I WAS A HIGH SHERIFF A FEW YEARS BACK. THE ancient office is held now only for a year in each county as the Crown’s representative to all aspects of law and order, as well as the fire service. You can prioritise whatever you want, being in theory answerable only to the Crown and the law, but traditionally it means visiting every fire station, police station, law court, remand centre, prison and morgue in the county, as well as giving dinners for the judges. There was, in my patch, much ceremonial, which I thought hugely enjoyable. Rather than being out-moded or superfluous and arrogant, these occasions were inclusive and seemed to cheer everyone up.
The costume — sorry, uniform — of
