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It came to me on the Tube this morning.

And I started scribbling down how many issues Scotland Yard was facing right now.

The list is long: News of the World phone hacking; undercover officer Mark Kennedy and the collapse of an expensive criminal trial; allegations of undercover officers using sex as a technique to extract information from protesters; an officer allegedly sleeping with people he was supposed to be protecting; a top commander giving misleading information to a powerful parliamentary committee; criticisms over the handling of the student protests. It goes on.

"It's hard to remember so many controversies," said former Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick in a phone call when I arrived at work. "The Met's going through a very difficult time."

The Metropolitan Police is also facing a 20 per cent cut in its budget over the next few years.

Mr Quick added: "The budget cuts exacerbate the pressure on the organisation. It's a cumulative effect with a whole series of issues. It's hard to predict (what will happen) but the Met is resilient."

But all these incidents together chip away at what Londoners think of their police force. It's concerning because the Met heavily relies on public confidence and trust to help them do the job.

Their reputation and brand is under attack on many fronts.

This morning I was outside the Met HQ in Westminster and a group of mainly women demonstrators was highlighting one the above issues: undercover police officers apparently having sexual relations with members of protest groups that they infiltrate.

The Met denies that this is/was officially sanctioned.
The protestors claim covert officers with the full knowledge of their superiors routinely used the tactic of "promiscuity" as a way of gaining intelligence.

Sophie Stephens, who calls herself a climate justice activist, said this was "state-sponsored sexual abuse".

Do you believe the Met is in crisis or is it all a storm in a tea cup?

Lady Justice Hallett, the coroner at the July 7 Inquests, has now heard from scores of witnesses, who either survived or helped at three of the four bomb sites: Aldgate, Edgware Road and King's Cross.

In mid-January, we'll hear again from passengers and the emergency services, who attended Tavistock Square. Thirteen of the 52 victims were killed there.

And in February, London's fire brigade and ambulance services will have a chance to answer criticisms in more detail, namely why there were such lengthy delays in entering the tunnels to help the severely injured and dying.

Timothy Coulson, receiving an MBE for his rescue efforts during the 7 July bombings in London

Two stand out for me. One was Timothy Coulson, a college lecturer. He was a passenger on a train that stopped opposite the Circle Line train at Edgware Road.

He could hear screams and cries for help, and saw the mayhem in the bombed carriage. Along with a fellow commuter, he smashed the window to their carriage with a pole, climbed through, jumped over the tracks and onto the train.

Stan Brewster, who was 53, was trapped in a hole in the floor. Mr Coulson clambered underneath the carriage to check his injuries. It wasn't long before Mr Brewster collapsed, unable to support himself any longer.

Mr Coulson gently lowered him to the track and closed his eyes.

He told the coroner: "As I did so I said a prayer for him, whether he was a religious man or not, because I felt he had finished with this world and shouldn't be staring at it, and I wished him the very best in this world to take with him into the next."

Another example of extraordinary bravery was Gill Hicks, an Australian woman on the Piccadilly Line train at King's Cross.

She lost both her legs in the blast. She used her own scarf as a tourniquet, ripping it apart and tying strips around her limbs to stem the flow of blood.

She told the coroner she then waited for upto 50 minutes in the wrecked carriage to be rescued. All the time she was worrying about falling unconscious.

She recalled being surrounded by a pile of bodies. And said there was just complete panic. Everybody was screaming in the packed first carriage. She described the darkness like thick tar. And heard a female voice, saying: "I'm dying, I'm dying."

A paramedic, a police officer and others finally helped get her off the train on a makeshift stretcher.

The coroner Lady Justice Hallett asked her: "Where did you get such an indomitable spirit? It sounds as if by a determination to live, sheer will power and quick thinking, you saved your own life."

She added: "Until I started this process I had no idea that people could survive injuries as horrific as yours.

"You are amazing, you sound amazing, you look amazing, so thank you."

Most of the journalists covering the inquests have sat in an annex at the Royal Courts of Justice.

One recently told me, he woke up in bed from a bad dream and thought his legs had been blown off.

If that's the effect on those listening, you can only imagine what it has been like for the families, who've lost their loved ones. They've followed every twist and turn on a daily basis.

Finally, it's almost impossible to predict how you would react if ever put in such traumatic circumstances.

I don't know what I would do. Would I stay to help? Or would my own survival kick in and force me to escape the intense heat, soot and dust of the tunnels?

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The Met Commissioner has said he's "reluctant" to using water cannon against protesters.

On Tuesday Sir Paul Stephenson told crime reporters he was yet to be persuaded about its use although his senior officers have been discussing its effectiveness with Northern Ireland colleagues.

He said the Met didn't have any water cannon anyway and was against getting into some kind of "arms race" with demonstrators.

"We reviewed its use three years ago," he said. "We did not think it was appropriate then or addressed our problem. We have no intention of using water cannon. I am most reluctant to go down that path. But if we decide to then we would consult the appropriate authorities."

He also raised the controversial tactic of kettling or what the Met prefers to call containment. Interestingly, he noted another potential option in his armoury: banning marches.

He said he had no power to ban demonstrations but could ban a march subject to the Home Secretary's approval.

"We can also apply conditions on a demonstration," he said. "There might be a minority but there is a significant number of people who came with the intent of committing violence."

But he admitted that banning a march could inflame the situation.

What tactics should the Met use to help people exercise their right to peaceful protest but also ensure everyone is safe? Should water cannon be used?

Is kettling an appropriate response? Have the Met been proportionate or heavy-handed?

We've heard some members of the emergency services weep as they recall what they saw in the carriages at Aldgate and Edgware Road.

Here's an example. Last week we listened to Metropolitan Police officer PC David Hill. He clearly remembers that morning.

He was on patrol on Victoria Embankment as part of a three-man Diplomatic Protection team.

Messages started coming over the radio, suggesting there'd been an explosion at Aldgate. They then started to hear about Edgware Road.

Within five minutes, they'd arrived at the station. Many passengers were coming out, saying people had died and were wounded.

Despite concerns about a secondary device, he went down into the tunnel. At this point, PC Hill paused during his evidence, choking back tears. He then recalled seeing the body of a woman on the track.

It was 24-year-old Jennifer Nicholson. He said he wanted to cover her up but had to get into the bombed carriage.

There he found badly injured David Gardner. He was bleeding heavily. He'd lost a leg.

PC Hill and another passenger saved his life with a tourniquet and makeshift bandages. He recalled being worried about how long it was taking for more help to arrive.

After he left the tunnel, PC Hill changed his bloodied shirt and went back on patrol to finish to his shift.

The coroner Lady Justice Hallett commended him for his bravery and dedication, saying: "Don't feel in any way embarrassed about showing signs of distress. You would not be human if you did not feel distress at having to relive what you saw that day."

This week, we come to the end of the evidence for Edgware Road.

The focus will turn to the Piccadilly Line train at Russell Square/Kings Cross which took the heaviest number of casualties: 26 people died.

And then Tavistock Square where 13 people lost their lives.

At each location, we hear the families give the coroner a short biography of their father, brother, mother, or sister.

It provides not just a profound insight in to how much each one was loved, but also that each one was an individual who had hopes, dreams and still so much to live for.

Of all the stories we've encountered in the first few weeks, whether that's small details of fellow passengers holding hands in the dark or a jacket put over a dead body to preserve their dignity, one remarkable man stands out.

John Taylor lost his 24-year-old daughter Carrie at Aldgate. All the other bereaved families have had barristers to question witnesses from the emergency services on how they handled the aftermath of the suicide bombing.

Yet every day for four weeks, John, a security guard, decided to do it himself.

He believes the bombings could have been avoided if the security services had continued to keep their eye on the bombers' ringleader Mohammed Siddique Khan.

MI5 had him under surveillance 17 months before July 7th.

We'll be hearing from them early next year.

At a meeting with crime reporters, Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson warned that we should not become what he termed a "walk-on-by-society".

"We should encourage civic minded people, those have-a-go heroes," he said. "We know there are risks but we should celebrate it. People have to make judgements and people will feel more confident about doing it if cops are passionate about patrolling the streets."

Yet he admitted it would be difficult under these constrained financial times to maintain a highly visible uniformed presence.

"That's why I have made single patrols the default position (in London)," he said. "That's why we've increased the special constabulary with close to 4,000 specials now. I am also absolutely committed to safer neighbourhood teams."

Would you step in and stop anti-social behaviour or indeed a crime happening in front of you? Or is it often unrealistic and putting yourself in danger?

It's one of the worst allegations anyone could face and very difficult to disprove. As they say, mud sticks and all that.

But 62-year-old Eddie Thompson was framed by his colleague Neil Weiner.

And subsequently, Eddie suffered for the next four years. People on the street would name call and even spit on him.

This was an extraordinary case and the judge revealed his utter contempt for Weiner's actions by jailing him for 12 years and putting Weiner on the sex offenders register for life.

Judge David Paget's comment, which you can read here, are clear.

Yet it could so easily have gone the other way and Eddie Thompson could now be languishing in prison.

I've just been to a session at City Hall examining just that and what impact the Government's spending review due in October could have on the capital's police service.

London Assembly members were picking the brains of four experts.

There was much discussion about what Londoners currently expected i.e. bobbies on the beat and how to maintain confidence in policing in the face of challenging economic circumstances.

One of them was Dr Tim Brain, former Chief Constable of Gloucestershire.

After the meeting, he said the worst-case scenario would be the Met potentially losing up to 13,500 police officers and staff by 2015.

He was referring to a post emergency budget briefing by the well-respected, independent think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

But he stressed: "It is important to follow the logic through. The IFS in their briefing said that over four years the country would effectively go back to levels of public spending last seen in 1997-8."

"In 1998, the Met had 39,692 full time equivalent posts, both police officer and civilian. This compares to 52,934 now."

He believed that the full impact of the cuts in staffing would be felt after the London Olympics in two years' time.

Yet he then added there was "no certainty" that this is how it will work out."

He said the best case scenario would mean the loss of around 3,000 full-time posts, through a combination of a recruitment freeze and natural wastage.

"In any event, the number of officers will fall from next year. It will be difficult for the Met to convince the public that front line policing will be unaffected. However, we don't know yet whether the overall savings will be closer to 25 or 40 per cent. "

It will be difficult for the Met to convince the public that front line policing will be unaffected.

Staffing costs make up around 80 per cent of the police budget so it's unlikely Scotland Yard's top brass will escape an inevitable restructuring of the workforce.

That will mean the Met will shrink, most probably from support roles like admin and clerical staff.

This though would have a knock on effect because uniformed officers would then have to take up the slack and that would mean less time for them on the beat.

But the police authority chairman Kit Malthouse recently said: "It is not about headcount. It is about what police officers are doing with their time."

In other words, the Met has to think smart. Officers are already being told to patrol alone rather in pairs to increase the uniformed presence on the street.

Today, Bernard Hogan-Howe, former Chief Constable of Merseyside and currently Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary for the Met, said patrols would have to focus on where large numbers of people congregate including schools and railway stations.

He said it was important to patrol around schools where officers could build up a relationship with parents and children, and in turn increase confidence.

There are difficult times ahead. Your thoughts are welcome.

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There's little evidence as to who struck the fatal blow.

A gang of youths is involved.

And no one's talking.

So how do you solve it?

Well, it's a problem all too-often facing London's murder squad detectives.

But since 2008, more than 350 defendants have been prosecuted in just 116 murder cases.

The centuries-old law called Joint Enterprise has been applied in all of them.

It allows entire groups of people to be charged with murder despite having played very different roles in a killing.

Today, the Met officially launched an online interactive campaign called "Who killed Deon?" on Facebook and YouTube.

It's a first for Scotland Yard and is aimed at 13 to 15 year olds, highlighting the risks of getting involved in weapons and gangs.

Derek Bentley

Many might remember the most famous example of Joint Enterprise.

In 1952, Derek Bentley was convicted of shooting a police officer even though he didn't pull the trigger.

He shouted: "let him have it".

His accomplice who actually committed the murder 16 year old Christopher Craig escaped the hangman's noose because of his age. The older Bentley didn't.

More recently, Joint Enterprise was successfully used in the murders of 16 year old Kodjo Yenga in Hammersmith in 2007, teenager Ben Kinsella in Islington in 2008, and Shakilus Townsend in Thornton Heath in the same year.

In all three cases, multiple defendants were prosecuted and convicted.

I've just spoken to the mother of Shakilus.

Nicola Dyer was shocked by the savagery of her son's killers but was not surprised when seven defendants were jailed for murder.

"It's hard to get your head around one person being responsible for the death of your child," she said.

"But when it's seven people and you're not really getting the truth about what happened. You're getting seven different stories. It's very hard to deal with."

Normally, the Crown Prosecution Service has to prove that the defendant either intended to kill or cause serious bodily harm.

Yet the law of Joint Enterprise is much looser.

It enables someone to be prosecuted for murder if they were present, had knowledge of or acted in a way that lead to a killing.

There is a concern though, this may lower the bar and could lead to people on the fringes of a group being prosecuted.

What do you think? Is it fair? Are the police scooping up too many people and "throwing the book" at them?

Or is it the only effective way of cracking down on teenage murders in the capital?

Yohan Clarke, left, and his younger brother Yamani, in the photo that incriminated them.

This pair might have got away with a robbery but for this picture.

It was found on a digital camera when police stopped them in a car in Redhill, Surrey, just days after the hold-up.

Yohan Clarke, 31, and his younger brother Yamani, 23, were part of gang which raided a Costco store in Croydon last September.

During the robbery, a shop worker was shot but survived.

The masked men escaped with jewellery valued at £70,000 including the large stolen ring, which you can see on one of the brothers fingers.

It incriminated the men.

And "Clarke the elder" received life in jail with a minimum of 10 years. His brother on the right got 40 months after he admitted handling stolen goods.

Three of the gang are still on the run.

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Do we need to change the law on dangerous dogs?

London's deputy mayor for policing Kit Malthouse thinks so. This morning he demanded urgent government action and called on the public to sign a petition.

He believes the solution is tougher punishment.

He says owners, who use their dogs as weapons, should face the same penalties as carrying a knife. That's up to a four year jail sentence.

Is that too harsh? You could argue some offenders get lesser sentences for serious crimes like rape.

But having just talked to the mother of Maurice Lambert, you could argue four years might not be enough.

Maurice was just over two years old when he was savaged by a pit-bull-type dog in a playground in Primrose Hill. He needed 40 stitches to his right leg.

Although, Maurice was not an intended target for some gang member who wanted to take down a rival. He was the victim of an owner who was unable to control his/her dog.

Kit Malthouse also wants the ban on specific breeds to continue.

And he's calling for the legislation to be extended to include private land. Currently, police can only seize a dog and prosecute an owner when an attack takes place on public land.

Not much help then for your local postie.

According to the commucations union the CWU 6,000 postmen and women are attacked every year. They say 70 per cent of those are on private land.

Yet, don't you have to ask the question: aren't all dogs unpredictable? If your normally, child-friendly Labrador goes berserk in a park, kills another dog and bites an owner, should you face a four year stretch in jail?

Are owners of bull breeds being demonised? Are the politicians and campaigners forcing the issue? What do you think?

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Europe's biggest street party is a litmus test for the Met.

With the Olympics just two years away, it shows the world how British police handle large-scale events.

Carnival 2010 is expecting more than a million revellers over this August bank holiday weekend.

It's tiny compared with the number of visitors predicted for London 2012.

Yet this year for the first time, Scotland Yard will be using a Twitter account to communicate with the crowds.

So yes, even the Met is embracing the social media revolution.

It's something the capital's police service apparently tried out during the Climate Camp demonstrations last August and again they think it'll be a good idea to connect with the masses.

Well, at least for those who have succumbed to tweeting. It's currently all the rage in BBC London's office in Broadcasting House . I hear nothing else now but: "Have you tweeted today?" Help!

Anyway, I've just been reading the Met's foray into the digital world (http://twitter.com/CO11MetPolice) and it's a mix of warnings/advice and on how to stay safe.
Will it work? Are you hooked on Twitter? Is it taking over your life?

Ekram Haque, who was 67 and a retired care worker, was standing outside the local mosque in Tooting in August last year. He'd been there to pray because it was the Holy month of Ramadan.

CCTV was released by police of teenagers punching him. They run off as he falls backwards and his head hits the ground with such force, he never regains consciousness.

His granddaughter rushes to him but then is led away by some worshippers, who come out after the commotion.

It's a shocking case. We learn that the two teenagers sentenced today at the Old Bailey for a total of eight years for manslaughter were members of a so-called "happy slapping" gang.

Detectives seized half a dozen video clips where the teenagers had struck innocent bystanders and recorded it on their mobile phones. They then run off and you hear them laughing.

Well, Mr Haque's granddaughter Marian still suffers from nightmares. She says she misses "her papa". Mr Haque was her primary carer and his son Arfan, in a victim statement, said he was the best dad anyone could have.

I've just been contacted by his step-daughter Jasmine Taylor, who wanted me to publish a poem she wrote when he was in intensive care in hospital.

It's called "Prayer for My Father"

"Today I am arriving in spirit, for you
In my thoughts constantly I am trying to guide you through.
My prayers become stronger with each days that pass,
Amazing you are, these days will never be the last.
Come back to our world, God may you give life back
Days filled with grief, guide me out of the black.
My father, my uncle, my life and my heart
Open your eyes and recovery start.
Sending you my love and everything with it
You gave me your love and now I may give it
Just in case I never told you before,
You are my father, you were the cure.
Love divine and God speed, bring back the man we all do need
Your work is not done, there are years to be had
Your babies are waiting please do not make us so sad.
Open your eyes and recovery start
This world is nothing without you, how can we live without our heart?"

Hospital doctors turned his life support machine off a week later.

Have you been the victim of happy slapping? What are teenagers like in your area? Are young people being demonised by the media? Please let me know here.

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And for that, she's followed and then attacked. She suffers a broken nose and serious facial bruising.

These CCTV pictures from the scene make uncomfortable viewing.

It's a dilemma.

Many of us have been in similar situations but may not have said anything. Only a few weeks ago, I was on a train to Slough and two passengers were sitting across the aisle with their dirty shoes on the seats.

A minor "offence" I appreciate but nonetheless irritating.

Should I have told them to do the right thing? Or stay quiet and accept selfish behaviour. To my shame and I hate to confess this but I did the latter.

Coward, I hear you cry. Others though may say it was an act of self-preservation.

The victim at Carpenders Park railway station is a 27-year-old professional dancer. The attack, which was in broad daylight, has left her traumatised.

She says: "After the incident I was very paranoid at home, I could not sleep and was worried about how to protect my 16-month old daughter."

"After an operation on my nose, I had to rely on family to care for my daughter as I was suffering from terrible headaches, which I still occasionally suffer. I still cannot feel the left-side of my nose either."

What would you have done? Would you have spoken up? Or just remained silent?

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It's the "deed not the breed".

A phrase I keep hearing more and more often now.

The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 has been controversial. Passions clearly run high on this subject and the law is expected to be reviewed.

Meanwhile, four breeds of dog are banned under the legislation. Many owners of so-called "attack" dogs feel particularly aggrieved when they get a knock on the door by a Metropolitan Police officer and their pet is taken away.

It's becoming increasingly common these days. More than 1700 dogs have been seized in the past 18 months by the Met's specialist Status Dogs Unit.

Today I was out with the local borough police in Harrow.

They have a new "breed" of cop called a Dog Legislation Officer (DLO). There are only 24 of them in the country.

Harrow is the first borough in the capital to have their very own dedicated dog expert to speed things along, identifying quickly whether the animal is banned and potentially saving money on expensive kennel fees.

The Metropolitan Police Authority only recently authorised £10.6 million pounds to pay for kennelling.

The new DLO role is funded by the Met and the local council.

It was a direct response to a vicious attack on a man out walking his dog in Harrow on New Year's Eve.

The borough, like many other areas in London, has a problem. It's unclear if this idea will catch on.

This afternoon, one owner who had her 11 month old dog seized was distraught.

But she can be comforted by this thought. She may have it returned even if it's categorised as a banned breed.

The DLO officer told me if the owner is deemed responsible and the dog is properly socialised, then it could be exempted by the magistrates' court.

It would, however, have to be muzzled and kept on a leash in public, registered and insured, neutered, tattooed and receive a microchip.

There are many issues here. I've reported on gangs using them not just for status but as weapons.

So do you feel safe in your local park? Have you had your dog seized? Is the Met overreacting? Your thoughts please!