If you pitch a camp without asking the villagers, you must expect a restless night and a few kicked in lanterns. That is what has happened in Epping, where a national problem has been dumped on one small community with little preparation and less honest explanation. The judge is right not to reward those who stir up violence outside the Bell Hotel, but law that appears to ignore local plans will never command the loyalty that policing by consent requires. In scouting we taught boys to plan their route before dark, not stumble from hedge to hedge hoping the ground would hold, yet the Home Office seems to have done exactly that with its reliance on hundreds of hotels. If ministers wish to keep the moral high ground, they must talk plainly with towns like Epping, seek proper authority for new sites, and give clear timetables so that people know this is a bridge to better arrangements, not a permanent encampment. Until then judgments like this will feel less like justice and more like orders barked from a distant headquarters.