THERE is a saying among criminal lawyers that hard cases make bad law. It means that changing the law in reaction to extreme events can often have an adverse effect on justice in general.

THEY are very British riots. Hardly on the scale of Bangladesh, where protesters this week forced an autocratic prime minister to flee and the regime collapsed.

I DON’T know where the Starmer family were going last Monday, when the rioters were so uncivilised as to delay their holiday. Possibly, it was somewhere in the European Union - to signal the ‘reset’ in relations that is apparently under way.

HAVING made millions from her nasty narrative about the Royal Family, Meghan is back taking the Netflix shilling.

TO the relief of a nation still struggling to come to terms with the savagery witnessed in recent days, the violence that had been predicted nationwide on Wednesday night did not materialise.

A FRIEND tells me that someone on the Speed Awareness Course (SAC) she attended gave a disarmingly frank answer when he was asked to suggest reasons why people broke the speed limit.

JUST after a quarter past eight on Wednesday night, Sky’s reporter on the spot in Birmingham checked his watch and announced: ‘The Far Right are 15 minutes late.’

THE King is reportedly frustrated at his inability to get involved in soothing the national unrest. Rebuilding broken communities was one of his specialisms as Prince of Wales, when he was able to summon ministers. But as King, he must channel all dealings with government via the PM. After the 2011 Tottenham riots, local MP and now Foreign Secretary David Lammy recalled: ‘Several national figures showed up for a photo-op in Tottenham in the days after but never came back. Prince Charles returned five times. In some ways, he has done more for my constituents than most politicians.’

IN its election manifesto, Labour claimed to have a ‘practical plan’ ready and waiting to tackle the small boats crisis. So where is it?

TECH billionaire Elon Musk says civil war in Britain is ‘inevitable’. He’s talking out of the top of his hat.

THE other day I had my TV aerial removed. The builders were on the roof anyway. So, as I have often wondered if some violent wind would one day rip the wobbly antenna down, taking the chimney with it, I asked them to do this simple job.

CHIROPTEROLOGISTS at Balmoral report that the pipistrelle bats, resident in the rafters for decades, are enjoying life. The Queen wasn’t too keen helping staff remove them with butterfly nets. Alas, because she had them released in the surrounding countryside they soon found their way back to their royal colony. Her Majesty refused to believe they were capable of ‘homing’. But the King, rather prouder of his family links to Vlad the Impaler and a frequent visitor to Transylvania, leaves the bats in peace.

THEY say Kamala Harris chose Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate after being impressed by his description of her rival, Donald Trump, as ‘weird’.

SIR Keir Starmer has rightly warned the rioters bringing fear and disorder to our streets that they will be tracked down and made to feel the full force of the law.

LABOUR is wringing the revenue-producing bit of our economy to expand the revenue-consuming bit.

TWO images of Britain spring to mind this week. The first, Emma Finucane, Team GB cycling gold medallist at the Paris Olympics, great-niece of Brendan ‘Paddy’ Finucane, the World War II fighter pilot and Spitfire ace, the youngest-ever wing commander in the RAF and a national icon for his heroics in the Battle of Britain.

HARRY and Meghan’s trip to Colombia later this year won’t upset the King and the Prince of Wales. They feared the Sussex duo might choose a different destination: a headline stealing jaunt to the Paris Olympics. Monarchs and crown princes from across the globe have been in the French capital along with Hollywood royalty. The presence of Harry and Meghan would not have amused Charles or his heir. Neither have felt the urge to turn up and cheer on Team GB. Instead Princess Anne last week and Duchess Sophie this week are doing the lowkey honours. H&M’s PR team have missed an open goal.

INSTEAD of acting to remove inflammatory material from his social media site, Elon Musk seems determined to add to it.

AS THE Chancellor Rachel Reeves arrived in New York this week to drum up investment in Britain, she claimed to have taken the necessary decisions to ‘fix the foundations of our economy.’

HUNDREDS of thousands of protesters on the streets, more than 300 dead, including 14 police officers, the Prime Minister fleeing the country. Now that’s what I call a riot.

OH to be a fly on the wall when they do the seating for the wedding of Keir Starmer’s media guru Sophie Nazemi.

AT Labour’s conference last October, Rachel Reeves, now the Chancellor, pledged her party would ‘wage a war against fraud, waste and inefficiency’, including a ‘crackdown on Tory ministers’ “private jet habit” ’ if it won a general election.

AS MPs swore their allegiance to the King in the Commons this week, Sir Keir Starmer looked on approvingly at the record intake of 231 Labour newcomers. Strikingly, nearly a quarter of them had been endorsed by a Socialist group dedicated to overturning Brexit.

RENOWNED transplant surgeon Nadey Hakim, who also happens to be a distinguished sculptor, has created a bronze of Rishi Sunak.

NO one has been more scornful of Labour’s feeble plans to stop the boats than the former Tory MP for Dover Natalie Elphicke.

I DON’T know where the Starmer family were going last Monday, when the rioters were so uncivilised as to delay their holiday. Possibly, it was somewhere in the European Union - to signal the ‘reset’ in relations that is apparently under way.

OH LISTEN to the cackling, the joy, the sheer slavering glee. For week after week the world’s media has been churning negativity about the Paris Olympics.

IT WAS the moment when Donald Trump won the November presidential election. I don’t mean the fateful decision to turn his head, which saved him from death by a quarter of an inch.

WELL, folks, there is no getting round it. Our worst fears have been realised. Unless you have been living in a jungle in the Philippines you will by now have heard of the atomic bomb that has detonated over the British political landscape.

NO, it’s not too late. There is still time between now and Thursday for the nation to swerve from the cliff edge.

THE DAILY MAIL offers the opportunity to re-establish contact with long-lost relatives and friends. Each week, MONICA PORTER features the story of someone trying to find a missing loved one and a tale of people reunited. Produced in conjunction with the voluntary tracing service Searching For A Memory, run by Gill Whitley.

PEOPLE with learning disabilities are often seen as unfortunates to be pitied, but Alex — my younger brother by four years — was a remarkable, cheerful character who showed us how to live in the moment and find joy in even the worst situations.

■ IT MUST be time for the water cannons.

THIS violence is Starmer’s first big test. It is his ‘Covid’. Let’s see how he deals with an unexpected crisis, without the benefit of hindsight.

QUESTION Was Skoda considered a luxury car brand at one time?

AUGUST 9, 2002

SHOPPING BLUES

WITH Elon Musk interfering in the UK’s social and racial affairs, there are only two responses we should give that hopefully he will understand.

ANONYMOUS (Mail), who hates being a mother, should count her blessings. She has four lovely children and should appreciate both them and her hardworking husband. She chose to marry and have four children but has made a doormat of herself.

■ AMBER RUTTER didn’t lose gold, she held it in her arms. That’s more precious than any medal.

QUESTION What animals or plants are unique to Britain?

I HAVE been in the jewellery trade all my life. Over 60 years I’ve made and sold many items. So some years ago, when my daughter Ruth asked me to supply a work colleague of hers with a gentleman’s gold bracelet watch for her husband’s birthday, I was happy to oblige.

NOW Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has officially announced that the Labour Government will demand the building of 1.5 million new homes over the next five years, it is time to look at the arithmetic.

WINDSOCK Starmer didn’t read the breeze when he was laying flowers at Southport. He was greeted with jeers on that day.

■ PENSIONERS freeze under Rachel Reeves.