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By this point I was eager to emulate Guleed and merge unobtrusively with the imitation French farmhouse fittet cupboard and counter unit behind me.
Ben Aaronovitch -
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
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Boss. ‘It’s getting needlessly metaphysical out here.
Ben Aaronovitch -
I think you’re going to find Marcus Aurelius particularly useful.’ ‘For what?’ I asked. Nightingale hesitated. ‘Quoting, mainly,’ he said. ‘And thus maintaining an air of erudition and authority.
Ben Aaronovitch -
Kumar and I ended up stuffing tissue paper up our nostrils, but agreed that if we had to come down again more drastic action would be justified - like amputation.
Ben Aaronovitch -
A romantic," said Nightingale much, much later. "The most dangerous people on Earth.
Ben Aaronovitch -
He called it potentia because there's nothing quite like Latin for disguising the fact you're making it up as you go along.
Ben Aaronovitch -
He was a Parisian. You can never be sure what Parisians believe in – beyond Paris of course.
Ben Aaronovitch
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Blackstone's Police Operational Handbook recommends the ABC of serious investigation: Assume nothing, Believe nothing, and Check everything.
Ben Aaronovitch -
We seem to be sitting around waiting for the next fucking disaster, which went into the official log as - DCI Seawoll felt that our operational posture was too reactive.
Ben Aaronovitch -
Peter Grant. Recent arrival, slacker and man of very little fame.
Ben Aaronovitch -
I gave the prescribed Metropolitan Police "first greeting". "Oi!" I said "What do you think you're doing?
Ben Aaronovitch -
Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, I thought. For they are soggy and hard to light.
Ben Aaronovitch -
The narrow hallway was lined with framed photographs while the far end was dominated by a faux movie poster for Gone with the Wind starring Ronald Reagan sweeping Margaret Thatcher off her feet while a mushroom cloud bloomed behind them. She promised to follow him to the end of the world. He promised to organise it.
Ben Aaronovitch
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I was just looking to ascertain the whereabouts of the proprietor when I stumbled across the Class A controlled substances that were in plain sight in the bottom drawer of a locked desk in an upstairs office, m’lord.” Leave the police alone in a room for five minutes and we start looking in drawers, locked or otherwise. It’s a terrible habit.
Ben Aaronovitch -
Because who is more oppressed. Those that seek nothing but entitlements for themselves or those that claim for everything, social security, housing benefit, disability and pay for nothing.
Ben Aaronovitch -
Five hundred years ago the notoriously savvy Henry VIII discovered an elegant way to solve both his theological problems and his personal liquidity crisis - he dissolved the monasteries and nicked all their land. Since the principle of any rich person who wants to stay rich is, never give anything away unless you absolutely have to, the land has stayed with Crown ever since.
Ben Aaronovitch -
Caratacus suffered the double indignity of being taken to Rome in chains and having an opera written about him by Elgar.
Ben Aaronovitch -
I was tempted to tell her it was because we were British and actually had a sense of humour, but I try not to be cruel to foreigners, especially when they're that strung out.
Ben Aaronovitch -
But the first rule about a black woman’s hair is you don’t talk about a black woman’s hair. And the second rule is you don’t ever touch a black woman’s hair without getting written permission first. And that includes after sex, marriage, or death for that matter. This courtesy is not reciprocated.
Ben Aaronovitch
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Then you throw the bloody thing as far as you can, hopefully outside the area of immediate magical effect, where two minutes later it basically phones the Met control room and screams help, help, serious magic shenanigans here – send help – preferably Nightingale.
Ben Aaronovitch -
He farted as I reached the inner door as a sign, I decided, of his respect.
Ben Aaronovitch -
Whatever was in the sandwiches, you didn’t want them getting too warm and going off, or starting to smell, or spontaneously mutating into a new life form.
Ben Aaronovitch -
We were aiming for a cross between Kafka and Orwell, which just goes to show how dangerous it can be when your police officers are better read than you are.
Ben Aaronovitch