The advantages of failure
Keith Wedmore suggests that failure can often work
Once upon a time I was a barrister. Barristers are close to the police. Robert Mark was then commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
Once when asked by a student at a police training college how he coped with public order disasters, such as riots in Leicester Square, Robert Mark told a story.
He said, ‘We have this remarkable horse, Black Beauty – specially trained, tall and gorgeous. If things get really bad, we send her into the middle of the mess, with an officer riding her to where sticks and stones are flying. As soon as one hits her, she appears to falter, sink and die. This prompts an appalled hush. The crowd is quiet.’
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