Met head honch to quit?

Hmmm... pity it had to be over a single media event rather than his career record - but it looks like Metropolitan Police Chief Ian Blair is on his way out.
This Blair, like his namesake at No 10, is scarier than any terrorist, because he's one of the quiet ones: intelligent, soft-spoken, a picture of calm reason. Yet in his own way, he's badder than the maddest of mullahs. Just like Tony, he's made the mistake of confusing his personal beliefs with his job description: he thinks he's one of the chosen few, with a natural right to harrangue us about what we ought to believe and how we should be behaving.

Blair believes that arresting Kate Moss for her cocaine use is a good use of police time. (Maybe he just wants an excuse to drop by her flat.) And a 'duty' to prosecute middle-class drug users 'as an example'. (Really? Aren't police there to stop crime, rather than lecture us on private morals or conduct public floggings in some kangeroo court of his opinions?)

To reach the top of the UK's biggest police force takes a lot of qualities: toughness underneath with political smarts on top. While Blair may be going, it's likely his replacement won't be any different. And Britain continues to sleepwalk into a police state.