Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Imagine the shame you would feel if you were Cressida Dick now.

111 replies

Sep200024 · 21/03/2023 11:40

It’s just unfathomable.

I’ve held senior roles with something of a weight of responsibility on my shoulders before. It’s not easy.

But to have it made so public that you are responsible for such a vast level of incompetence in such a vital public service organisation must be crippling.

To know the suffering, the injustices, and the lives that have been lost because of your policies and your decisions.

I don’t know how she lives with herself.

OP posts:
lightand · 21/03/2023 11:42

I hugely doubt she feels any shame whatsoever.

SweetCoriander · 21/03/2023 11:51

My BiL knows her. He is one of many people who was completely taken in by her - she used her razor sharp intelligence to persuade people that everything was fine with the Met and her leadership when it obviously wasn't and she knew it wasn't. The Met ended up being a Ponzi scheme of corrupt loyalties propping up her regime and her.

Why she behaved like this is a key question that will need answering; but possibly only a skilled journalist or biographer will be able to drill down into it, as it's about personality.

I see some similarities with Sturgeon's SNP.

ChangedmynameagainforChristmas · 21/03/2023 11:52

She won't feel any shame at all she's a copper, and a friend of Boris Johnson

Iwantmyoldnameback · 21/03/2023 11:52

She should never have been given the job in the first place she was always useless.

JohnNutLips · 21/03/2023 11:54

It won’t just be the Met - the whole UK police force is like this.
anyone who has known men working in the force over the last 50 years should know what it is like, the only reason it’s coming out now is that there is more diversity in the force and it’s harder to hide the attitudes in question.
The force attracts a type of person on a quest for power. I’m not surprised by any of it.

SalviaDivinorum · 21/03/2023 11:55

Of course she won't feel any shame. She knew what was going on

lightlypoached · 21/03/2023 11:56

It's not just on her though is it?

Institutionalised mans it's everywhere. All the time. No one person can change that.

The external scrutiny and input as per the recommendations will be key. Plus a whole lot of re-education.

It's an in holy mess.

Cattenberg · 21/03/2023 12:01

How on earth did she get the job on the first place after presiding over the series of errors which led to the death of Jean-Charles de Menezes?

VeniVidiWeeWee · 21/03/2023 12:02

JohnNutLips · 21/03/2023 11:54

It won’t just be the Met - the whole UK police force is like this.
anyone who has known men working in the force over the last 50 years should know what it is like, the only reason it’s coming out now is that there is more diversity in the force and it’s harder to hide the attitudes in question.
The force attracts a type of person on a quest for power. I’m not surprised by any of it.

There is no UK police force.

PronounssheRa · 21/03/2023 12:10

I don't think the Mayor of London should be let off the hook so easily either

Mochudubh · 21/03/2023 12:12

I doubt if she feels any shame.

She strikes me as the sort of woman who wouldn't think twice about throwing other women under the bus if it got her where she wants to be.

AdamRyan · 21/03/2023 12:16

The review says the Met has not made much progress since being labelled "institutionally racist" in the Lawrence enquiry.

It's not reasonable to blame this culture on Dick. Its a long standing problem.

ChangedmynameagainforChristmas · 21/03/2023 12:18

She was handed an opportunity to make change and she blew it/ignoredit/didn't give a shite

Original poster
Sep200024 · 21/03/2023 12:19

AdamRyan · 21/03/2023 12:16

The review says the Met has not made much progress since being labelled "institutionally racist" in the Lawrence enquiry.

It's not reasonable to blame this culture on Dick. Its a long standing problem.

She had 5 years to at least make one good decision.

One tiny step in the right direction.

OP posts:
XanaduKira · 21/03/2023 12:20

lightand · 21/03/2023 11:42

I hugely doubt she feels any shame whatsoever.

Sadly I agree with this.

Thesharkradar · 21/03/2023 12:20

ChangedmynameagainforChristmas · 21/03/2023 11:52

She won't feel any shame at all she's a copper, and a friend of Boris Johnson

This^
She'll have dirt/kompromat on enough people + friends in the right places that she won't face any consequences herself

ChillyB · 21/03/2023 12:25

Are you seriously blaming the institutional failings, one of which being deep seated misogyny, on one woman?

Did Cressida Dick have failings? I think she did, yes. Could she have solved the problems in the Met during her tenure, no.

These issues stretch back decades. They also aren’t limited to the Met it’s just the Met is in the spotlight.

The whole culture of policing needs to change.

PronounssheRa · 21/03/2023 12:25

The current commissioner Mark Rowley is saying he rejects the term institutional and is still using the one bad apple excuse

Cressida dick is part of the problem, but she is only one part.

BramleyAppleHotCrossBun · 21/03/2023 12:25

Narcissists do not feel shame.

Original poster
Sep200024 · 21/03/2023 12:28

ChillyB · 21/03/2023 12:25

Are you seriously blaming the institutional failings, one of which being deep seated misogyny, on one woman?

Did Cressida Dick have failings? I think she did, yes. Could she have solved the problems in the Met during her tenure, no.

These issues stretch back decades. They also aren’t limited to the Met it’s just the Met is in the spotlight.

The whole culture of policing needs to change.

She could have not made overt decisions which encouraged the behaviours now called out?

OP posts:
drpet49 · 21/03/2023 12:29

ChillyB · 21/03/2023 12:25

Are you seriously blaming the institutional failings, one of which being deep seated misogyny, on one woman?

Did Cressida Dick have failings? I think she did, yes. Could she have solved the problems in the Met during her tenure, no.

These issues stretch back decades. They also aren’t limited to the Met it’s just the Met is in the spotlight.

The whole culture of policing needs to change.

This

ChangedmynameagainforChristmas · 21/03/2023 12:31

Let's face it, appointing her was a political move anyway but she could have implemented moves to show that she cared enough to do something. As it is the whole force is corrupt anyway and short of funds apparently

Kassandra7 · 21/03/2023 12:32

PronounssheRa · 21/03/2023 12:10

I don't think the Mayor of London should be let off the hook so easily either

I agree. I watched him on BBC Breakfast this morning and his performance was disgraceful. He takes no responsibility whatever.

CantFindTheBeat · 21/03/2023 12:39

JohnNutLips · 21/03/2023 11:54

It won’t just be the Met - the whole UK police force is like this.
anyone who has known men working in the force over the last 50 years should know what it is like, the only reason it’s coming out now is that there is more diversity in the force and it’s harder to hide the attitudes in question.
The force attracts a type of person on a quest for power. I’m not surprised by any of it.

I know someone in his 50s who has just retired from a senior position in the Met.

He is openly racist and homophobic, as are a number of his police friends who I met at various events before I called him out and broke ties.

newnamethanks · 21/03/2023 12:41

She won't feel shame, she'll feel hard done by. 'Look at the mess they've made of it without me.' RIP Jean Charles.