First foray into blogging... for a bit.

So - what is this? Therapy and an opportunity to vent I suppose. A blog to express thoughts, musings and views on British policing in the first quarter of the 21st century, in a period, which is charitably described as 'living in interesting times'* as the Chinese curse/saying goes.

Here we stand, about to see a new(-ish) government take the reins of power, in an atmosphere of foreboding, when sober and level-headed publications like the Daily Mail are warning of police chiefs planning for a winter of disorder. Police 'prepare for tidal wave of violent crime and public disorder' as cost of living bites | Daily Mail Online The fact is, they're not - at best police chiefs will be asking a staff officer, or another runner to check with their respective emergency planning, or civil contingency, or special operations departments to make sure their plans for mobilisation and dealing with outbreaks of civil disorder.

So, what am I aiming to cover in this blog? Loads of things, really - stuff happens, so there's a rich seam of material to work with, but the themes are likely to be:

• the reality of policing, as opposed the fictional portrayals

• some misty eyed looking back with those good old rose-tinted spectacles

• where the press gets it right, and where they get it wrong

• where policing overlaps with the other bits of the world in the messy Venn diagram of society

• how things could be improved - because God knows, there's room for that...

• and some small amount of politics - a 'little bit', as Ben Elton would have it.

I have blogged before, in a half-arsed kind of way - many years ago and I probably/possibly/might be able to resurrect some of the articles I wrote - which might get hosed down and patched up and recycled for the 21st century.

Anyhow - first entry done, stall set out, the next bit could well be seeing what the new Home Secretary has in store. That should be, 'interesting'.

*Interesting here could be the fact that my place of work will soon have it's own food bank - for police officers and staff. This is the 21st century FFS (as the young people say on the interweb) - if that isn't a failure of British government and late stage capitalism, then it's certainly not a ringing endorsement.