In case you were wondering where the Boris burqa row had left to go, Cressida Dick, the head of the Metropolitan Police, has waded into the debate.

Despite no one actually coming forward to report a crime, Cressida decided to ask her ‘very experienced officers’ if Boris Johnson’s comparing of women in burqas to ‘letter boxes’ could constitute a hate crime. Unsurprisingly, they told her that the threshold for criminality had not been passed and she duly let the world know that the former Foreign Secretary would not be investigated.

If Cressida Dick is looking for ways to best fill her time, can Mr Steerpike suggest that she busy herself with actual crimes in London? Perhaps she could start by looking at the soaring rate of violent crime in the capital, the 80 murders which have already taken place this year, or the increasing number of knife and acid attacks taking place.

But Mr S sympathises, that all sounds much harder than investigating Telegraph columns.