Yates of the Yard

Congratulations to John Yates on his appointment as Head of Anti-Terrorism Operations in the UK police force. I have never met the man but am encouraged by my MEP, Dan Hannan's, assessment of him. According to Dan, in March 2007 when asked what stage the cash-for-peerages investigation had reached, Yates is reported to have replied "Act V, Scene One". Hannan wrote, "What a telling answer. Shakespeare's fifth acts tend to open with the protagonists nervously awaiting their fate. Often, they are preparing for battle: Act V, Scene One finds Octavius and Antony encamped at Philippi (Julius Caesar); Octavius preparing to attack his former ally at Alexandria (Antony and Cleopatra); and the royal army at Shrewsbury (Henry IV Part One). Act V, Scene One presents the panicky Romans arguing over whom to send as an envoy to Coriolanus, who is on his way to raze the city...He's plainly an uncommonly clever man, this John Yates. Not the kind of copper you'd want to be on the wrong side of."
I hope he has more success in his new post than in the cash for peerages prosecution attempt.