Jacqui Smith’s admission to the Sunday Times that she wouldn’t feel safe walking alone at night on the streets of Hackney, or even Kensington and Chelsea, is arguably candid but nevertheless deeply worrying. Revealing, too, are the terms of her response, which was: “No. Why would I do that?”
Ms Smith made it clear by the manner in which she framed her answer that she understands only too well that anyone venturing out on the streets of many of our towns and cities after dark is simply asking for trouble. But the point is that, as Home Secretary, it is her job to make those streets safe, which she isn’t achieving.
If she wants to learn why so many of our streets are unsafe, she could do worse than consult His Honour Judge Ian Trigger. Last week, in Liverpool Crown Court, Judge Trigger gave vent to his obvious frustration and despair when passing sentence on a teenager who had beaten an elderly woman about the head with an iron bar. The youth was on bail at the time.
Judge Trigger told the yob (and I make no apology for quoting him at length):
“It is the fault of politicians that bail is so readily granted, rather than judges or magistrates.
“Parliament, and its woeful and indeed dreadful concentration on rights, forgets duties and responsibilities. It has meant people like you have the right to bail in these circumstances.
“We are living in a society which is bedevilled by wild feral youths such as you.
“Before we plunge into even greater violence at the hands of lawless and irresponsible youths it is time for us to address the problem.
“It is time for parents to resume control over their offspring.
“It is time for parents to teach values and respect to their children, value and respect for other people and not allow their offspring to engage in selfish and irresponsible behaviour.
“It is time for the police to be released from administrative tasks and red tape and be once more a visible 24-hour presence on our streets, particularly in our violent hotspots.
“It is time for the public not to criticise the police but support them so that wild youths like you are brought to justice.
“And it is time for Left-wing intellectuals and well-meaning do-gooders to abandon their obsession and concentrate on the obligations and responsibilities which we all owe each other.
Ian Trigger knows exactly what is happening in our inner cities. He has what must be the dispiriting task of dealing with the consequences of Labour’s failure on violent crime every working day of his life.
So, if Jacqui Smith won’t venture out on the streets of London after dark, she could at least pick up the phone and speak to Judge Trigger, to find out from someone experienced and sensible just how bad it is.
Jacqui Smith has 
Contemplating, as I am, the not wholly appealing prospect of a difficult journey through a snow-bound mid-Wales for a meeting in Llandrindod Wells tomorrow, I was intrigued by the latest piece of 
Congratulations to the former Director of Public Prosecutions, Sir Ken MacDonald, for his ferocious attack on Government plans to intercept every single electronic communication, whether by telephone or on the internet, that takes place in the UK.
