Another day, another PR disaster for the PSNI. This time a high court judge has ruled that the disciplinary action against two flat-footed constables involved in a fracas at a commemoration, two years ago, for the victims of the Sean Graham bookies massacre, was unlawful.
The actions of the two newly recruited policemen, who were blissfully ignorant of the event that was taking place, saw only a breach of Covid regulations.
Their response was decidedly cack-handed and insensitive, resulting in the detention and handcuffing of a man who had been wounded in the loyalist attack.
There was immediate uproar and the top brass of the force did what they always do, i.e. the wrong thing. The Chief Constable, Simon Byrne, apologised for the actions of the officers before there was any proper investigation, enraging the rank and file, while his colleague took a call from an aggrieved Gerry Kelly.
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PSNI chief facing potential confidence votes from officers and civilian staff
There was indeed anger in republican circles, especially after police looked the other way following a loyalist show of strength by 60 masked men in east Belfast. But Byrne and his senior team feared Sinn Féin would withdraw its support for the PSNI and precipitate a political crisis.
The results of the judicial review taken by the Police Federation on behalf of the two officers comes hot on the heels of a series of calamities for the PSNI, the worst being the data breach which saw the publication of the names and other information of 10,000 police officers and civilian staff.
Despite DUP calls for him to resign, Byrne remains Chief Constable. Maybe when the post becomes vacant again, they might consider whether applicants would be better recruited locally. There seems to be a distinct lack of political nous in the current incumbent. Just saying.
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There's an old joke that Jesus must have been Irish because he lived at home until he was thirty and his ma thought he was God. I fear the mother of the disgraced Spanish football federation boss, Luis Rubiales, might well be cut from the same cloth.
The poor woman, Ángeles Béjar, started the week holed up in the Divina Pastora church in Motril, claiming to be on hunger strike in protest at the "unwarranted, inhumane and bloodthirsty hunt" of her precious son. By Wednesday, she had been brought to hospital, but was released on Thursday.
The story centres on how Rubiales grabbed the Spanish women's football captain, Jenni Hermoso, forcefully by the head and planted a clearly unexpected kiss on her lips after they won the World Cup.
She took it well at the time, but when Rubiales was criticised for the act and another unseemly gesture, grabbing his crotch, as he stood alongside the queen of Spain and her daughter, he claimed the kiss had been consensual, and all hell broke loose.
If he had come clean at the start and apologised, saying he was caught up in the heat of the moment but now regretted it, that may well have been the end of the matter. But Senor Rubiales did not know when to quit. Sense had vacated his head, just like his hair.
Now he has the country up in arms against him, insisting at a press conference that he would not resign as head of the Spanish football federation. He went further than the Rev P with his four times "Nevaaar", shouting it five times, as his largely male audience clapped like seals – including the women's team senior coach, who might yet live to regret his support.
The unwarranted kiss is now being examined as a possible sexual assault, which you might think is over the top. But millions of women throughout the world will recognise this kind of unwanted behaviour.
Few report it, perhaps asking themselves if they're over-reacting or misinterpreting a gesture. But the recipient said this kiss wasn't welcome, nor were his subsequent remarks which have an uncomfortable "she was asking for it" quality.
"Se acabó" – 'it's over' – has now become Spain's #metoo moment. Fifa has since suspended him and the country's top male teams have come out in support of Hermoso, calling on Rubiales to resign, while all shades of political parties are also joining in the condemnation.
And of course, it has emerged that this wasn't just one impulsive incident. A former colleague at the Spanish footballers' association claimed he made frequent obscene comments to her, including taking a keen interest in the colour of her underwear.
Someone needs to have a word with his mum.
