No return for the have-a-go bobby

Michael Howard wants police officers to 'eyeball' yobs. But law and order ain't what it used to be.

Howard told a press conference on Thursday that he wanted police to confront louts. 'I want policemen and women to have the confidence to eyeball these characters; to invade their personal body space, just like they're invading ours; to confront and challenge their unacceptable behaviour.' He also wants 40,000 more police to be recruited, with more officers made available by reducing paperwork, and more prison spaces to be created.

But it's one thing to talk tough on crime. It's another thing to step outside the narrow confines of the politically acceptable. When asked whether officers should be able to give unruly youngsters a clip round the ear, Howard said: 'No, I wouldn't support that. That's going too far. I think you can do the job without doing that.' So he wants to appeal to the revenge fantasies of those driven to distraction by yobs, but doesn't actually want to do anything different - except perhaps to offer assertiveness training to the bobby on the beat.

The law and order discussion has always been about a desperate desire to impose some shared values on a society that no longer respects authority. However, the days of hangin' and floggin' are long since gone. These days, our timid political class daren't do anything too decisive - not so much looking the world in the eye, as nervously staring at its shoes.

Confront yobs Howard tells police, BBC News, 31 March 2005