Street officials will head a taskforce to promote respect, the Home Office said yesterday.
Louise Casey, 38, was formally investigated in July after complaints that her jokey speech to senior police officers breached the civil service code. She apologised and kept her job. But her promotion from head of the antisocial behaviour unit to director of the 30-strong taskforce drew criticism yesterday.
The National Association of Probation Officers said the appointment was "extraordinary" in light of her comments. Mark Oaten, home affairs spokesman for the Lib Dems, said it would "raise eyebrows".
So, what was that she actually said? Here it comes:
This is the first time I have done an after-dinner speech. It is half past nine at night and I'm sober and I am troubled by both those two things.
I feel like I am wearing a hoodie in Bluewater, being at a conference of coppers and researchers.
Topic for the evening. Research: help or hindrance? Hindrance, thanks very much.
I suppose you can't binge drink anymore because lots of people have said you can't do it. I know. I don't know who bloody made that up. It's nonsense. Particularly when you are 40 you can binge drink whenever you want. Life's downhill from there ...
Doing things sober is no way to get things done. I try to explain that to ministers but they don't get it.
All [our exhibition] stuff was bloody nicked at the Adelphi, Liverpool. What a fucking nightmare that would have been from a PR perspective. I just got hammered at the Adelphi.
I tell you that's a sad and miserable life.
Bloody BBC1 ... When do they interview the people who are on the receiving end of antisocial behaviour?
Excuse my language. I get lots of complaints about it. But you can't complain. It is an after-dinner speech. So you can write to Hazel Blears as much as you like. I'll just say 'after-dinner speech' and I wasn't even pissed ...
There is an obsession with evidence-based policy ... If No 10 says bloody 'evidence-based policy' to me once more I'll deck them one and probably get unemployed.
I remember the first time I did a meeting with a minister. It was like something out of Acorn Antiques. Honest to god. The most powerful person in the room is Betsy who brings the tea round.
After attacking senior civil servants who go to Eton and Oxford: You are a tough audience. Did you all go to Eton or something?
I don't want something written in the friggin' Guardian slagging me off.
What really hacks me off about this Bluewater stuff. It has bugger all to do with kids wearing hoodies. That really trivialises a serious issue. I don't care about teenagers wearing a hood up. What I care about are those who have rocks in their pocket to throw at the street warden who wants to talk about getting them involved in a sports competition.
Yep, a nice case of joined-up government. She attacks Eton and Oxford; granted, I'm not a fan of them either. She attacks research, evidence based policy, BBC1 and boasts of getting "fucking hammered" at the Adelphi. In short, she's a typical New Labour lackey. Unaccountable, out-spoken and full of herself. A shining example of how to instill respect into young people. All we need now is for her to punch someone who throws an egg at her.
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