Sometimes, people are just wonderful - two heroic Salford pensioners foil an armed robber

I somehow missed this wonderful tale of heroism when it first came to light in July, unlike the 21 million people around the world who've since watched the video. Of course, my main concern was to discover what had driven poor 19-year old Liam Redford to stage such a desperate robbery attempt in the first place, and to hope that the authorities were doing their best to ease his suffering... well, no, obviously, my reaction was amazement that when the case came to court, the rebarbative thug received a paltry two-year sentence. What sort of society hands out a chicken-shit sentence like that to someone who terrifies a shopkeeper by waving a knife in her face? One where bleeding-heart compassionistas are in control of the criminal justice system, obviously. 

In America, of course, they do things differently:

Obviously, if Barack Obama had got his way, the shopkeeper in the above video would have been unarmed and might very well have got his head blown off. But even someone who is, like me, on the Dirty Harry end of the law & order spectrum wouldn't want to see an armed Britain (although warnings by senior police in today's papers that bobbies on the beat are to be phased out might make me reconsider - but, come to think of it, I can't remember the last time I saw a policemen on foot in this part of London anyway).

Ron Smith, 78, and Robert Anderson, 72, have received commendations from the Greater Manchester Police, and congratulations from admirers around the world (read about it here), to which I'd like to add my own.