Mahmood should not waste her chance to reform the police
The Home Secretary is feeling the collars of our 43 chief constables. Shabana Mahmood has let it be known that…
Should the police use facial recognition on children?
Should cops spy on kids? The revelation that police are including surveillance of young people in their expanding use of…
Good riddance to Police and Crime Commissioners
So farewell then, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). The government has just announced that this weak and useless experiment in…
Why Prevent doesn’t work
Our state counterterrorism strategy ‘Prevent’ is overwhelmed. This is the strand of our national plan, ‘Contest’, to defeat extremism. Prevent…
The real reason prisoners keep being accidentally released
You’d need a heart of stone not to feel sympathy for Alex Davies-Jones. Labour’s minister for victims was on human…
Terror is becoming worryingly familiar in Britain
After the very latest mass casualty attack on Saturday night, on a busy London North Eastern Railway train in Huntingdon,…
How the state tried to ‘safeguard’ Axel Rudakubana
The Southport inquiry into the murderous frenzy of Axel Rudakubana has broken for half term. Officials who have been already…
Jim Gamble is the right man to lead the grooming gang inquiry
We desperately need the national inquiry into child grooming gangs to get underway – both for the sake of the many…
Only Harry Potter can save Devon’s drivers
As a title, Harry Potter and the Potholes of Devon wouldn’t survive the editor’s pen – but sometimes life is…
How was Ian Watkins killed in prison?
Why should we care about a degenerate paedophile allegedly put to death by those locked up with him in prison?…
Should Stephen Lawrence’s killer be freed?
David Norris was convicted of the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in April 1993 and now wants to be released…
The ghost of October 7 haunts one Israeli kibbutz
A little over two months ago, I stood in the fallow murderscape of the Nir Oz kibbutz facing towards the…
Britain can’t pin Manchester’s attack on ‘assailants alone’
Ministers aren’t always the quickest to take accountability in a time of crisis. So, it is easy to see why,…
Does tagging prison leavers really stop them reoffending?
Finally, some good news for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) – tagging works! Last week, the prisons minister was unleashed…
Facial recognition will save lives at Notting Hill Carnival
If Big Brother is watching you, who is watching Big Brother? A coalition of the willing has come together to…
How to solve Britain’s shoplifting epidemic
Fifteen years ago, at the tail end of Blairism, I was running things for the Home Office in Southwest England.…
Police chiefs must learn to use their common sense
Britain’s top cop club has released new guidance to forces in England and Wales on when and how to describe…
The Met Police dealt with the Palestine Action protest admirably
Jonathan Porritt’s arrest under the Terrorism Act 2000 is the apogee of a ‘luxury belief.’ Unlike the dozens of other…
Are Britain’s prisons ready for this summer’s protests?
We’re looking at a busy weekend for the country’s criminal justice system, already permanently running red hot. The activist group…
How police chiefs can win back Britain’s trust
Policing and crime commissioners haven’t exactly fired up the public imagination since they were introduced in 2012. PCCs were intended…
Farage is right: our police must be tougher
A few years ago, I was encouraged to apply for a role within the College of Policing for an advisory…
Must we forgive the 7/7 bombers?
‘Bear in mind these dead, I can find no plainer words,’ wrote the Northern Irish poet John Hewitt reflecting on…
Terrorist prisoners should be kept on a military base
The murder of a prison officer on duty is closer now than at any time in the last 25 years.…
Labour’s prison reforms will flop without more police funding
The sentencing reforms announced by Labour last week were primarily an attempt to address a capacity crisis. This is something…
The police have questions to answer after the Liverpool car incident
Could the carnage and horror that played out on the streets of Liverpool city centre yesterday have been averted? We…
