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From April 2025, I will be posting ‘Original Notes’; these are five-minute anecdotes about why today’s world has gone mad. They will seem to be about policing and crime stories from yesterday’s thin blue line intended to help today’s, but my intent is far wider. My theme is that the rule of law and democracy, when balanced, deliver stability, peace and prosperity to society.
“"The measure of a society is found in how they treat their weakest and most helpless citizens," (attributed to both Gandhi and Jimmy Carter).
Who in society works with our weakest and most helpless citizens? This job falls to the police, so, how we treat the police determines how these citizens get treated. Many people are only temporarily ‘weak’ or ‘helpless’. You might be vulnerable, temporarily, the victim of a crime, a crash, an illness; or this has happened to someone close to you. How will your police treat you?
If that is too much just enjoy the stories, they are often funny, all true (so far as I remember)! I you subscribed for the global theme of dirty money and how it makes the world go round, these Original Notes are absolutely relevant.
This new project is part memoir, part protest. Fifteen years ago the ‘British bobby’ was the global standard for unarmed, fair and tolerant policing, Scotland Yard was a global term, a byword for investigative excellence. I was proud to be a Metropolitan Police Officer and it was an uncontroversial thing to say. So what the hell went wrong?
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Each ‘Original Note’ will be a five-minute read. Each one stands alone, but together they will - probably - become a book. That’s where I need your help. Please comment, challenge and correct my memory. I will read them all and reply. You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox.
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