How many policemen does it take to arrest a shop lifter?

Last night on the way home I called in at the chemist to inform them that my drug supply was running low.  They had given me a date during next week for my next top-up.  That is too late.  I used up the last weekly ones on Saturday.  I walked along the street and into the shop.  To get to the dispensing counter I passed someone on the phone talking about the price of some of the cosmetics packs.  It's mothering Sunday next weekend so that wasn't a surprise.  When I got to the counter the staff were very distracted.  I heard one of them say "The police have got him" and "He's thrown the bag back into the shop".  As I approached the shop I had noticed nothing suspicious - don't ever ask me to join neighbourhood watch - I'd be useless.  Now there were blue lights flashing outside.  As I left it was very obvious that an arrest was in progress - even to me!

I remember once asking a question in a sermon and promising I would answer it later. Having got the congregation to vote, they were clearly expecting an answer.  However time was moving on so I cut out the piece with the answer in it.  Imagine the disappointment.  After the service I didn't need to imagine it - there were plenty there to tell me exactly how disappointed they were.

So I'd better get back to the question.  I asked Liz as soon as I arrived home.  Her answer: "4".  Just about right, but as I was walking away another car arrived with two more!

I'm all for justice, shoplifters should be prosecuted, but is it really necessary to have 6 policemen at the scene of the arrest?

Politician Bugged

So some politician has allegedly been bugged by the police while in a discussion with one of his friends. They are both Muslims - hence the paranoia. The rest of us have taken having our freedoms removed, and it seems that some of us have even supported it, now that it starts to affect politicians (the ones who have been removing our freedoms), there are calls for the re-instatement of civil liberties and the rights to privacy. Well what a surprise!
Perhaps the only way to remove the ridiculous 28 days incarceration without trial is to ensure that the first person to be the subject of such an action is an MP.

Reality check. MP's are people too. They are as likely to do bad things as anyone else - more likely perhaps, as they have both opportunity and motive. The law (good or bad) should apply to all the people in the same way.

Now we should see the next one who is caught being creative with their recording of funding for some campaign or other, or employing their family at unreasonable rates of pay, being arrested under the prevention of terrorism act.

Christmas

I had expected Christmas to be quite difficult this year, but everybody seemed to cope really well. That is not to say that we didn't miss people, but we did have a good family Christmas. All the children that are away have come home, including my nephew, who now lives in Milton Keynes. It's great to see them setting up adult life for themselves, but I do miss having children around. However, with the very young ones running about and being 'all excitement', I realised why younger people look after young children. They are lovely, but they aren't mine, and I can't insist that they learn to sit in their seats and be (reasonably) quiet. I have to accept that different parents bring their children up in different ways, and that the focus on the role and demands of the child has changed a lot since I was one. I'm not quite old enough to have been a victim of 'children should be seen and not heard', but I'm not far off. Today they dominate. I suspect we have gone past the mid-point of the pendulum.

Boxing Day is the day when you are supposed to open presents, Christmas day is for Worship of the newborn King, we did just that - opened most of our presents. I have a very small, but nevertheless powerful digital camera, which I'm very pleased with it. Our friend also visited on Boxing Day - so no getting up late! It was good to see them, and some of our God-children.
The rest of the day (or part of it at least) was spent fixing a car. One of the side lights was not working. It wasn't as simple as a bulb. The power was not being provided to the end part of the circuit. A new radiator had recently been fitted, and as the wiring loom passes along the base of the radiator mountings, I assumed that the loom had been damaged. A new wire was fitted, and all the lights now work. She had been stopped by the police under the prevention of terrorism act, and is therefore now known to the police. Britain is becoming a police state by stealth. That should be an abuse of power, but the powers have been given by the duly elected government.

Armed Police

Nothing in the news. I went for a walk at lunchtime, across the millenium bridge and followed a couple of armed policemen - sub-machine guns, flack jackets - the works. When I got to the station coming home from work there were three there as well.

If this is supposed to make the public feel safe it is having the opposite effect on me. I don't generally worry about the terrorist threat - there's nothing I personally can do, but get on with my life. All these police just keep the concern at the front of your mind. They can be at least as dangerous as the terrorist, if they get carried away.