My wife and I had to submit, like most people, to total isolation for a couple of months during the pandemic. A concomitant of our remaining in lockdown was the viewing of several repeats of television dramas such as Mid Sommer Murders. However, there were moments when the quality of an actor's craft shone through what may reasonably called a pedestrian drama, when the actor’s delivery of words and phrases became memorable. The late Anna Massey provided me with the title and point of departure for this print when she coolly informed Tom Barnaby (the detective hero in the series) that he had no jurisdiction over a MI6 security case; saying, "you must understand Tom, we are the bullies in the playground".  I often use overheard phrases as the starting point for an image, such as when Paul Duke asked my wife, "Jane what do you think about all this art malarkey"? I have used variations of art malarkey as the title of a couple of prints and thought similarly that, 'bullies in the playground' would be a great title for an image that contained actual and fictional military, old school and club ties, particularly as these are the public symbols of institutions, which are often the breeding ground for us bullies.