It could have promised so much, but delivered so little. The potential rebellion of about 80 back bench Tory MPs over the renewal of the Coronavirus Act became nothing at all. Is this a case of weak MPs being unwilling to really take a stand when they can make a token gesture and then hide behind the cabinet and sit tight?
Since resources can’t possibly pull up everyone, but still might pull up anyone, the ‘rules’ can be tantamount to a mechanism for arbitrary arrest.
The problem with simply increasing police numbers is that it assumes a purely state-down approach, disconnects police function from their source of authority (the individual), and can become easily politicised and directed away from the real job of tackling actual rights violations such as violent crime and theft.
The round of protests following the elections of both Trump and May seem to echo a previous time when street protesters have been harnessed, funded and egged-on in an effort to bring about political change far beyond the scope of that imagined by those protesting.