An aspect of the bombings is making me uncomfortable in a moral sense. It’s this.

You’ll have seen that the police are pushing for extended powers, not least of whichis their wish to extend their rights to detention without trial to three months, when they already have 21 days.

What I find awkward about this is the company I find myself obliged to keep. I’m not keen on the incitement to hatred laws. I don’t like detention without trial. I’m not keen on the removal of right to trial by jury in some cases. I deplore the removal of double indemnity, and of the right to silence. All these have been retrograde steps, in my view.

But what I dislike almost as much is that I find lunatic right-wingers such as Peter Hitchens on the same side as me. I wish they’d go away.