Run, sweat and cheers: How parkruns conquered my fear of keep fit

I loathe running. At secondary school, the cross-country run was a fucker and I usually brought up the rear crossing the line well after the athletic kids were showered and probably on their way home. In the early 1970’s designer gear comprised of plimsoles and a standard white top and blue shorts. Think of the … Read more

An open letter to Anti-Vaxxers …

Dear Anti-Vaxxers, Hope you are well (due to a vaccine). You are right that ordinarily a vaccine takes around ten years to develop. In ordinary times only a handful of research institutions are targeting a specific virus, often simultaneously investigating other life-threatening scenarios. The law of duplication means that if, say, three people are doing … Read more

Nostalgia: The Stories Cops Tell

Has storytelling become a lost art? Have we become so insular, buried in our mobile technology often connecting with people we have probably never met in a virtual world of imagery and diminished literary content that storytelling has become a thing of the past? If so, I think that is sad as I was fortunate … Read more

Relationship riddles: the truth and other lies

I was fortunate to grow up exposed to some of the best cop programmes ever. The immortal lines of those TV detectives were pure gold: “Book ’em, Danno!” (Steve McGarrett, Hawaii Five-0), “Elementary my dear Watson” (The adventures of Sherlock Holmes), and, my all-time favourite, “Just one more thing” delivered so brilliantly by Lieutenant Columbo. … Read more

The Cummings and goings …

As an ex-cop and having reviewed the televised account of Mr Cummings I am puzzled as to why, given his keenness to talk about the matter, he did not initially attend a local Metropolitan police station and offer an explanation? Out of force enquiries are not unusual and he would have been afforded all of … Read more

Risk? Just Google it!

Ian Kirke LLB (Hons), MSc.(Criminology & Criminal psychology), Cert Ed, PGDip Adv. Prof. Res., post-graduate researcher and MD of TFS ponders the choices open to organisations when seeking to train personnel to competently handle high-risk public safety situations. There has never been a better time to access professional knowledge at the click of a button. … Read more