Saw two police quizzing three very young kids (aged between 4-9) playing ball in the courtyard on my estate asking if they were siblings, returning from pharmacy. Asked what they were doing & aggressively replied “investigating a potential crime” and told me to move on. Come on.

Far more worried about aggressively quizzing and intimidating small kids under the age of criminal responsibilty for playing in the communal garden of an estate than I am about people being “rude” to me. Worrying attitude that’s becoming all too common

Same police officers had paused half an hour earlier to stare at me and three other people outside the pharmacy (there’s a one in, one out policy) presumably to see whether we were loitering metres apart rather than waiting to collect our medicine.

When I want to have fun, I always go stand still on a tiny stretch of grass outside the chemist on a road used as a rat run, rather than walking on the nearby common.

Also, I know the kids are siblings (they live a few floors below) but they were obviously confused by why they were being quizzed and what they’d done wrong, and quite scared by the police. Told their mum on the way up and she’s gone to check on/reassure them.

Grim how many curtain-twitchers merrily defend the police’s right to quiz three small kids at length rather than just ask “are you siblings”? Their mum’s brought them inside now, well done everyone. Their dad’s a hospital porter, the family understand risk and did nothing wrong.