Attention doctors, lawyers, MPs, priests – and journalists. It’s supposedly reassuring to know that Theresa May’s revised draft code covering police use of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act against you may come with an inferred “issue of sensitivity” – ie rather than trawling blithely through your records looking for whistleblowers, sources etc, a Top Cop will have to sign off first. But what whistleblower, in or out of uniform, is going to feel comfortable with that?
The chill on stories, or even simple calls for distress, is obvious to everyone: except Mrs May. And the chill for ordinary citizens, those without inferences to offer, arrives deep and crisp and uneven. Ripa is an oppressive shambles as long as the police are masters of its deployment. Journalists aren’t the only ones who should be thoroughly alarmed. There’s just under three weeks of “consultation” left before Theresa closes her mind and statute book. Open season for action.
