NEWS ONLY PLEASE Cressida Dick

Seriously? A woman gets to the top and all some other women can do is to poke fun at her name and remark on her sexuality? Every day in every way women struggle to be taken seriously. Surely they deserve at least basic support from their own gender who should, at the very least, applaud the effort and determination it has taken to rise to the top. Listen to the "classic" clip on Woman's Hour on Monday which demonstrated appalling sexism that no doubt the new Commissioner would also have faced at outset of her career will see how far she's travelled. Come on my fellow women - support each other and make it better for our GDs!

But don't you know, nettynora, women in power are by definition just "make weights"?

As for Commissioner Dick's "poor record", even the notoriously anti-police Guardian (yes, I admit I'm one of their readers) admits she has anything but.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/feb/22/she-inspires-confidence-cressida-dick-the-mets-first-female-commissioner

I think she will do a good job, she has worked hard to get so far in the Police Force, yes she was in charge during that awful time but every-one was on edge after the tragic events of 7/7. If the "victim" hadn't jumped the barrier & hadn't overstayed his student visa he would have been alive today. I lived in Greater London & had many friends & colleagues who worked in London - it brought back memories of the IRA Bombing Campaigns - an unfortunate event but to my mind understandable

Right I'm off back to my bunker with my tin hat

I for one wish her all the best - it's not going to be easy

Precisely nettynora, should be the right person for the job regardless of gender. Doesn't seem like we have moved forward much.
I have a surname which can be misconstrued and the comments become very tedious.
Good luck to the new Commissioner.

I would not prefer it if every officer was white, male and heterosexual but I would prefer that we did away with positive discrimination and every one was appointed on merit.

IMO, a prestigious (high powered) promotion such as this, should always be on merit alone and if this is absolutely the case and she was the best person for the job, then that's fine. Good luck to her. If however she was given the job in order to satisfy some politically correct agenda then the post is almost worthless.

I don't care about her sexuality and I think it would be great that a woman has got for the job, were it not for her involvement in Charles de Menezes' tragic death.

The assumption is being made that she was chosen for PC reasons. Whilst I don't agree with her appointment, is it always going to be suggested that any woman who reaches senior office in any field of business or public service does not really merit her promotion but is merely there for equal opps purposes?

Perhaps no other suitable candidate fancies the job - other office holders have not exactly gone out in a blaze of glory. It might well be seen as a bit of a poison chalice, particularly these days when there are so many challenges and reduced funding.

After the unfortunate shooting of Jean Charles De Menenez it came to light that he had overstayed his visa by approximately 18 months - if he'd stuck to the rules then he'd very likely still be alive.

Cressida Dick has no case to answer in this case.

Good luck to her.

Talking about surnames, my family name was Dickman! never had any bother, but my nephew, an officer in the RAF, changed his name when he got his commission!
Maybe Cressida will do the same thing.

I very much doubt it Diddy1 or she would have done it by now.

maybe she is proud of being a Dick

Sorry, childish I know.

Cressida dick is the best qualified Commissioner the Met, or any other force, has ever had (check her CV on Wikipedia). I think she will be brilliant at the job and she is completely incorruptible. The Met is a difficult force, but if anyone can lead it, she can.

she is completely incorruptible

I do hope you're right, NemosMum, but I don't see how you can be so sure.

Power can do strange things to people...

NemosMum are the Cressida's mum as well?

Legs55 how dare you - check your facts before posting lies. I am now going to shout HE DID NOT JUMP THE BARRIER. You should be ashamed of yourself posting lies lies lies about an innocent man who was killed

Legs55 you might well don your tin hat and a stupid grin. Regardless of his immigration status, this young man did not deserve to die. I'm a critic of Dick precisely because she oversaw the deliberate miss-information such as you quoted.

- He did not jump the ticket barrier - paid with his pass.

- Was not wearing an overcoat in warm weather

- Did not run down the escalator

- Did not resist the police on the tube

The police made mistakes, understandable, but my gripe is with the lies that were told in the immediate aftermath.

A lot of the lies were the usual imaginative stuff reported by eye witnesses after any event that hits the headlines. One Mark Whitby was the witness who told Reuters (who then disseminated it) that de Menezes was wearing a heavy winter coat. Anthony Larkin, another eye witness, reported to the BBC that he was wearing "a bomb belt with wires coming out". Early eye witness reports that he had vaulted the barrier and run down the escalator had been picked up by the pathologist - when the dust died down people realised that it had been his pursuers who'd done this.

From the Guardian report I linked to earlier:

One of Dick’s lowest moments was the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, mistaken for a terrorist in an operation she was commanding, in 2005. It led to the Met facing a criminal trial for health and safety violations, which it lost. But Dick testified in front of the jury for more than three days, and jurors made it clear no personal blame was to be placed on her for the debacle.

And according to Margs if he hadn't overstayed his visa he'd probably still be alive. Still, I'm sure the new Chief Constable will be heartened to know a few of her buddies are coming onto to GNsnet to defend her.

A few of her buddies?! FFS! Perhaps a few fair-minded people who don't want her hung out to dry for the crime of being female, being gay, and being accused of something of which a jury completely exonerated her.

Oh, and having a name to titter at.

In the case of Jean Paul de Menezes she dithered and changed her mind.
He had overstayed his visa but that is not reason for him to be killed.

Indecisiveness is not a good trait in the most senior policeman in the country.

I didn't know she is gay and it matters not a jot to me.

The fact that she was in charge and changed her mind does though.
It was a botched operation from start to finish.

She is not being 'hung out'as you put it Maggiemaybe...... her appointment is being criticised for the reason Jalima has just given. Dithering in crucial decision- making can lead to disaster. .... think Hillsborough.

Indecisiveness is not a good trait in the most senior policeman in the country.
Or policewoman, Jalima?

I've nothing else to add. She seems to me to be the best-qualified person for the job and I wish her well.

Out of interest, who do others think should have been appointed?

I've just logged back on after getting home from work and am x 100 that only two us seem to care that Legs55 repeated LIES about an innocent man. She hasn't had the guts to come on and say she was wrong but I expect that's because she wanted to believe that version. The whole sorry saga of the post shooting behaviour of the Met was a disgrace and is sadly only too common ( other police forces are guilty as well) following questionable police behaviour. A little while ago on GN there was much pearl clutching and high horse mounting at the utter dreadfulness of 'fake news' posting on GN and how this was clearly the beginning of the end of the civilised world as we know it. Well, quelle surprise at the deafening silence at the lie in Legs55's post. Still he was only an illegal immigrant who deserved all he got wasn't he? GN hypocrisy - much. At one level I couldn't give a flying fig about who is Commissioner of the Met because I can't recall the last one I had any respect for and I guess she'll follow in this long and dishonourable tradition.