dixon of cock green

It's very easy to get caught up in the gleeful schadenfreude surrounding the Andrew Mitchell affair, and there's no doubt that with the whole "pleb" thing he could hardly have chosen a word more toxic for a Conservative politician (well, I suppose "peasant" might have been worse), revealing as it does the furious jackbooted Nazi space lizard lurking under the ill-fitting human disguise. In the light of that, the amusing revelation that during his time at Rugby school he was a "stern disciplinarian" and earned the nickname "Thrasher" comes as no surprise whatsoever. His BBC profile also reveals that he used to work for investment bank Lazard Brothers. Lazard. Lizard. Coincidence? I think not.

What struck me as slightly odd, though, was the notion, seemingly unchallenged and accepted by everyone involved in the associated media scrum, that you can be arrested for swearing at a police officer. It certainly seems that this is true, usually under the provisions of the 1986 Public Order Act or for the older offence of causing a breach of the peace. Now I'm certainly not saying that some drunken nutter wandering round a quiet residential area at 2am shouting "CUUUUUUUNT" at the top of his voice shouldn't be subject to some form of legal sanction, but just saying, for instance, "fuck" in the context of a heated exchange with a police officer shouldn't be enough to get you arrested, unless we're still living in the 19th century and no-one's told me.

Police officers are meant to be rufty tufty types who can restrain hardened crims if necessary, after all; they shouldn't be swooning and reaching for the smelling salts if someone says "bollocks" to them. Similarly, if I can't be arrested for saying "shitcakes" to someone I know, or some random stranger who doesn't happen to be a police officer, then I really don't see why the police should be any different. This Guardian article has a good summary of the current position, certain aspects of which the police spokespeople seem a bit embarrassed about discussing, and probably rightly so. Note that you can also be arrested for telling a mounted police officer (very politely, without swearing) that his horse is gay.