Privatising Mister Plod

Maybe, isn't more of a role for non-state solutions to public security? Am I alone in thinking that maybe the Americans have a point in allowing wide ownership of guns? This is probably thinking the truly unthinkable, whether in Ireland or in Britain.

Homeowners with AK-47's would act as a far more effective deterrent than the slim possibility of Mr. Pold interrupting a career of crime with a short prison sentence.

Equally, these protesting yobs would be far less likely to smash up shops if their owners or employees, like the Korean grocers protecting their stores during the L.A. riots, were standing guard with Uzis.

Maybe if I lived in N.I., I would prefer to have the arms in my own hands than rely on either the state or whichever drug-dealing thugs had declared themselves to be the defenders of my community.

The thought of Gerry Adams complaining to Republicans (i.e. the G.O.P., not the knee-cappers) that he is being deprived of his Second Amendment rights amuses me. They might actually warm to him, even after the recent faux pas in Colombia.

At the risk of sounding like the good Reverend Blair, I can see how individual rights, private enterprise and voluntary work could reinforce each other to protect against crime and terrorism.

Peter 笔德