Free thoughts on 'Violence, a new perspective...'

Lord Blair/BBC

Radio 3 listener blogger Rosalind Porter attended former Met Police Commissioner Lord Blair's lecture and discussion at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival. Here, Rosalind tees up next week's broadcast...

With the central theme of this year’s Free Thinking being: '...in pursuit of happiness', the title of this particular lecture did appear to sit a little out of place – surely a policeman’s lot is not a happy one? But the opportunity to hear opinions from Lord Blair, former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, enticed a large audience to Hall 2 at The Sage Gateshead: Philip Dodds, presenter of Night Waves maintained law and order as our moderator. 

Lord Blair started by making some interesting comparisons between policing back in the 1960s when he started his career as a constable on the beat, and modern times; he gave a vivid account of Friday night fights with their cauliflower ears and broken pub chairs, along with a sobering reminder that police attitudes towards domestic violence in these days was often one of 'do not interfere' – thank goodness that has changed. 

But then he went on to state that we should reassure ourselves that we are not living in an overly violent society. This was a statement which seemed to surprise many in the audience, including myself. He quoted some salient figures which suggested that violent crime in the UK had peaked in 1995, going on to provide some fascinating insight into the effect that media manipulation and political expediency have had on the public’s perception of violence. This was definitely a thought-provoking argument which perhaps warranted deeper discussion with Philip Dodd and I was disappointed that there evidently wasn’t time for more analysis of this.

It was especially revealing to hear Lord Blair’s views on the effect that alcohol has had on modern violence, particularly in relation to the licensing law changes which were supposed to usher in a new 'cafe society' in Britain, but which instead have led to Britain's new reputation as a nation of binge-drinkers.

As a central point of his lecture, Lord Blair made comparisons between London and New York City in the way in which NYC has reclaimed its streets for its citizens, and how he felt that citizens themselves should act to reduce violence and the triggers that cause it. It was an interesting idea, but given the toughness of the zero tolerance action by the police and authorities in NYC, I found myself doubting if many would approve or sanction such a move in a British city even if it did then allow the general public to 'reclaim' their surroundings from violence.

There were some interesting exchanges between Lord Blair and the audience, especially with an ex-copper who disagreed with some of his opinions ... It would have been worthwhile to discuss in more detail terrorist violence and its impact on the UK public, as well as for Philip to explore further some tantalisingly brief comments from Lord Blair about the public and private persona of a top policeman at times of crisis. This lecture may have been a detour on our Free Thinking pursuit of happiness, but it was a very worthwhile one. Watch out for the broadcast!

Lord Blair's discussion is broadcast in Radio 3's Night Waves at 9.15pm on Thursday 25 November. Follow this link for details.