retrocop - // I suppose Mr Hughes, having never worn a uiniform in his life, does not realised how th police have become a politicised organisation, puppets of the government and not impartial as we were in the days of my service. It's blatantly wrong and they are losing public support as a result. //
Then not for the first time, your suposer is malfunctioning.
You appear to be making a classic debating mistake - that only people with direct relavent experience of a subject have the right to hold and to offer an opinion on it.
This of course is minifestly untrue.
Wheras I could not, and would not, attempt to offer direct experience of police matters, because I have not been a police officer, that does not mean that I do not hold, and in turn am not entitled to express, an opinion on police matters, and I do have an opinion, and I am free to express it as and when I wish to do so.
That means that my wearing, or indeed not, or a uniform of any description, is completely irrelavent to holding and offering an opinion, because direct experience is not and never has been a pre-requisite of a viewpoint, merely a curious mind with the ability offer a view and ask questions, and I have one of those already.
That means that next time you sit watching Strictly Come Dancing, you are not prevented from offering an opinion on what you see to either your fellow viewers in the room, or indeed viewers on this site, to whom ytou may wish to offer your insights.
Rest assured I would not upbraid you for doing so on the basis that you wouldn't know a sequin from a sequence, if either were to jump up and bite you, because personal knowledge does not mean your opinion is the only valid offering in the debate, and it equally does not mean that any and everyone else is entitled to their thoughts and opinions.
That is how debate works.
Being an ex-policeman gives you a degree of personal experience, it does not make yours the only view that can be expressed or debated, so maybe you'll consider that next time you want to belittle someone whose views may oppose yours, or, as in this case, an opinion which you belittle was not actually offered in the first place.
To be clear, I did not offer a view on the politicisation of the police service - despite your criticism of my non-offered opinion - but for the record, I am happy to confirm that I do actually agree with your opinion.
That's because you don't need to have been a police officer to have an opinion on how the police service operates - you just need to be a citizen with an enquiring mind, and an opinion, and as advised, on that basis, I qualify as much as you in that regard.