London police were famous for not being, or needing to be, armed
with guns. For a long, long, time. This, dealing with a society
of people known to drink a bit, and a certain belligerence. (Not Irish,
But still quick to break heads).
Ya, among the British Working Class of my childhood, the recreational practice of busting heads came close third to boozing and football (soccer) in popularity, in fact all three were often combined.
It was the Glasgow Irish tho, Prods vs Papists, who upped the ante, way back with the World’s first recorded acid attacks, and more recently to knives and razors. You could say notched up yet again over in Belfast to include firearms and explosives, but that was more political than recreational.
But SHOOTING or stabbing a Copper? Outside of maybe
Ulster that just weren’t cricket.
