The circumstances surrounding the murder of Henry Nowak by Vickrum Digwa were in every way appalling – but, as often in emotive cases like this, there have been too many knee-jerk reactions.
I don’t suppose that the police officers who dealt with the incident are wicked people. They arrived with their heads full of the accusations of racism that had been made in the 999 call – and fatally failed to react to the reality of the situation as they found it, and indeed even to use their common sense.
Also it is almost certainly true that, having for years been accused of institutional racism, the police have now swung too far the other way. The culture that posits that few crimes are worse than racism was almost certainly a factor in the police’s failure to “recalibrate” when they arrived at the scene.
Kemi Badenoch was pitch-perfect in an interview that was broadcast on BBC Newsnight last night – intelligent, fair-minded and statesmanlike. She has developed into by far the most impressive of the current crop of party leaders (though it is not, I accept, a very competitive field).
Nigel Farage’s comments were shameful and ill-judged. Quite apart from anything else, he should have respected the Nowaks’ request that their family tragedy should not be politicised.
