Affordable Law and Order

Investigation of the Putney Bridge jogger who was caught on video last May pushing a woman in front of a bus has been closed without a prosecution. This must be galling for the police, as common assault in broad daylight before electronic witnesses is precisely the sort of hobby which has caused the Metropolitan Firearms and Headbangers' Club some small trouble in the past. Although embittered officers and the Corbyno-Stalinist subversives of the Police Federation tried to blame the failure on efficiency savings resulting from the Osbornomic miracle, a spokesbeing for the Met insisted that cuts had not affected the case; the coalition's mass sackings of "unnecessary" support staff, under a Home Secretary whose name and present position are doubtless of minor significance, have been a boon and a blessing all the way. For its own part, surprisingly enough, the Home Office believes that the police have all the resources and funding they need; and, assuming that the Putney Bridge victim is neither foreign nor a scrounger, presumably expects her undying gratitude for saving the culprit's legal aid on her tax bill.