I'm not on the side of the bloke with the sword (samurai sword? who said anything about it being a samurai sword?). I merely want to see justice and fair play. And a bunch of professional police officers could have taken one lone nutter down without killing him.

Ian Tomlinson murdered? The word I used was killed, and I stand by that. To be precise, he got caught up in a demonstration in which he had no part, when he was hit by a baton and knocked to the ground. That is not murder, although I think it could be justifiably called manslaughter.

Does PC Simon Harwood regret the incident? Very likely. His trial comes up next month.

"Had she flattened the subject, handcuffed him, and then cautioned him...." I would have described that as fairly normal police procedure when handling a dangerous suspect; EG, the man with the sword in the non-residential area of Liverpool. But once the suspect has been suitably restrained, that should be an end.

Look, nobody expects the police to lay their lives on the line, especially when they're dealing with vicious and violent individuals. But there are procedures and there is thuggery. PC Harwood was in no danger from Ian Tomlinson and Sergeant Harvey was in no danger from David Healer.

But it turns out from tonight's Northern Echo that David Healer was in danger from Sergeant Harvey. It turns out in fact that Healer is an angina sufferer. Was Harvey aware of this before he carried out this brutal assault? I suspect he was. Listen to the audio right after Healer's arm doesn't quite snap off.

BTW. someone asked earlier on whether either of the officers involved were disciplined for this act of torture, as the Independent Police Complaints Commission described. Apparently not. They have merely been transferred to "other duties" within the same police force.

I do not like thugs, in uniform or out of it. And I do not expect trained police officers to act like thugs, especially when they are dealing with a sick individual.