Night Waves - Free Thinking 2010 - Violence - A New Perspective

"Violence - A New Perspective", a lecture delivered at this year's Free Thinking festival of ideas, by Lord Blair, former head of the Metropolitan Police. Lord Blair of Boughton, as Sir Ian Blair, was Britain's most senior police officer, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police from February 2005 until the end of 2008. His tenure included the London Bombings of 2005 and the controversial shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. But he started his professional life as a constable on the beat in London's Soho - and has gone onto write several treatises on the future of policing. Having dealt with crime and policing up to the very highest level for over 35 years, Lord Blair comes to BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking festival of ideas to reflect on the part that violence plays in human behaviour: its origins, effects and how we as a society should deal with it. Night Waves presenter Philip Dodd chairs the event, recorded in front of an audience at the Sage Gateshead as part of BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking festival of ideas 2010. Producer: Anthony Denselow.