A few of my favourite things. 2: British cops

The second thing I'm thankful for, on this special day for the yanks, is... well... not living in America. I know there are some Americans who read this blog, and I'm very sorry to have to bring this up, but in Britain our cops don't generally go around tasering small children.

Yes, according to this article, and Arkansas police officer is currently being investigated for tasering a 10-year-old girl for refusing to go to bed.

I know it's a rare occurrence and the cop in question is being investigated, but even if you ignore the issue of tasering the poor kid, the fact remains that a police officer was called out to a house because a small girl refused to go to bed. That wouldn't happen here, as far as I know.

Every now and then, the British police release a list of bizarre 999 calls, to illustrate the kinds of things officers will not waste their time over: for instance, when people call to report their boyfriend for not letting them watch EastEnders. (I'm not kidding). I'm sure "my daughter won't go to bed" is the kind of emergency that would be on one of these lists.

But the officer in Arkansas didn't just rush straight to the mother's aid (as if that wasn't bad enough): he restrained the little girl, tried to handcuff her, then tasered her and carried her limp body to his car. The cop hasn't even been disciplined for this.

Makes you grateful for the baton-wielding maniacs we have in Britain, doesn't it? At least they send out Christmas cards.