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More Orwell than Baudrillard, this is power and authority in my life. Thousands of us have seen this or worse. Ask the travellers. Ask the Irish. Ask the miners. Ask the blacks�

�Modernism� is still alive and kicking�only with bigger boots.

It has become fashionable to use post-modernist ideas about the �demise of the meta- narrative� to sidestep the continued existence of the same basic structures of power and authority since the first hierarchical societies emerged during the Neolithic revolution.

�The emergence of political power, seemingly associated with the last great technical revolutions, such as iron smelting, which occurred at the threshold of a period that was to experience no further upheavals until the rise of modern industry��

�There is a system of interrogation known to police forces the world over. It is called �Mr Hard and Mr Soft�. It works like this:

Mr Hard comes into your cell. He is loud, threatening and abusive. Maybe he slaps you around a bit, punches or kicks you. Finally he leaves with a threat to �throw the book� at you. Then in comes Mr Soft. He calms you, offers you a cigarette, sends out for a cup of tea or coffee. He listens to your complaint and sympathises, but stresses his own powerlessness to do anything about it. Eventually he suggests a conspiracy - if you tell him everything you know, perhaps he can prevent Mr Hard coming back.�

Power has always been exercised through a combination of the carrot and the stick. There is a tendency for post-modernists to be so mesmerised by the carrot that they don�t even notice the stick�

This binary mechanism of power is not a �modern� idea. The Roman concept of �Bread and Circuses� is as well known as their military might. Of course, the nature of the carrot and the stick has changed due to technological developments and the evolution of different styles of hierarchical societies (e.g. the transformation from feudalism to capitalism).

�It would be possible to write quite a history of the inventions, made since 1830, for the sole purpose of supplying Capital with weapons against the revolt of the working class.�
(Karl Marx)

At its most basic level the stick remains just that�a stick. Albeit one that is ergonomically shaped, side-handled and extendable. The bottom line is still that if you step out line, if other measures fail, you will get hit with a stick.

Witnessing riot squads in action one that is remarkable is how much they resemble Roman troops. The same basic weapons, shields and tactical formations. With power as much as anything else it is true that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

As we have already seen technology has enabled the stick to become a lot more than that.

These have been quantative rather than qualatative changes.