Janner historic sex abuse inquiry should be junked

Ageneral election is a chance to bury old mistakes, and so it should be with the preposterous inquiry into historic child abuse under Professor Alexis Jay. Last week the inquiry refused the family of the late Lord Janner, whom a serial fantasist has accused of abusing him, a public hearing on why the Janner case is being pursued.

This is monstrously unjust, and creates the impression that the inquiry does not wish publicly to acknowledge its own mistakes. Nor will the family have the right to cross-examine witnesses in any inquiry. Banana republics act like this, and it must be stopped.