Why do the police mention age?

[doolally]

I see the MP who has been arrested is quoted by the police as being " a man in his fifties".

I've often wondered why they usually give the age of a suspect. Presumably they are not allowed to give the name, being anonymous until charged, but why do they give clues such as age?
doolally

[pje16]

Not sure it is much of a clue
but these days the media is obsessed with any personal detail
How many times is a female described as blonde when her locks are any shade of light brown

[servodude]

I see the MP who has been arrested is quoted by the police as being " a man in his fifties".

I've often wondered why they usually give the age of a suspect. Presumably they are not allowed to give the name, being anonymous until charged, but why do they give clues such as age?
doolally

I think it's because people think they are interested and might be satisfied with "enough" of a vague description, if it sounds "procedural"?

They hear "A man in his fifties, with a waist in the forties and hair from the nineties.... "... and think "yeah ok that's fine it's not the guy I suspected."

If they just said "someone" it could be "anyone' and the hoi polloi would pester them for more

"Social engineering" sounds plausible

-sd

[servodude]

Not sure it is much of a clue
but these days the media is obsessed with any personal detail
How many times is a female described as blonde when her locks are any shade of light brown

I can't tell if that's cryptic, or Bob Dylan.
Do you write crosswords?

[pje16]

Not sure it is much of a clue
but these days the media is obsessed with any personal detail
How many times is a female described as blonde when her locks are any shade of light brown

I can't tell if that's cryptic, or Bob Dylan.
Do you write crosswords?

Not often, I try my best to be friendly
I did say blonde not "on blonde"

[mutantpoodle]

'''Presumably they are not allowed to give the name, being anonymous until charge''

since when are men considered innocent until charged?....cliff richards to name but one quickly
they are usually named well before the jury sits

its the 'innocent' victims that remain unnamed............even if they subsequetly are found to have lied

[88V8]

,,,these days the media is obsessed with any personal detail

They daren't say he's white or black or brown..... funny that yellow people are never mentioned, perhaps being yellow is some sort of camouflage.... and it's a wonder nowadays that they're even able to say he's a man

V8

[Lootman]

,,,these days the media is obsessed with any personal detail

They daren't say he's white or black or brown..... funny that yellow people are never mentioned, perhaps being yellow is some sort of camouflage.... and it's a wonder nowadays that they're even able to say he's a man

There is a conscious effort by some media outlets to not mention the race of someone who is suspected of a crime. So even if the police tell the press they are looking for a "tall black male in his twenties", the media will often report that without the word "black".

The purpose of this is to not appear to be "racist", which could be an allegation if such reports taken together suggest that blacks commit a lot of crimes.

But of course it reduces the possibility that someone is caught if they are not described to the public with as much detail as possible.

More generally the newspaper-reading public is fascinated with the age of people in the news, so it is almost always reported no matter of the relevance to the story.

[pje16]

What a touchy feely world it is today

[Hallucigenia]

Not sure it is much of a clue

In the case of the MP alleged rapist it's quite a big clue, as there's only so many Tory MPs who are male and in their 50s (it's a high proportion of the total, but still a finite number). And it seems to be alleged that at least some of the crimes under investigation happened on the Parliamentary estate in 2002-5. It's possible the person was an advisor etc at the time, but if they were elected an MP in 2001 then there's supposedly only 6 Tory men now in their 50s that were elected in 2001. That list of six includes Boris Johnson in his Henley days, but the name circulating on social media yesterday was not Johnson.

[pje16]

Not sure it is much of a clue

In the case of the MP alleged rapist it's quite a big clue, as there's only so many Tory MPs who are male and in their 50s (it's a high proportion of the total, but still a finite number).

Narrows it down to around 200 ish (most of them)
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/ho ... ge-of-mps/
3 years out of date but there is a trend

[UncleEbenezer]

Not sure it is much of a clue

In the case of the MP alleged rapist it's quite a big clue, as there's only so many Tory MPs who are male and in their 50s (it's a high proportion of the total, but still a finite number). And it seems to be alleged that at least some of the crimes under investigation happened on the Parliamentary estate in 2002-5. It's possible the person was an advisor etc at the time, but if they were elected an MP in 2001 then there's supposedly only 6 Tory men now in their 50s that were elected in 2001. That list of six includes Boris Johnson in his Henley days, but the name circulating on social media yesterday was not Johnson.

It's also reported that the Party has told him to keep clear of Parliament while the investigation happens (once again giving the lie to the notion that an MP's constituents matter). OK, I don't suppose they can stop him, but you can at least provisionally tick each fiftysomething male off your list as he appears in Parliament, and maybe even highlight any whose absence wasn't previously in his diary or his usual habits.

If it were a detective story, this would look like the easy part.

[pje16]

If it were a detective story, this would look like the easy part.

A story for Richard Osman perhaps

[Hallucigenia]

Not sure it is much of a clue

In the case of the MP alleged rapist it's quite a big clue, as there's only so many Tory MPs who are male and in their 50s (it's a high proportion of the total, but still a finite number).

Narrows it down to around 200 ish (most of them)
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/ho ... ge-of-mps/
3 years out of date but there is a trend

Per your link, it's 31% of 365 Tory MPs which is 113, but at least a quarter of those will be women. It's not going to be Theresa Villiers or Andrea Leadsom, so you're down to double figures already.

The police have said "In January 2020, the Met received a report relating to alleged sexual offences having been committed between 2002 and 2009...The offences are alleged to have occurred in London...was arrested on suspicion of indecent assault, sexual assault, rape, abuse of position of trust and misconduct in public office".

So they were in "public office" based in London (as opposed to say Holyrood) at some point between 2002 and 2009 - there's not many of those 80-90 Tory men in their 50s who were in public office during the Blair years, so that cuts it down a lot more.

[Hallucigenia]

It's also reported that the Party has told him to keep clear of Parliament while the investigation happens (once again giving the lie to the notion that an MP's constituents matter). OK, I don't suppose they can stop him, but you can at least provisionally tick each fiftysomething male off your list as he appears in Parliament, and maybe even highlight any whose absence wasn't previously in his diary or his usual habits.

The police have said he's in custody, so any appearance in public will work.

[mutantpoodle]

yes I wondered about that

police say he is in custody...so why is it needed to stop him going to Westminnster??

[Lootman]

yes I wondered about that

police say he is in custody...so why is it needed to stop him going to Westminster??

I would assume that an MP would not have any trouble making bail.

[Mike4]

yes I wondered about that

police say he is in custody...so why is it needed to stop him going to Westminster??

I would assume that an MP would not have any trouble making bail.

Which is indeed what has happened. BBC News at lunchtime today reported he has been released on bail.

[servodude]

What a touchy feely world it is today

Touchy I can see from the responses to the thread
I think they might leave the feely bit till they're researching tractors

[servodude]

yes I wondered about that

police say he is in custody...so why is it needed to stop him going to Westminster??

I would assume that an MP would not have any trouble making bail.

Which is indeed what has happened. BBC News at lunchtime today reported he has been released on bail.

..on a sticky wicket though?.

(Look, I apologise.... it's a vaguely cricket based pun by a Scot who's been to two cricket games in his life and feels this thread needs a bit more than miserable sods feeling their sense of identity is threatened by the fact an elected English Tory bloke being accused of rape. Let's face it this will be a historical charge and it was probably legal to rape your wife when he was elected (2003 that changed in the UK) so it's probably going to offend more of "them" that he wasn't married to the accuser when engaging in unwanted "relations" - and they'll manage the cognitive dissonance of Boris because he got the "big things right" i.e. "fooling my thick mate racist Dave to vote for him")

But yeah (just in case anyone was really confused and stuff).. a pun is where a word can mean different things

- sd