Police state
I have nothing to say about the Cliff Richard story, save this. When the police raiding party arrived at his place in Berkshire, the media were waiting for them, and BBC even had a helicopter hovering over the scene.
If we were talking about a major drugs bust here, or a terrorist cell being captured, there might be the semblance of a pubic interest argument for such behaviour, but it isn’t. This is a well loved public figure whose reputation has been tossed into the bear-pit. No charges have been levelled, no cautions administered, and no advance warning was given to anyone other than the press.
I would like to think that this morning a second investigation is under way, to find the person who tipped them off. Will that happen? In the normal course of events I’d say, ‘No chance’. But this isn’t quite normal. Sir Cliff is a Tory icon. Watch this space.
Quintin Jardine's blog 
Well said!
I think this is an attempt to conduct “trial by media”. So often there is the assumption of guilt simply because the mud has been flung with the expectation that some sticks. Sir Cliff has long been an icon (to use that overworked word) of a clean-living music success. The various rumours and slurs that have been levelled at him over the years have mainly been inspired by envy. I am not a particular fan of his, but the way this story was so obviously leaked to the press in order for them to be in position before the police arrived to search the penthouse stinks of rotten fish. I strongly suspect that it is more a case of someone jumping on the band-wagon in order to gain some fifteen minutes of fame, than anything real. And by the way, after all this time – thirty years – what do they expect to find that would take eight or more officers to find?