Simon Chapman

Retired from law, the voluntary sector and now the NHS; getting re-tyred for what comes next.
Books, cricket, beaches all likely to feature.

[Simon Chapman @SimonSimply]

Not sure how long this will run for, but my NY resolution is to share books I’ve been reading.
Expect lots of thrillers, with spies & history (and both) prominent in the mix.

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

Police policy literally tells cops to chase people more like Johnny English than James Bond.

Rowan Atkinson's rooftop chase is a spoof of Casino Royale, which spent six weeks rehearsing its parkour scene. The bad guy flies over fences and across rooftops, and Johnny just opens the gate, walks through the door and takes the elevator. He's in his 50s, wearing a full suit, and he never loses the guy.

The joke lands because that's how getaways on foot really work.

Someone running from you picks the hardest path on purpose. He goes over fences, across roofs and off ledges, and every one of those slows him down too. It only helps him if you're willing to follow him over every single one.

Bond is willing. The Casino Royale stunt team spent a couple of months planning that chase, with guys jumping between cranes 200 feet in the air. Bond climbs the same crane, and when the bomb-maker dives through a little opening in a wall, Bond runs straight through the wall.

Johnny English doesn't bother with any of it, so every obstacle the runner picked ends up slowing down only the runner while Johnny basically strolls along behind him.

Parkour is a getaway plan that only works if the other guy agrees to do parkour too.

Real departments have put this in writing. San Francisco adopted a foot chase policy in 2024 with two modes, one for catching someone and one for boxing them in. If an officer loses sight of the guy, they're supposed to stop trying to match him, radio out which way he went and set up a perimeter.

Part of the reason is that foot chases get people hurt. Researchers went through 267 of them by the LA County Sheriff's Department, and the person running away got hurt in 60% of them.

Of all the spies in the movies, the guy who plays Mr. Bean is the one who'd pass the police academy.

[Simon Chapman @SimonSimply]

Just fabulous!

[Multiverso @MultiversoTM]

Bill Murray retomando su papel de “Atrapado en el tiempo” para un spot publicitario de Jeep.

Maravilloso 🤣

[Simon Chapman @SimonSimply]

Important study and about time this was explored.
@nmdacosta @ddhitchens

[The Other Half @OtherHalfOrg]

"the defendant's story that they were acting out of ‘mercy’ is often unquestioningly accepted by the criminal justice system, even though there are often of signs this is not so"

New, from academics Jonathan Herring and @Hannah_Bows blasts the idea of the "mercy" killing

[The Other Half @OtherHalfOrg]

"the defendant's story that they were acting out of ‘mercy’ is often unquestioningly accepted by the criminal justice system, even though there are often of signs this is not so"

New, from academics Jonathan Herring and @Hannah_Bows blasts the idea of the "mercy" killing

[Geoff Norcott @GeoffNorcott]

Hang it in the Louvre

[Simon Chapman @SimonSimply]

The dual iconography for this weekend starting to appear in Ryhall village square.
Poppies and pumpkins.
Next weekend the nation will be detonating tons of firework ordnance on Saturday night, falling silent at 11 on Sunday and pumpkins will have disappeared.

[Simon Chapman @SimonSimply]

These are just the ticket

[cass 💖🇮🇱 @sassycassyL]

AWKWARD BRITISH PROBLEMS:

🇬🇧 Staring at your phone in silent horror until the unknown number stops ringing
🇬🇧 Hearing a recording of your own voice and deciding it’s perhaps best never to speak again

[Simon Chapman @SimonSimply]

@LiamHalligan This morning I rang @Telegraph to tell them my subscription is being scrapped.

[teresa smith @treesey]

Devastating from @timowenkc
& @KenMacdonaldKC on the draft Conversion Practices Bill:
“If I read the Theft Act, I have a pretty good idea of whether I’ll be committing theft or not. If I read this Act, I have no idea whether I’ll be committing an offence….”
He is a former DPP

[Simon Chapman @SimonSimply]

@Madz_Grant @bookclubpodhq Capital!

[Simon Chapman @SimonSimply]

@Madz_Grant @ChillinJalfrezi Every risk of that. But what a prize if not. And if it flounders, lost with all hands, so be it.
Casting would be interesting. Chris Hemsworth as Jack Aubrey (I was initially sceptical about Crowe’s casting, but delighted to be wrong). Barry Keoghan as Maturin.

[Simon Chapman @SimonSimply]

@Jon876543211 @Madz_Grant There are some wonderfully-drawn female characters on land: Diana Villers, Sophie Aubrey, Mrs Williams, Queeney…

[Madeline Grant @Madz_Grant]

I wrote about my love for the film Master and Commander, in honour of Trafalgar Day this week https://t.co/wO4wHdUrvf

[Simon Chapman @SimonSimply]

@GHWTowler Indeed. Our church, St John’s in Ryhall, has wonderful light from the East

[Simon Chapman @SimonSimply]

Very taken by this quote on the wall

[Simon Chapman @SimonSimply]

Delighted we got to this in its last few days. We should make much more fuss as a nation about Joseph Wright. Astonishing mastery of paint, light, shadow, using art to educate about science, and technology to create and copy his work. A modernist & genius
https://t.co/vEPiSeADzn

[Simon Chapman @SimonSimply]

Just finished this and 💯 hard recommend. If you like historical fiction this is a must-read. The wondrous imagining of what it might be to be plucked from a farm in a village and have barons fight to put you on a throne.
Can’t better the @thetimes summary.

[Simon Chapman @SimonSimply]

This is a fantastic read - even if you don’t get golf (probably).

My week as a caddie on the pro tour

https://t.co/QMwP1k5vYt

[Simon Chapman @SimonSimply]

Cricket. Bloody hell.