I am not sure if this is just me, but I am deeply deeply concerned at both the attitude & comments of Sir John Stevens, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Widely reported in the media he has stated that all of those that “got their heads cracked” in Parliament Square last week deserved what they got. Aside from the principle of whether it is right to rain blows on peoples heads in any circumstance, it does appear the Britain’s senior police officer does have a rather, shall we say, robust view, of his powers.

Call me old fashioned here but I seem to recall that the police have a mandate from the citizens of this country to enforce the laws enacted by Parliament. When some one breaks those laws, it is the job of the police to apprehend them & pass the matter to the Crown Prosecution Service. They then decide if it is in the public interest to pursue a prosecution and if so, the matter goes to trial; in front of either a magistrate or a judge & jury.

What occurred last week was the police taking all of these roles & process upon themselves … & that is not a happy state of affairs (please forgive the pun).Certainly no good will come of this – but for the senior policeman in the country to seek to justify this sort of action is at best deeply reprehensible & more probably, seriously concerning.