The Tories have been increasing police powers, bringing in laws by diktat and sowing mistrust. When will the left speak up? Coronavirus – latest updates See all our coronavirus coverage @johnharris1969 Mon 21 Sep 2020 07.00 BSTLast modified on Mon 21 Sep 2020 15.12 BST Illustration by Matt Kenyon Illustration by Matt Kenyon Towards the end of last week, someone I know posted a video and photograph on social media, taken one balmy afternoon on Hampstead Heath in north London. They showed a group of young people – who, by the look of them, had spent the day together at school or college. The images also featured three police officers, dispatched to disperse the gathering. In response, everyone had tried in vain to retreat into groups of six. “In the end they give up and all leave together,” ran the accompanying text. And that was that: a small, faintly absurd incident that highlighted the strange times in which we now live.