About turn, Mr Reid

John Reid has changed his mind. He no longer expects the public to tackle yobs themselves, as discussed in my post yesterday. Following expressions of outrage and incredulity both from the public and politicians, he now realises that this is the job of the Police.

I suppose he should be congratulated for dropping the policy as soon as he realised his mistake. (Leave to one side the question of how any right-thinking politician would even have thought that a good policy in the first place.) The point is, Labour ministers sometimes press on with policies, even in the teeth of evidence of their unworkability or efficiency. I am thinking, for example, of the tax credits system, the Connexions card, the Individual Learning Accounts, and countless IT projects.

So congratulations, John Reid, for realising your folly.