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The proposed extension of on-the-spot £100 fines to include assault, drunkenness and threatening behaviour, mooted as part of a wider initiative by the Lord Chancellor to speed up the justice system, received an unequivocal response. "Fury at instant fines for violent crime" ran the Daily Telegraph headline (29/9), as police chiefs and magistrates' groups roundly condemned the measures as "disgusting" (Yorkshire Post Today, 30/9), "a green light to offend for those who flout the law" (The Times, 30/9), and a "money-making alternative to increasing the number of prisoners" (www.scotsman.com, 29/9). "The proposals (make) a mockery of the criminal justice system and downgrade the gravity of offences that should go before the courts" concluded the Magistrates' Association (www.ananova.com, 29/9).

The Times claimed the story as a scoop, and followed up by revealing that Home Secretary John Reid had swiftly quashed the idea after the reaction of magistrates, law and order campaigners and the Police Federation: "Most of the suggestions have come from police chiefs. The Home Secretary will never approve any lessening of the punishments for violent crimes" (Times 30/9). However, most of the national media noise was confined to the Murdoch stable with The Times thundering in splendid isolation.