[Stefan Stackhouse]

The monumentally useless British police, with greater manpower per capita on higher rates of pay and with far more lavish resources than the Americans, haven't had an original idea in decades, so they cling ever more fiercely to their core ideology: the best way to deal with criminals is to impose ever greater restrictions and inconveniences on the law-abiding.

At the same time that all this rubbish is going on, I saw a program[me] (probably of BBC origin) a few weeks ago on our Discovery Channel about "bad drivers" in Britain. It showed some pretty egregious things, of course. But they also had plenty of instances of the Nanny State Constables pulling drivers over for the most trivial little nit-picking things -- taking a quick sip from a bottle of water while driving, instead of "keeping both hands firmly placed upon the steering column at all times", for example. It is apparently also a crime to be holding a map or written directions in one's hand while driving, even if you keep both hands on the steering wheel -- you apparently are supposed to either have a photographic memory or else just automatically know where to go at all times.

Meanwhile, as the British police are busy keeping drivers safe from themselves, the murder rate continues to rise.

[Never2baCrat]

As a copper in the UK around '67 to '69, I look back and see that I was kind of brainwashed into thinking the the British bobby could do his job without ever arming. Then I came here 16yrs ago, thank God and I feel my plans about retiring there have gone up in flames a long time ago. Can't they get it through their thick skulls, "More guns = Less crime".