The week that was .sx By Keith Newbery .sx Don't pander to Sir Peter's imaginings .sx There is one television programme that no policeman of my acquaintance likes to miss .sx Watching The Bill , they will tell you privately , is like living with your ear to the incident room door .sx Apparently , the series features characters with whom every station can identify .sx The cockiness , the compassion , the bluffness , the bravado , the devotion to duty and the humour are all there .sx All these qualities and emotions are amplified of course , because that is the way television operates .sx But the essential fabric of a police station and the people who inhabit sic !sx is said to be well represented .sx That is not the case , however , if you listen to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Peter Imbert .sx This week he accused programme-makers of habitually presenting a misleading and potentially damaging image of the police .sx He felt that both fictional and documentary programmes portrayed them as brutish , cynical , sceptical and insensitive , an image which all forces had worked hard to dispel in the past ten years .sx It annoyed him that in the fifties and sixties , when paragons like Fabian and Gideon were pounding the television beat , standards of behaviour within Scotland Yard often left something to be desired .sx While Jack Warner was flexing his knees , blowing on his hands and delivering a Saturday night homily , people were ill-advised to shake hands with a senior police officer without counting their fingers afterwards .sx Now that standards have improved , he is not impressed by the fact that the public image has allegedly deteriorated .sx Sir Peter , it has to be said , appears to be an over-sensitive soul and is talking the most consummate drivel .sx In 1982 , the BBC showed an 11-part series called " Police .sx " There was one notorious episode in which Detective Brian Kirk and some other officers were shown bullying a woman who claimed she'd been raped .sx It was a distressing reprehensible display .sx In the face of continual intimidation and bluster , the woman was reduced to the emotional equivalent of a dish-cloth .sx She was a sobbing , inarticulate wreck , unable to remember what she had just said , let alone what had happened 24 hours earlier .sx It was the ugliest exhibition of rampant machismo it has ever been my misfortune to witness .sx The outcry was so great that within 12 months the Home Office had issued new guidelines to be used in such cases , stressing the need for tact and diplomacy .sx It has also had the welcome effect of making both the police , and those who make programmes about them , far more aware of their responsibilities .sx A more sensitive approach has been adopted and the police , if anything , have emerged with their reputation enhanced .sx If Sir Peter Imbert doesn't accept this , then he must be hinting at that unhealthy wonderland where television exists only to serve as a publicity vehicle for the constabulary .sx That is not what the police or the public need or deserve .sx It is to be hoped that sufficient mutual respect exists between them for such an exercise to be entirely counter-productive .sx If Sir Peter really wants to know what it feels like to have one's profession distorted by television , he should ask a journalist .sx We have never been accurately portrayed .sx We are usually depicted as unprincipled , unshaven , ignorant poltroons with a fondness for drink and a tendency to see the worst in everyone .sx I can honestly say that after 25 years in the profession , I have never met a journalist as nice as that .sx The word still deserts me .sx There's never a clever-dick around when you want one !sx My plea for help last week in finding the only word in the English language ( apart from hungry and angry ) to end in GRY went unheeded .sx We spread the net far and wide .sx Conversation in the press box at the Goldstone Ground in Brighton ended with the Times reporter seeking the help of his editorial department in London .sx The combined brain-power of the BBC editorial staff in Southampton was recruited on the basis that every little bit helped .sx But all to no avail .sx The best offer I have so far is AGGRY , which is in the Oxford Concise and is an African glass bead .sx But I'm sure there is a more conventional word .sx There will be no rest until we find it .sx Simon Toft .sx Save our Political skins first .sx I've never been to Calshot Activities Centre , but it doesn't stop me appreciating the invaluable role it has played in the development of thousands of Hampshire children every year .sx Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the county councillors who have voted to close and then sell off the waterfront site at Fawley , near Southampton to save money .sx They claim it is too expensive to maintain and run , though their figures conflict with much lower ones produced by campaigners seeking to save the centre .sx Such balance sheet judgment sic !sx is flawed because it is innately devoid of any considerations that cannot be easily calculated .sx Councillors should hear the inspirational stories of boys and girls , many from inner city environments in the Portsmouth area , discovering themselves and the great outdoors .sx Of new opportunities , adventures and experiences away from their everyday lives .sx Of young characters being formed and valuable lessons in life being learned through the exciting challenges undertaken .sx The decision to shut the residential centre has rightly caused an outcry in sporting and school circles , where Calshot's contribution is properly recognised .sx Teachers have joined forces with Olympic athletes and soccer stars to call for its survival .sx Saints manager Ian Branfoot described it as one of the country's premier sports venues and spoke passionately of its role .sx Sadly , without any similar enthusiasm from powerful councillors in meeting rooms at Winchester , the Save Calshot campaign has always been doomed to failure .sx A crucial full council meeting a week today is destined to rubber-stamp in the fate of the former RAF hangar once and for all .sx A last-minute volte-face appears extremely unlikely .sx Tory council leader Freddy Emery-Wallis announced new county spending plans this week , pounds53m below Government limits .sx He admitted that , as a result , the end for Calshot would come quickly .sx His is a powerful voice .sx It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the centre has been used as a pawn in the council's obsequious efforts to impress the Government and therefore prevent its abolition in any local government shake-up .sx Far from being viewed as a way to cut costs , the centre's unique benefits should have been regarded as a valuable asset well worth the cost of preservation .sx Ways of generating additional revenue to help pay for repairs should have been fully explored .sx Instead nothing of its kind will be available in this area again .sx Starting from scratch would be prohibitively expensive .sx Campaigners claim the council has allowed the centre to fall into disrepair by a policy of neglect , thereby facilitating a plausible reason for closure .sx It is a serious allegation that raises disturbing questions if it is true .sx The children who have derived so much from Calshot's excellent facilities are our future .sx The centre has offered a scope for personal development through a whole range of physical activities that schools could never match .sx And it is the only one of its kind in the county .sx Generations of local children to come should not be deprived of the chance to come to Calshot .sx But they will be , because of a lack of will and vision from people with one eye on saving their political skin .sx No wonder so many voices have been raised in disbelief .sx The centre deserved to be saved , not shut .sx Joe Murphy .sx ON POLITICS .sx Ringmaster Nelson in for victory ?sx If John Major's high-wire act on Europe succeeds , it will be partly thanks to Anthony Nelson , MP for Chichester .sx As ringmaster of 'Nelson's Column,' he has helped keep the Premier's tightrope much steadier than could have been expected .sx This week , the anniversary of Mrs Thatcher's tumble , is crucially important .sx It is Mr Major's last chance to cross the wire safely before the circus transfers to Maastricht .sx Mr Nelson , 43 , has been knocking around the European stage for a good many years .sx He was a " committed European " throughout the Thatcher years when this was as fashionable among ambitious Tories as badger-digging .sx Way back in 1978 he put down a Commons motion urging Britain to join the process towards a common European currency .sx It may be that Mr Nelson's passionate support for Europe stems from his being born in Hamburg , the son of a British Service family .sx It is also likely that his stance lay behind Mrs Thatcher's otherwise unaccountable failure to promote him into government .sx Thirteen years on , Britain has taken only one concrete step towards that goal , joining the exchange rate mechanism .sx Even at the Maastricht summit next month , Mr Major is only likely to sign a deal if it lets the others go ahead with Britain joining at a later date .sx In July , Mr Nelson and a few colleagues realised further steps would be impossible while the debate inside the party was dominated by a handful of heavyweight fanatics .sx It was the time when Mrs Thatcher delivered her explosive speeches in America against giving away sovereignty - prompting a volcanic response from Ted Heath .sx In conditions of near-secrecy , they called a meeting of like-minded MPs .sx Forty turned up .sx The group , dubbed Nelson's Column , arranged talks with ministers from the Prime Minister downwards .sx The idea was not to take on the Europhobic big guns , but to reassure Mr Major that he had a solid enough backing to follow his instincts .sx It seems to have worked .sx True , the prospect of various heavyweights including Mrs Thatcher , Sir Geoffrey Howe , Mr Heath , Nigel Lawson , and Nick Ridley speaking in this week's debate is enough to send shudders through the party .sx But thanks to the large number of MPs standing publicly behind Mr Major , their capacity for damage is limited .sx When the history books are written , Mr Nelson's role in easing Britain more deeply into Europe may merit only a few words .sx But perhaps when Mr Major reshuffles his ministerial pack , he will give the industry-wise MP the front bench recognition he should have had a decade ago .sx Alarm bells .sx MPs are having a spot of telephone trouble .sx A thief is at large in Westminster pinching their expensive mobile phones .sx The latest victim was veteran scandal-hunter Dale Campbell-Savours .sx Secondly , MPs are frothing about a British Telecom 'offer' to have a division bell installed in their own home .sx This would ring whenever there was a vote so that speedy MPs could jump out of bed and dash to the Commons in time .sx But BT want a hefty pounds531 connection fee ( more in outer London ) plus pounds438 annual rental .sx No wonder BT chairman Sir Iain Vallance can afford his pounds1,230 a week pay rise .sx Moira Martingale .sx Feeding a female parasite .sx There was a time when Martina Navratilova was perceived to be a Centre Court tough guy , while her ex-lover Judy Nelson offered a more fragile image .sx Now , having watched the pair of them volley in the 'galimoney' case in a Texas court of another sort , a re-think is called for - and , as with many heterosexual relationships - the 'masculine' partner is seen to be the more emotionally weak .sx For as emotions have been laid bare , the floods of tears have been Martina's and it is becoming apparent that Martina is the one who is vulnerable , easily exploited and insecure .sx In contrast , the 'feminine' Judy Nelson seems to have granite depths and is hanging on to her demand for half Martina's fortune .sx She has turned down a reported offer of pounds1 .sx 5m , claiming to be entitled to more because she gave up her own career hopes to support Martina .sx This career was previously that of a doctor's wife .sx She hasn't struck a bat since she met Martina , has ensured that her relatives benefited fully from Martina's cash - whether by the purchase of a Porsche for one of her two sons , or by allowing them both to run up monthly pounds1,000-plus credit card bills .sx It is Judy who continues to live in Martina's pounds750,000 home , not Martina .sx