Unrest is spreading across Europe from France to Spain and Albania, yet the UK has no dedicated riot squad Daily Telegraph 21/10/26 Philip Johnston Show biography Published 21 October 2026 6:00am BST 76 Gift this article free Add us as preferred source France is ablaze and we could be next , say the gloomsters; and they may be right. Unrest seems to be spreading across Europe with riots in Milan, Albania, Spain and Portugal in recent weeks. This may all be coincidental or a sign of a deeper political malaise that is expressing itself in violent behaviour. If the politicians won’t listen, the French protesters say, what choice do we have? It is also the reason given by masked men who have turned up at south-coast ports when asylum seekers arrive. Advertisement So if the mobs take to the streets here can the authorities cope? The short answer is no. One reason why the French have a fundamentally different police set-up to Britain’s is their Gallic penchant for airing their grievanc...
As evidence of serious bias continues to pile up, the corporation’s leadership is burying its head in the sand Daily Telegraph 19/10/26 The BBC’s failings won’t be resolved without action, openness and courage Credit : Getty Images The BBC has continued to deny that it has a serious problem with impartiality. But evidence continues to emerge that tells a very different story. Following an investigation by The Telegraph , the BBC was last weekend forced to pause a scheme in which civil servants on secondment were contributing to news reporting and being asked to fact-check contentious political issues. It also emerged last week that the BBC’s Bitesize service had been using quizzes to encourage schoolchildren to take political positions on controversial subjects. In one example, the BBC created an online game which rewarded children for choosing the answer “open borders” and granting an amnesty to illegal migrants. Advertisement Meanwhile. the BBC is fighting a legal battle wit...