Metropolitan Police Authority meeting – and the new Commissioner Sir Ian Blair got a right bollocking. No other way to express it. The members took him to task over his remarks on it being inevitable that more Muslims would be stopped under section 44 of the Terrorism Act – so basically they shouldn’t be surprised or make a fuss if they get stopped disproportionally.

Everyone was pretty outraged and wanted their two-pennyworth. It was an appalling lapse – and when it came to my pound of flesh – I said exactly what I thought.

Which was that the problem with saying something like that was that the police are still struggling to even admit that such a thing as disproportionality exists; because Sir John Stevens (Blair’s predecessor) would not admit there was racial bias in the Met; because of documentaries like the Secret Policeman – ethnic minority communities (and quite a lot of everyone else actually) believe that there still is plenty for the police to do to eradicate racism from their ranks.

And until the good stuff that is happening at some levels in the Met permeates to all levels – careless remarks will be taken badly as they were in this case.

Beating over – Sir Ian looked relieved as the topic moved on to his root and branch review of the Met. And that’s a whole other chestnut yet to come.