'The Army need to patrol London's streets now more than ever'
The use of the army at the start of the coronavirus lockdown was discussed everywhere, but in the end they were only deployed to help do testing and ship PPE around the place.
Now more than ever they should be deployed.
We're got to a stage where things have descended into near chaos, with anti-mask protests in Trafalgar Square, parties after 10pm in the streets and hints of panic buying in the supermarkets again.
There are now hard rules that if broken can lead to fines - but the police don't have enough time or the manpower to be everywhere at once.
This is where the army should step in.
With their training, soldiers should easily be able to disperse large, illegally gathered crowds and make sure everyone responsible gets fined - freeing up precious police time to go and deal with real crimes.
The presence alone of all the men and women in their greens would act as a strong deterrent - we're not used to seeing a military presence on the streets, and it may make people think about the seriousness of the situation.
The army has had a special Covid-19 force for months now, which earlier in the pandemic did jobs such as helping set up NHS Nightingale and distributing vital hospital equipment and medicines.
What's it doing now?
Some people think that having the army on the street might be bad for morale - but, quite frankly, there's not much of it left.
Equally, if the concern is that it may get people even more riled up - well that ship's pretty much sailed.
In a time like this we can't be afraid to take drastic steps in order to save lives.
We're at the start of a second wave that, especially given we're getting into flu season, could be much worse than the first.
Right now a significant minority are disobeying rules that are in place to save lives, and more needs to be done. I don't doubt that getting the army to patrol the streets would stop a huge number of people misbehaving.
We're got to a stage where things have descended into near chaos, with anti-mask protests in Trafalgar Square, parties after 10pm in the streets and hints of panic buying in the supermarkets again.
There are now hard rules that if broken can lead to fines - but the police don't have enough time or the manpower to be everywhere at once.
This is where the army should step in.
With their training, soldiers should easily be able to disperse large, illegally gathered crowds and make sure everyone responsible gets fined - freeing up precious police time to go and deal with real crimes.
The presence alone of all the men and women in their greens would act as a strong deterrent - we're not used to seeing a military presence on the streets, and it may make people think about the seriousness of the situation.
The army has had a special Covid-19 force for months now, which earlier in the pandemic did jobs such as helping set up NHS Nightingale and distributing vital hospital equipment and medicines.
What's it doing now?
Some people think that having the army on the street might be bad for morale - but, quite frankly, there's not much of it left.
Equally, if the concern is that it may get people even more riled up - well that ship's pretty much sailed.
In a time like this we can't be afraid to take drastic steps in order to save lives.
We're at the start of a second wave that, especially given we're getting into flu season, could be much worse than the first.
Right now a significant minority are disobeying rules that are in place to save lives, and more needs to be done. I don't doubt that getting the army to patrol the streets would stop a huge number of people misbehaving.
