Roger Smith follows some figures of speech
Praise, from wherever it comes, is to be treasured. Thus, Ministers must have been heartened by recognition of improved police accountability in the UK from Thorbjørn Jagland, the secretary general of the Council of Europe. He wrote for The Guardian: “When [the Council] first came here in the 1990s we found a police force acting as its own judge and jury. The current system is not without critics, but no one can deny that the creation of the Independent Police Complaints Commission has changed the landscape dramatically. The England and Wales Inspectorate of Prisons has also been an outrider—the first of its kind on the continent. It’s no surprise that, in developing their own systems, the French and others look to the UK for inspiration.”
Jagland put this blessing in the overall context of praise for the UK’s stand against torture: “In our efforts to unearth torture, the Council of Europe has seen many grave things. But we have also seen what is possible when governments commit
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