The police just follow the law, right!? Our guest Melayna Lamb thinks we need to flip this thinking around - and see the police as a law unto themselves. Using the example of the very cursed ‘thin blue line’ police badge, Melayna challenges the police’s foundational idea that they are the ‘thin blue line between order and chaos’. What happens if - as we have seen on multiple occasions - it is the police who are a danger to the public and not the other way around. Expect discussions of the worst police merch you’ve ever seen, 90s sitcom The Thin Blue Line ft. Rowan Atkinson, kettling, colonial boomerangs, and yes, somehow we’ve managed to get Walter Benjamin in there too.
Melayna’s investigated the relationship between the police and law in her co-authored book Policing the Pandemic - How Public Health Becomes Public Order, and in her brand new book A Philosophical History of Police Power, out with Bloomsbury now.
For further listening on the horrors of the police force, check out the Bad Gays podcast on Cressida Dick.
If you enjoyed this episode please join our Patreon!! ** ONLY £4 A MONTH TO SUPPORT YOUR FAVOURITE CULTURAL HISTORIANS - AND GET 25+ FULL BONUS EPISODES AND A CURSED OBJECTS STICKER PACK!**
Theme music and production: Mr Beatnick
Artwork: Archie Bashford
*PREVIEW* - The Walter Benjamin Escape Town
Bulldog Power Energy Drink
*PREVIEW* Summer of strikes / when the lights go out
A Jubilee Catastrophe
*PREVIEW* - The secular church of the NHS
*PREVIEW* - Magna Carta dart board aka Mythic Albion
Gay Flags and Lavender Scares ft. Huw Lemmey
Alien Eggs, UFOs and Conspiracy Theories for the End of History
Canary Wharf, grime and the docks
Manly Gifts for the Man In Your Life
Brand Collabs (Travis Scott x McDonalds x Peppa Pig x Colgate x BAE Systems exclusive)
Abigail’s Aspic Asparagus Steamer (and other 70s dinner parties)
Van Gogh ”Earaser” - ft. Alice Procter
SUPPORT THE UCU STRIKE
Mystical algorithms
Celeb CASH-IN!! Unofficial Fearne Cotton biography
Sexy Putin Calendar
Cursed Objects - Series 2 Trailer
Cursed Snacks - Omi-Christmas Special
Inspire A Generation
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
I SHAKE MY HEAD
Just Dumb Enough Podcast
Voices of Misery Podcast
Stuff You Should Know
Timcast IRL