Exemplary conduct

Home Secretary David Blunkett tells us he's still determined to "nail" Gary Mann. Mann was sentenced to two years in Portugal for recent hooliganism, but his deportation order failed to comply with international treaties and so he had to be released on his arrival in the U.K. Given that Mann's conviction remains subject to appeal and that having the Home Secretary announce to national media that he wants to punish Mann irrespective of the terms under which he was deported, Blunkett's comments are rash and tiresome, though not out of character. He panders to the populist lock 'em up agenda without any consideration for the legal implications.
While everyone wants to see hooligans convicted, it's obvious that this has to be done properly. Blunkett's bandwagonesque sticking his oar in makes him unfit to oversee prisoners' appeals and policing methods. A little more humility and a lot more care is required: if communication between the U.K. and Portuguese legal systems had been properly managed, Mann would already be "nailed".