How on earth did police let Greenpeace activists stroll up to Rishi Sunak’s family home?
Security fiasco
HOW on earth did police allow Greenpeace activists to stroll up to Rishi Sunak’s family home with ladders and launch a stunt on his roof and in the back garden in broad daylight?
It is a scarcely believable failing on the part of the North Yorkshire force who not only allowed it to happen — but didn’t respond for two hours.
Can anyone imagine the US leaving security so lax at their Camp David presidential retreat?
The eco-rabble would have been cuffed and dragged away in seconds — if they were lucky.
No doubt senior officers will plead that it was known the PM was away on holiday in America.
But that is no excuse for a fiasco that ex-cops and senior MPs are calling a “major breach of security”.
At a time when the official terror threat is rated “substantial”, and there are constant attempts by foreign powers to intervene in our state affairs, leaving the Sunak home so wide-open is unforgivable.
Wise rise?
DESPITE Remoaner doom-mongering, Brexit Britain has so far avoided the fate of European economies like Germany and swerved a recession.
Today’s quarter-point interest rate rise was imposed amid warnings that inflation — driven by food prices and wage settlements — remains high.
But the lights are flashing red on the economy. Manufacturing is crawling to a standstill and house prices are falling.
Britain’s powerhouse service sector is also showing signs of struggling.
So can we afford interest rates to go any higher?
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey is already guilty of taking his eye off the ball and allowing a massive inflation spiral.
It would be cruel on the British public to endure a recession caused by overcompensating for that error.
Some economists warned against yesterday’s rate rise. Time will tell whether Bailey has made yet another mistake.
What’s certain is the Bank needs to proceed with extreme caution before imposing any further pain on the public.
Reality check
THE argument for the TV licence fee gets weaker as the viewing figures get smaller.
It has long been the belief that it is only young viewers deserting the Beeb in favour of streaming sites.
But now that large numbers of the over 60s are also swapping Auntie for Amazon and Netflix, the days of locking up old ladies for not paying a telly tax are surely over.
It is time the BBC was subjected to the same market forces as every other broadcaster.