A victory for common sense

It is reassuring to see that just occasionally, common sense still prevails in this country. OfCom, the TV regulator have thrown out the complaints made by West Midlands Police about Undercover Mosque. (After an undercover documentary was made about extremism being preached from supposedly moderate mosques, the West Midlands Police rejected calls to take action against the preachers for stirring up racial hatred and instead pursued a complaint against the film-makers, accusing them of undermining community relations).

Perhaps the police will start doing what they're paid to do, protecting the local community against criminals (such as Imams preaching race hatred), rather than policing free speech. Unfortunately, this will not happen until the police are freed of political control. Too many of our public services are politicised, and are commandeered to serve a particular government policy rather than serving the public. The sooner we have elected police chiefs, answerable to the local community, the better.