They have been accused of a sluggish response to last nights riots, standing back and watching looters destroy shops and taking a softly-softly approach.

But today, when the Metropolitan Police had a chance to identify scores - if not hundreds - of thugs and looters, they released just 12 grainy CCTV photographs of people 'we will be speaking to'.

As scenes of wanton violence and looting shocked the world, viewers should at least have been comforted by the fact that so many of the rioters had failed to conceal their identity and would swiftly be reported to officers