The fox and the sheep

• I CAN’T say I have any sympathy for Met Chief Sir Paul Stephenson, who quit over the phone hacking scandal. 

He should have gone at the time his force failed to protect Prince Charles’s car during those violent student demonstrations.

Generally speaking power corrupts a few, but weakness corrupts many, and a friend in power is a friend lost. It doesn’t worry the fox the number of sheep there are.

Knowing how to refuse a favour is a very useful art, but what starts as a favour can end up as a right. One way or another, you’ll always pay for a favour.

JAMES REDMOND
Mornington Crescent, NW1

Published: 21 July, 2011