Reflecting on street parties, playing out, and controlling activities.

 I woke up to rain this morning, decided I was going nowhere, reset my alarm and went back to sleep for a while. It’s a bit of a change from yesterday, which was the kind of day when you could stroll around without a jacket. The prefect day for a street party. Which is what was going on, in a small way, in the housing estate round the corner from our house. 

Actually, it was more like a bunch of children playing out - skateboards, bicycles, those odd trainers with ballbearing-type wheels in the heels - and parents sitting around watching them and having a drink together in the process. It was rather like a street scene from my childhood except that you might not have seen so much beer back then.

Mind you, according to this article, playing out is largely frowned upon these days and even involves police intervention! As one parent reported: “Over the past couple of years I have had police knock on my door about reports my young son was in danger because he was playing near the house and then last summer Newham council street enforcement officers brought my son to my door because they saw him playing with friends near our house and were concerned.”

“Playing out” has become more controlled. Family bike rides have largely replaced kids roaming around unsupervised on their bikes. 

It’s not just children’s play that has attracted police attention. With quite large numbers of people arrested for expressing anti-royalist sentiments on Saturday, it seems as though police powers have gone a little too far. According to this article, in some cases the police are being over-zealous in their application of their powers.

Here’s an example: “one woman recorded herself being berated by a police community support officer for having a sticker “trans ideology erased women” in her window. A feminist activist was arrested and detained in custody for 12 hours by Gwent police on suspicion of displaying “threatening or abusive writing” after reports she had put up stickers including slogans such as “no men in women’s prisons” and “humans never change sex”. Police raided her home and, extraordinarily, confiscated a gender critical book, presumably as evidence of “wrongthink”.

There was even a chief of police or former chief of police on a news broadcast I heard speaking out against the increased police powers, on the grounds that they were against freedom of speech and the freedom to protest. She expressed concern that we are becoming a police state! 

That’s enough of a rant for a bank holiday morning. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!