After months, years and even decades of dismay about the state of law and order in this country, a leader of one of Britain’s most renowned retailers has intervened to make the simple plea most have been making for ages: can the police, and the authorities charged with overseeing law enforcement bodies, just focus on their job of preventing, stopping and punishing crime?

Those in charge of businesses don’t intrude on politics lightly. Their main job is to sell produce, not change the world or potentially alienate customers with their opinions. So it tells us a great deal about the state of crisis in Britain now that in the wake of the disturbances in Clapham, south London, in recent days, Thinus Keeve, Marks & Spencer’s retail director, has felt obliged to make an intervention.

The scenes of mayhem in Clapham that have reverberated throughout the nation – not least because they seem so distressingly familiar to the inhabitants of the towns and cities of this country. Referring to this, Keeve has launched an attack on London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan, urging him to get a grip on the lawlessness and violence that is putting his staff and the public at risk. He urged Khan, who only a few days ago dismissed the ‘lies’ people were telling about the capital, to ‘prioritise effective policing’ as........

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