Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Picture: Wightman Road Closed as Man on Window Ledge Threatened Jump
Pictured: Man on the window ledge of the Shelton Hotel was threatening to Jump Photo: YB
In the early hours of this morning the emergency services closed Wightman around Station Approach Road by Harringay Station as a man was threatening to jump from the first floor window of the Shelton Hotel.
Leading up to the incident an argument between a couple staying at the hotel had grown increasingly heated. Eventually it turned to violence with the male guest attacking his female partner. Disturbed guests alerted the hotel's management who immediately called the police.
Rather than going quietly the violent guest refused to accompany the police and made his way on to the window sill of the corner room facing Wightman Road.
The bid for freedom lasted less than an hour and the road was reopened in time for the morning rush hour.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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If he was threatening to jump how was this seen as "a bid for freedom"?
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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how was this seen as "a bid for freedom"?
A literary or theatrical flourish (it seems more of a bid to break a bone).
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Permalink Reply by Felicitá on
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If he was threatening to jump how was this seen as "a bid for freedom"?
According to reports about this hotel's cleanliness, one can only wonder...
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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I would guess if the police were at his door and he made a dash for the window that would count as a " bid for freedom " even if he chickened out.
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I think what Alan was getting at (far be it for me to put words in the mouth of the good councillor) was that "bid for freedom" is used normally used in more serious cases.
It's usually associated with taking great risks to escape from repression, such as East Berliners trying to make a dash for it at the time of the building of the Berlin Wall – and were sometimes shot while trying their bid for freedom.
Sometimes its used tongue in cheek to describe a circus or farmyard animal who's escaped. A bloke with anger management issues threatening to dent a car roof 10 ft below, might not qualify.
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Far be it for me to contradict the interpretation of the good Clive but I'm going to anyway.
Because I think one thing which may have been going through Alan's mind may have been his total ignorance of what this particular bloke on the window ledge was thinking and feeling at the time.
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My point was to query the language used to describe news events. I'm assuming, Hugh, that you spotted this written by a journalist on one of the websites which are trying to substitute for the dead or dying local newspapers.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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You assume incorrectly, but I am taking your commentary as a sign that you're volunteering to copyedit the site which is much appreciated.
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Oops! And double oops! But I'm gently suggesting that contributors to any website don't have to follow conventions developed to serve a print format.
For example, using stock phrases with short words which fit a headline or across a tabloid page. (So things are "set" to happen. Killers go a "spree". "A Council "boss" announces something. Criminals are "caged".)
I also feel an excitement that we're at a stage like the introduction of long playing records. (Some people may still remember those strange objects.) The new medium often continued to be used for music tracks lasting three minutes. It took a while before creative people realised they were free to leave the old forms behind.
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You have a BBC media background, John. Don't the best TV and radio journalists use fresh, interesting language?
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Permalink Reply by Abi on
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But Alan, us poor web copy writers aren't even allowed to use such words and phrases in headlines - that's all very retro in an age of SEO! If we have a witty or pun-driven headline nowadays, the best we can do with it is get a laugh in the office, before creating dull keyword soup...
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