London's police chief, Sir Ian Blair, is being dragged into the street by a mob of journalists and politicians, blood-stained but still twitching. He is taunted, spat at, kicked and beaten. The editor of the Sun is looking for a gibbet, and of the Mail for a rope. Politicians are queuing to thwack the horse from under the gallows. While a few brave souls have stepped forward to defend Sir Ian, his boss, Reid, is under a table in the bar, muttering that the lord chief justice is a wimp and wouldn't that make a good story. —Simon Jenkins in "Only Livingstone emerges from all this with any credit"

After British police murdered Arab-appearing Jean Charles de Menezes and now have shot a Muslim postal worker in Forest Gate, there is a growing demand for blood of a different cast.

Since the policies under which these injustices occurred are ultimately traceable to Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Home Secretary John Reid, someone from the lower orders must be found to bear the blame. The police chief has been selected.

Though he's not likely to be innocent of that irresponsible machismo "that seems to require politicians and commentators to find them a reasonable application of 'better safe than sorry'," it is Blair who is most in need of a hanging.

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If you're dark or Muslim, you can be shot in the UK (6/5/06)

Tags: *Britain UK Blair Tony Blair Ian Blair police Forest Gate Menezes