Like red telephone boxes, double-decker buses and the bowler-hatted City gent, the British bobby has become a national icon.

These days, though, the reality is rather different from the image.

Phone boxes have gone grey, buses have become bendy and the baseball cap is now the headwear of choice.

As for the police, the time when bobbies pounded the beat wearing high-necked tunics with brightly polished brass buttons is long gone.

Flak jackets and short-sleeved shirts are already de rigueur across the country, and now the West Mercia force is proposing to dispense with ties altogether in favour of a more informal style of uniform.

People may look back with nostalgia to the way officers used to dress, but these changes are inevitable.

Gone is the time when the mere sight of a policeman's uniform would make criminals quake in their shoes - or that's how we like to remember it, anyway. The police are not the symbols of authority they once were, and what officers look like has become less important.

Policing has changed a great deal since Dixon of Dock Green, and the issue now is that officers' clothing is comfortable and practical for the varied demands of the modern job.

There's no point officers being perfectly turned out when they may find themselves grappling with a disorderly drunk at chucking-out time.

And they don't want to have to fumble around under layers of heavy clothing for their CS spray, their torch, or any of the other myriad pieces of equipment that dangle from the modern officer's belt.

As long as the police are doing their job in tackling crime, you won't care if they're wearing ties or not.