Peeling Away

Unbelievable. And yet all too believable. David Cameron wanted a foreign citizen to head by far this country's largest police force (indeed, one of the world's), which in addition to its local duties also has nationwide responsibility for counter-terrorism, with all the intelligence access that that entails, and for the security of the Royal Family.

Time was when Metropolitan Police Commissioners were people who had already been things like Governor-General of Canada or what have you. And Chief Constables were drawn from the local squirarchy. Imperfect, of course. But nevertheless a reminder that the police are civilians, paid to do what, if the circumstances arose, we would all do, and we would all be entitled to do, for free.