HipPriest

I've never used matrix but sure!

Negligence in poor communities (basically 'let the gangs sort themselves out') was a major issue in the area where my mum worked growing up. She worked with kids with learning difficulties.

That's still the way the British police like it (and in the US as well I know) - the arrogant 'well our hands are clean' attitude. Same when knife crime became an epidemic with innercity youths there was massive inaction before doing anything about it, I suspect largely because on the whole it wasn't white kids

Yeah, the force that claimed an officer "may have been confused" would have been better off not bothering with that excuse at all.

If you’re feeling chatty sometime, I’d be curious to know your perspective on The Met’s ‘ordinary’ cops — the ones who patrol without guns. Maybe being gunless makes it at least hypothetically possible that they’re not all bastards?

I don't think guns come into the equation. Police in the UK don't patrol with guns, they're only used for special operations. It just means that any violence tends to be more physical and less fatal.

I think that the majority of individuals who join the police force are decent people who want to uphold the law. However, the culture is still one that closes ranks when outsiders criticise, has a boy's club mentality with some (sexist jokes, racist jokes, probably descends into more than jokes) which we've seen from leaked WhatsApp chats. It's this culture which can and does poison minds and that's where the 'being bastards' can come from.

Yeah you just kill the corrupt people. Sorted... No more corruption.

I mean forget the politico textbooks, have any of these people even read Animal Farm?

I guess I'd just assumed they'd already done that at some point already

Yep. That is correct, the Home Secretary is in charge of Police. This specific one we have now is a particular control freak. She was forced to resign from the same position in the last government for sending official documents from her personal Gmail.

For more on her racist, right-wing views, her current solution to immigrants making their way to the UK on small boats is to... ship them off to Rwanda. Since she's not allowed to do that, Plan B keeping them on a huge barge, which is costing the tax on payer more than the hotels they were housed in before.

She's big on culture war stuff ('Police should be spending less time dancing with trans people at carnivals and more time fighting crime', that sort of stuff). She's seen as being the strongest contender for being a 'Right' leader of the party (as opposed to a centre)

Anyway, yes, this is the woman who is now in charge of this situation...

Yeah, I guess if you own an iPhone and a Mac there's more appeal. I see the prices for things on my son's Switch and he's not old enough to want the really expensive stuff yet, and you don't even get a desktop version there.

I think my original point stands though - that having "you buy it and then you play it" games on mobile is not a new concept.

I mean yeah, I wasn't there. I'm sure there's a lot going on with this we don't know about as well but the narrative that certainly seems most likely from the way it's been handled is that 'cock up was made'. Maybe the unnamed gunman is the fall guy. Or maybe he was trigger happy.

Either way this is being sent upstairs so far it's now being handled by the government's press office to all intents and purposes. Which to me speaks volumes.

We're working with no facts, but if they have facts that make it look less like they just shot the guy why the prosecution for murder. Not manslaughter?

Can I ask about “NX121” though? Does every Brit get such anonymity when charged with crimes, and get released on bail when the crime is murder — or are such courtesies only for police?

Depends on the circumstances with the anonymity. I'm not a lawyer but the 'bail for cold blooded murder' sounds very much like a cop privilege thing. If it was someone else they'd be too busy beating him up in the cells to offer him bail.

They definitely see themselves as special because Daddy lets them play with guns. One of my friends dad's at school was a PC and told us he steered cleared of guys like that because they weren't interested in crime fighting they were interested in playing with toys and getting people to call them 'Sir'.

Funnily enough gay sex was fine in ancient Rome (as long as you were the dominant one) but having sex in the light (whether natural or candle light) was seen as a massive taboo.

(Amongst the upper and middle classes anyway, I doubt the majority of people cared)

Thing is, there's plenty of Premium games exactly as you describe - it's all I play on mobile or tablet - but they all cost on average between £5-10. Many are ports, some are free to install to play the first couple of levels and then you unlock the game with a one off purchase. The only thing I own good enough to play games on is my tablet and phone so I know this the hard way, but quality is out there, it's just hidden away.

Anyway, £60 is a big step up from the usual £10. I think the Final Fantasy/Ace Attorney ports are about £20. Usually the cheaper price to my mind is that you're playing on a smaller screen and with a touch control system that doesn't always suit the game you're playing (although it can improve certain games - Cultist Simulator, Kingdom Two Crowns and Bad North all feel like they work better with touch controls for me but that's more a genre thing)