The Wolf Inside

Outside a snowstorm is raging with winds gusting up to 20 m/s as I wrap up the first day of the semester. It is a day that got off to a flying start with a long-awaited notification of acceptance from the journal Global Change, Peace and Security followed by a massive seven hours of teaching. In the afternoon, I had the privilege of meeting a new group of future police officers. Looking out over the classroom, it was a bit like being back in the mirror universe or at least witnessing the aftermath of some eugenics programme. Everyone in the room looking so incredibly fit, motivated and capable.

The other week I read that, unlike some other countries, Sweden explicitly prohibits anyone with a neuropsychiatric disorder such as ADHD from becoming a police officer. At a time when the university is doing all it can to accommodate students with every possible special need, the police education unit is somehow a window into what norms that our society really has when you cut through all the discourse. Not that I am necessarily any better myself, adding another eight kilometres to my weekly treadmill routine (and no, that has nothing to do with "being healthy").