I make no apologies for the amount of coverage I have given to Smiley Culture this week. Having said that I expect to write a little less next week. In the meantime here are some updates:

Official Statement from the Emmanuel family

Justice 4 Smiley Facebook page and Twitter feed

Cockney Translation

An interesting article in The Economist about Smiley’s use of language and its implications in wider culture.

How smiley was Smiley?

Some contrasting views from Smiley’s neighbours:

Get Surrey portray him as leading a “secluded life”.

The Voice suggests he was a bit more up for it than that

I have not included these links for their gossip value alone – one of the critical things in the Colin Roach case was his portrayal by the police and in the media as “having a history of mental health problems” which was incorrect. I believe this then influenced the public’s perception of the circumstances surrounding his death and the investigation into it.

The anonymous (police?) source in The Sun suggested that “Smiley must have thought he was going away for a long time and decided he could not handle it.” Conversely, the Emmanuel family believe that Smiley expected to be acquitted and was “calm” only 25 minutes before his death. It will be worth keeping an eye on the various narratives which emerge as the IPCC investigation progresses.

Police Officers

Did you know that there are more deaths in police custody under a Tory government?

Here is what some serving police officers are saying about the incident