Ian Acheson

Sad, insecure and inadequate – incels can be dangerous, but they are not terrorists

Are incels terrorists? The label ‘incel’ is short for ‘involuntarily celibate’ and embraces feelings ranging through sadness to despair to murderous rage, predominantly experienced by young men who feel they are denied sexual fulfilment by a real or…

Shamima Begum is telling her story – should we listen?

For the sake of national security, rather than deference to her legal rights, Begum should be returned to the UK Shamima Begum, the British Isis bride now stateless in Syria, is once again colonising the airwaves. Her latest attempt at rehabilitation…

This Trojan Horse report is a valuable lesson in ‘institutional timidity’

In 2016, I was tasked by the then Justice Secretary, Michael Gove, to look at Islamist extremism in our prison, probation and youth justice system. While I uncovered a litany of problems, what was really striking was the pervasive ‘institutional…

We don’t need more laws to stop the green zealots – we need to enforce the ones we already have

Protestors are a savvy lot these days. When Just Stop Oil activists block a road, they will have been briefed on the Zeigler ruling by our Supreme Court which, in its infinite wisdom, has ruled that sometimes physical obstruction of the highway does…

Thought-policing: the ‘trans guide’ for MoJ staff is nonsense on stilts

Dominic Raab might have been hoping for some weekend respite after the recent bullying allegations against him. But while the Justice Secretary sought to get on the front foot with measures to tackle extremism in prisons, trans activists in his own…

Bullies need to be rooted out – but we should be clear about what ‘bullying’ really means

If you think you’re being bullied at work there’s no end of help available. Google ‘workplace bullying’ and you’ll be directed to a list topped with law firms offering to take up cudgels on your behalf for ‘a deal that’s right for you’. Your…

A cop-out: vetting failures paint an alarming picture of police recruitment

Who joins the police and why? The latest Home Office statistics show that the Conservative manifesto for an uplift of 20,000 officers is on target to deliver by March next year. However, a review of vetting ordered by former Home Secretary Priti…

Goodhart’s law and order: the problem with policing by central diktat

Some years ago, before David Cameron’s gang abolished regional government, I had a unique perspective on the tension between government rhetoric on crime reduction targets and pavement level reality. By day, I was Director of Community Safety for the…

Trust in politics has broken down – but that’s not just down to politicians

‘How do we restore trust in a post-Johnson administration?’. Such was the intriguing title of one of the events I attended at Conservative Party Conference this week. The answers, provided by a panel that included the boss of the senior civil service…

Restoring strong US-UK ties is about much more than the Protocol

It’s easy to lose track of world events these days, especially if you’re on a tracker mortgage. However, not enough has been made of Liz Truss’ visit to the United States last week and the question of our much vaunted ‘special relationship’. I’m not…

Northern Ireland’s future isn’t Catholic or Protestant

For the first time in Northern Ireland's history, Catholics now outnumber Protestants. Census data on national identity and religious from 2021, which was published today, shows that Catholics born into or practising their religion make up 45.7 per…

How the next Lord Chancellor can restore our battered, broken prison service

When the dust finally settles on the Conservative leadership contest next week we will see the appointment of the seventh consecutive Lord Chancellor under a fully Conservative administration. The possible reappointment of Robert Buckland to the…

Northern Ireland is descending back into sectarianism

Nearly 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement, the embers of sectarianism in Northern Ireland are still glowing bright. This week thousands of young nationalists at a west Belfast community and music festival ended the night by chanting pro-IRA…

The attack on Salman Rushdie calls for political courage – not hearts, flowers and pointless platitudes

Ronald Reagan was right. Freedom is not free. Forty years after his presidency, the foul attack on Salman Rushdie reveals an era where freedom has been bargained away by the West in search of an accommodation with medieval fanatics who hate us. The…

Rishi Sunak should be careful what he wishes to ban

What is extreme hatred of Britain? Yesterday, enduring a five-hour rail journey to London – a first class customer on third-world infrastructure – I might have strayed over the line myself. Today, leadership candidate Rishi Sunak has suggested that…

The vile sectarianism we saw this July 12 does nothing to help the Unionist cause

Last weekend we held our village fete, that most culturally English of occasions. Yes, I know it’s a French word. Whatever. I manned the hoopla stall with a degree of recklessness to the rules which was I think appreciated by small children. There…

The Met must rediscover its moral and physical courage

A few months ago, I was ‘encouraged’ to apply for a role in overseeing a new code of ethics for policing. As the College of Policing was running this process, and I’m not a great fan of woke ideologues getting in the way of thief takers, I didn’t put…

A mob threatening women is not a ‘protest’ – and police in Bristol should have known that

Back in the noughties, before Police and Crime Commissioners existed, I was the senior Home Office official in South West England holding Chief Constables to account on behalf of the Home Secretary. My patch included Avon and Somerset, where I had…

Banning greeting cards won’t keep spice out of our prisons

CommentsShare The last time inspectors visited HMP The Mount in 2018, it’s fair to say the place was awash with drugs. The prevalence of the psychoactive substance ‘bird killer’, and the violence associated with it, meant nearly half of all prisoners…

The Tory heartlands face drastic poverty – Downing St must sit up and take notice

How was your Jubilee? Here on Dartmoor, our tiny village managed to get a beacon going that scored on altitude if not output and we’ve also celebrated the 45th year of our Twinning event with some jolly French visitors. The church bells rang.…