Every organisation has its own internal politics – it’s just how life is. Some play power games, some want money, some build empires, and some just want to get on with the job. Politics in voluntary organisations can be particularly bad – it’s not that surprising when you get a bunch of people together who all believe passionately enough in a cause to donate that amount of time and effort. It’s the main reason I stopped my work with the First Responders – between the voluntary side and the involvement with the ambulance service, there was just too much politics. Mountain Rescue in this area has traditionally had some interesting politics, but never let it get in the way of the job.

So when Mountain Rescue politics did kick up last week, it caught me by surprise and annoyed me. More than that, it blindsided Sean. As a result he’s now announced that he’s no longer interested in joining the team, which is a shame – I was really looking forward to working with him on jobs and seeing him do well on the team.

Thing is, it’s got me thinking and has got me pretty angry right now. Do I really want to be part of a wider organisation who can treat people like that? I love the job that we do, I love getting in there and doing the job, and I know that 99% of the people in the organisation are there to do the same as I am – get on with rescuing people. But I find myself questioning my membership over the event. I’m sat here at the moment while there’s a rescue going on a few valleys away thinking about my membership and my commitment and other things – my hayfever, my contribution. Hayfever’s stopped me halway out the door today because I realised that if I wandered up a hill with the pollen this thick, I’d be collapsing in a heap of mucus, sneezes and wheezes before I reached the casualty. No drugs can stop that amount of pollen from affecting me.

So my head’s in a mess with a million different thoughts going through it right now. I’m damn well sure however, that I’m not going to let politics or the team come between Sean and I.

Postscript: I toyed with the thought of posting this for a while. I’m aware that several people will read it and feel like I’m airing the organisations dirty laundry in public. However, I feel strongly that since I started this blog that I would comment on the things that I came across that mattered to me, whether positive or not.

Reported widely on the BBC, I read it today and was surprised to see the MSP at odds with the police already – along with both Scottish Labour and the Lib Dems:

“I thought there was an over-reaction in terms of deploying riot police which possibly enflamed the situation…” MSP Fraser, BBC New

Personally as soon as I read his comment, I though his opinion was unlikely to be true. The police certainly weren’t amused and neither was Machester council leader, Sir Richard Leese, who said:

“If you are going to put blame on anybody you put blame on those people for their behaviour – they have to take responsibility.” Sir Richard Leese, BBC News

The police, who where policing a very difficult situation it seems felt it necessary to issue riot gear to the officers on the ground in order to control the crowds. Given that the MSPs in question weren’t there, I have to wonder how they think they’re talking anything but absolute rubbish. Of course, they’ve ended up with large amounts of egg on their faces now as GMP have released CCTV footage of the crowds, shown here on the BBC website. Quite frankly, looking at that footage, I think if I was that poor officer I’d be shitting myself with a mob of violent, angry and likely drunken hooligans bearing down on me. I can only imagine what that must have been like for him and all respect to him.

Of course, the wrong and allegedly honorable MSP Fraser has now issued a statement, not to camera this time, where according to the Beeb, he’s had to “temper his comments”. Apparently, after viewing the CCTV “the situation was more serious than [he] first suspected” and “The attacks on police officers and paramedics are deplorable and have to be condemned without reservation.”

So apart from thinking that the hooligans involved in the violence and riots should be strung up, I have to admit that my opinion of this MSP is now very low given that he seems to think he can judge a situation better than trained and experienced officers on the ground. Idiot.