Talk to Ai Weiwei about freedom of expression. The great Chinese artist — who endured exile as a child and again as an adult following his imprisonment for speaking out against the regime — has plenty to say.
We ought to not only admire his exquisite images adorning today’s Evening Standard front pages, marking Chinese New Year, but also listen to his calls for a free press, thought and action. Ai fears that those precious rights, the bedrock of our democratic society, are being lost, with dangerous consequences.
“Freedom of the press and expression is integral to freedom of speech,” he says. “When these freedoms are curtailed or eliminated, society stagnates, akin to stagnant water emitting a foul odour and incapable of sustaining life. Conversely, when water flows freely, it remains clear and fresh.” A warning to be heeded amid the celebrations.
Another blow for Met
That it is yet another damning report into the Metropolitan Police must not mask any of its shocking detail. The police watchdog has warned that Scotland Yard is failing to effectively tackle child sexual exploitation, leaving vulnerable young people at risk.
HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services said that police were often simply waiting for missing children to turn up despite evidence of the vulnerability or taking too long to begin investigations into their fate. And these are no minority of cases. Of 244 investigations examined, more than half were graded as inadequate. The watchdog also found police engaging in “victim-blaming language”, failures to identify exploitation, a lack of skills and knowledge among officers and frequent “missed opportunities” to identify suspects and disrupt their activity, leaving children at risk.
These findings represent yet another blow to Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, whose force is already under special measures following the excoriating review by Baroness Casey. HM Inspector Lee Freeman is clear: “For the benefit of London’s children, the force should implement our recommendations in full and without delay.”
Pub’s historic role
From police raids to Princess Diana living next door, The Bolton pub in Earl’s Court had seen it all. One of the capital’s earliest hubs for the gay community, it has now been granted Grade II listed status, in recognition of its historic importance.
Kensington and Chelsea council and Historic England have rightly recognised not only the building’s architectural value, but the pub’s role in London’s LGBTQ+ history and as a core part of Earls Court’s thriving gay scene in the Seventies and Eighties.
