Class Acts

Only in suburbia and in its slightly more rural or urban hinterlands does the rule of law still obtain.

The total non-enforcement of the drug laws over the last 40 years means that those who hold sway in inner city communities have long decided for themselves which laws shall or shall not apply in or to those areas.

The hunting ban, which the Police have said from the outset could not possibly be enforced even if they had nothing better to do, has now had the same effect on the deep countryside.

The lords of the manor and the lords of the streets might not resemble one another at first sight. But the squires' ancestors were essentially gangsters.

And the pharmaceutical habits of the squirearchy's scions, at least when in Town or at School, mean that points of contact between the two already exist.

Watch that space. Perhaps for generations, even for centuries. But keep a very close eye on it.