To hell with Alan Johnson, the Tories are just as moronically authoritarian as Labour

I don’t think that government ministers should necessarily listen to the advice they’re given by independent, expert authorities. That is, the government is and should be free to decide that, whatever the merits of any given piece of independent analysis the larger, more general, interest is best served by rejecting that advice.

So there’s nothing wrong with Alan Johnson sacking Professor David Nutt. That’s his prerogative. But we have our own views and interests too. And we may fairly say that Johnson is a fool and that Nutt’s recommendation, shared by his colleagues at Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, that Cannabis should be reclassified at a Class C, not Class B, drug is eminently sensible. For that matter, his observation that horse-riding is more dangerous than taking ecstasy was a dangerously provocative statement that doubtless also helped seal his fate: provocative because, of course, it was dangerously, irresponsibly true.