The media are doing this, not because they have a sinister motive, but because they love to feel that they are influencing events. That's why they hate politicians so much, because politicians have direct power and they do not. Ben Aaronovitch More Quotes by Ben Aaronovitch More Quotes From Ben Aaronovitch This is your brain on magic. Ben Aaronovitch magic brain In the winter she curls up around a good book and dreams away the cold. Ben Aaronovitch dream winter book My Dad says that being a Londoner has nothing to do with where you're born. He says that there are people who get off a jumbo jet at Heathrow, go through immigration waving any kind of passport, hop on the tube and by the time the train's pulled into Piccadilly Circus they've become a Londoner. Ben Aaronovitch immigration dad people It's a sad fact of modern life that if you drive long enough, sooner or later you must leave London behind. Ben Aaronovitch london modern-life long My dad once told me that the secret to a happy life was never to start something with a girl unless you were willing to follow wherever it led. It's the best piece of advice he has ever given me, and probably the reason I was born. Ben Aaronovitch dad girl happy-life Coffee arrived and the espresso was excellent, like an aromatic electric fence. Ben Aaronovitch espresso excellent coffee The clever people at CERN are smashing particles together in the hope that Doctor Who will turn up and tell them to stop Ben Aaronovitch doctors clever people That which does not kill us has to get up extra early in the morning if it wants to get us next time. Ben Aaronovitch doe want morning For a terrifying moment I thought he was going to hug me, but fortunately we both remembered we were English just in time. Still, it was a close call. Ben Aaronovitch close-calls hug moments Actually I'd always thought he sat in the library with a slim volume of metaphysical poetry until the commissioner called him on the bat phone and summoned him into action. Holy paranormal activity, Nightingale - to the Jag mobile. Ben Aaronovitch library bats phones Not being invited in is one of the boxes on the “suspicious behavior” bingo form that every copper carries around in their head along with “stupidly overpowerful dog” and being too quick to supply an alibi. Fill all the boxes and you too could win an all-expenses-paid visit to your local police station. Ben Aaronovitch police dog winning The general public have a warped view of the speed at which an investigation proceeds. They like to imagine tense conversations going on behind the venetian blinds and unshaven, but ruggedly handsome, detectives working themselves with single-minded devotion into the bottle and marital breakdown. The truth is that at the end of the day, unless you've generated some sort of lead, you go home and get on with the important things in life - like drinking and sleeping, and if you're lucky, a relationship with the gender and sexual orientation of your choice. Ben Aaronovitch drinking home sleep ...don't ask me why I know what an Edwardian smoking jacket looks like: let's just say it has something to do with Doctor Who and leave it at that. Ben Aaronovitch doctors smoking looks If you find yourself talking to the police, my advice is to stay calm but look guilty; it's your safest bet. Ben Aaronovitch police advice talking Questions would be asked. Answers would be ignored. Ben Aaronovitch ignored would-be answers The study of the victim is called victimology because everything sounds better with and ology tacked on the end. Ben Aaronovitch study victim sound On the plus side, there were no rioters in sight but on the minus side this was probably because everywhere I looked was on fire. Ben Aaronovitch fire sight sides What frustrated me was the thought that with three thousand years of history someone in China, some monk in a monastery halfway up a mountain, must have developed a magic kata, a physical expression of formae. Or at least have got close enough to explain all those legendary swordsmen and their inexplicable desire to roost on the tops of bamboo trees. Ben Aaronovitch expression tree years It's a police mantra that all members of the public are guilty of something, but some members of the public are more guilty than others. Ben Aaronovitch members guilty police Despite my mum being from a small village in the middle of a forest, I'm not a country person. I don't like my bacon sandwich to be curiously snuffling at my fingers. But sometimes being police means holding your breath and fondling a pig. Ben Aaronovitch pigs mean country
