Mean streets
TOMORROW ministers will roll the dice and release 2,000 prisoners early to ease prison overcrowding.
They had better have more than just fingers and toes crossed.
Two thousand prisoners are set to be released early to ease prison overcrowdingPA
AlamyAmong those freed will be dangerous and violent men[/caption]
There is no doubt that the Tories left jails in a dire state by failing to build enough new ones. But does it make sense for Labour to now choose to put the public at such risk?
Among those freed will be dangerous and violent men responsible for appalling crimes.
Many of them will have been back on the streets up to two months before they get their “pre-release” assessments — ample time to go out and commit further offences.
Even at current average rates of reoffending, we can safely assume that more than a quarter are likely to go straight back out and break the law.
That means more homes burgled, more drugs peddled, more bloody attacks on the innocent.
It’s a huge gamble for Labour — with the law-abiding public likely to pay the price.
Insidious bias
FOR almost a year we have warned of anti-Jewish bias both at the top of policing and within the BBC.
Following the murder of 1,200 Jews by Hamas on October 7, this newspaper repeatedly called out senior police chiefs for not tackling Jew-haters on pro-Palestinian marches — including failing to arrest those caught openly chanting for jihad.
At last Met assistant commissioner Matt Twist has admitted they were wrong, and were too slow to crack down on the mob.
Meanwhile, as senior cops confess they gave hate marchers a free ride, the BBC’s anti-Israel sentiment has been laid bare.
A study shows it was 14 times more likely to carry accusations of genocide against Israel than against the Hamas terrorists and breached its own editorial guidelines more than 1,500 times in just four months.
Only an independent review of the BBC’s news operation is likely to root out the blatant and rotten prejudice in its ranks.
Taxing times
IF Sir Keir Starmer is regretting the decision to rob pensioners of their winter fuel allowance, he showed no sign yesterday.
The PM’s doubling down — while also insisting a raft of impending tax rises will be necessary in next month’s misery Budget — remains risky.
Not least as none of this was spelled out before the election.
Sir Keir is right that the nation’s finances must be properly managed.
But the pain might be eased if he also showed us some plans for badly needed reform in our public services, too.