Andrew Mitchell's comments may be idiotic but the Police Federation and Police Superintendents’ Association are betraying a principle they claim to defend.
Here’s an edited answer to a helpful query from a local resident about tackling crime and the role of the private sector.
If evidence were needed for the importance of greater accountability of our police, we got it on Wednesday. News that police attempted to smear the victims of the Hillsborough disaster to divert attention from their own failings is both shocking and frightening.
From a train near Swindon, slicing through the north Wiltshire Downs at 9 in the morning, to a stalwart band of leafleters and petitioners from Welshpool to Milford Haven...
"What do we need one of those for?"
Those are the words that have opened many of the conversations I've had in the last few weeks. It's been a time of shows. The Royal Welsh Show was bathed in glorious sunshine – the first for months. Pembrokeshire Show was less lucky. Last weekend, Montgomeryshire and Carno Shows caught the sun again. No easy whether for hay. Good weather for ducks.