The police guidance on revealing ethnicity does not go far enough
At nine minutes past eight on the evening of Monday May 26, Merseyside Police did something that no other British…
To be a success, Starmer’s migrant deal must pass tough tests
First came the Starmer-Macron handshake, sealing the UK-France migrant treaty. Following that was a series of Home Office stories about…
We need to cut the number of jury trials
In December 1999, the Labour government of the day appointed an eminent judge to conduct a review into the workings…
How did the BBC end up broadcasting Bob Vylan?
Until last weekend, Bob Vylan were not a household name. I admit that I had never heard of the rap…
Britain’s police force isn’t fit for the 21st century
In last Friday’s early evening rush hour, three police vehicles had parked by the side of the North Circular Road…
Is Labour tough enough to act on Gauke’s prison review?
Uncork the Gauke! In the coalition years, whenever George Osborne found himself in a tight spot as Chancellor, advisers would…
Can Britain end its dependence on foreign workers?
Migration, migration, migration. Sir Keir Starmer didn’t express it like that in his Downing Street press conference, but he might…
The Chris Kaba misconduct case doesn’t make sense
Here we go again. For those who drew up the convoluted regulations around police misconduct, the decision to proceed with a…
Asylum appeals aren’t helping Labour close migrant hotels
The top mandarin at the Home Office gave the game away. At a somnolent session of the Commons home affairs…
Why people kill
Why did he do it? Over the last few weeks, many of us have asked that question following a series…
The police vetting system is a mess
Picture the scene: the press conference room at New Scotland Yard in March 2023 – just after the publication of…
Bobbies on the beat won’t stop the cyber crime wave
One morning last week, in the early hours, I received a puzzling text from my bank. ‘Did you use your…
Can the gargantuan court backlog be fixed?
Just like London buses, you wait ages for a criminal justice review – and then three come along at once. First…
Labour should be wary of scrapping short prison sentences
What is the point of a short prison sentence? David Gauke will no doubt think carefully about that question now…
The problem at the heart of the Chris Kaba case
There are few moments more serious than when the state takes the life of a citizen, when a police officer…
British policing needs a total rethink
If you started again with a clean slate, a blank sheet of paper, you would never design a system of policing like…
Martin Hewitt is the right pick for ‘border tsar’
The ‘border tsar’ isn’t the official title for Martin Hewitt. The former police chief has been appointed to the new…
Thousands of prisoners are about to be released early. Is probation ready?
I met Anthony by the gates of Thameside prison in south-east London. A skinny, gaunt-looking man in his 40s, he’d…
Prison cells are now being rationed
The announcement from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is couched in bureaucratic language, but there is no disguising it. ‘Process…
The riots have proved swift justice is possible
John O’Malley and William Nelson-Morgan; Adnan Ghaffour and Leanne Hodgson; Sameer Ali and Stacey Vint – some of the dozens…
How to stop the riots
For five days at the beginning of August 2011, it felt like we were on the brink of anarchy. Over…
Which crimes no longer deserve prison?
More people are being jailed than the justice system can manage. There are only 557 places left across 120 prisons…
Why Met firearms officers want to hand in their guns
The decision by up to 300 Metropolitan police firearms officers to withdraw from armed duties is a serious and worrying…
The Met police is caught in a dangerous spiral
Twelve months after Sir Mark Rowley embarked on a mission to re-boot the Metropolitan Police following a wave of scandals,…
Do we need a nationwide DNA database for crime?
When a man has spent 17 years in prison for a crime that he didn’t commit, there are many urgent…
