Strolling the Streets of Baltimore

Attention Wire fans: if you haven't done so already you should really make sure you read Peter Mosko's new book, Cop in the Hood. Moskos, a Princeton and Harvard sociologist actually joined the Baltimore Police Department and spent more than a year patrolling in the city's Eastern District ghetto (where much of The Wire was filmed). The results are fascinating - and gruesome. But then that's your War on Drugs for you, ain't it?

Incidentally, does anyone know why neither the BBC nor Channel Four bought The Wire? It could have been a success* in Britain, I think. Instead it's been consigned to the FX backwater with, as best I can tell, next to no effort made to promote the show.

Meanwhile, you can see a Bloggingheads dialogue between Mr Moskos and the invariably estimable Will Wilkinson here.

*Well, all my pals who've seen it have loved it. A sample that makes up in taste what it may lack in size.