Hung out to dry
CHRIS Kaba was a gangster who shot a rival in a nightclub before ramming armed officers in a car linked to another shooting just 24 hours earlier.
had an instant to decide whether to fire to stop him.
Charged with murder, and with a from ’s gang, faced a torrent of abuse from left-wing MPs desperate to jump on any bandwagon.
After being cleared by a jury and backed by chief , he has endured a six-month wait to see if he would face gross misconduct charges.
Surely Sgt Blake has suffered enough? Clearly the watchdog thought not, judging by its decision yesterday to press ahead with a hearing.
The IOPC denies bending to intense pressure from ’s family and “community”; activists.
But it’s hard to see how pursuing Sgt Blake further is in the public interest.
Who would now be a gun cop, knowing a split-second move could end in a life sentence or loss of career?
These brave officers deserve so much better than living daily under the threat of prosecution and persecution.
Chill of silence
HAVING censured a newspaper for reporting details of a rape trial in open last year, the Press regulator has now turned on the centuries-old right of journalists to accurately reveal what is said in .
Ipso’s decision to rule in favour of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) against the Telegraph — for repeating ’s Commons claims that it was “affiliated”; to the banned Muslim Brotherhood group — is chilling.
Regulators said MAB denied any ties and should have had a right of reply.
But links had already been exposed in a Government report in 2015.
Extremists are only too keen to use libel and other laws to stop investigations into their activities.
Balancing the rights of individuals and groups against the freedoms of the Press is difficult.
But undermining a central plank of our democracy by censoring reporting of what is said in Parliament is the last thing a regulator should do.
Care to throne
WITH typical stoicism but no little emotion the King yesterday highlighted the “against cancer.
In doing so he also saluted the tens of thousands of carers who make up the “very best of humanity”;, and hailed the legacy of our very own .
Both and Dame remain inspirations to millions.
