Daily Mail columnist Harriet Sergeant has backed tougher UK Government sanctions on recreational drug users, accusing the middle classes of fuelling the country's £9.4 billion illegal drug industry.
Writing in December 2021 about the cocaine habits of the "dinner party set", Sergeant said otherwise law-abiding citizens brag about their ethical values while safely cocooned in a middle-class bubble.
She warned they see no harm in their illicit drug use and fail to make the connection between their leisure activity and the criminality that underpins it.
Police corruption allegations
In a September 2021 column, Sergeant criticised former Metropolitan Police chief Lord Ian Blair after he dismissed demands for the resignation of Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick as sexist.
Seven high-profile victims of police corruption signed a letter to the Prime Minister detailing allegations of serious failures by Dick, demanding she leave her post when her current contract expires.
The signatories were Baroness Lawrence, Lady Brittan, Alastair Morgan, Paul Gambaccini, Nicolas Bramall, Michael McManus and Harvey Proctor.
Sergeant called it nauseating that Blair, a supporter of Dick, could reduce the real grievances of the co-signatories to a row about gender.
Care system and migrants
The journalist has also investigated the strain placed on the UK's care system by unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, warning in October 2016 that British children were paying the price.
During a meeting with ten foster parents in West London, where she was told such carers were in short supply, Sergeant learned that nine were looking after asylum-seeking children rather than vulnerable British youths.
She compared the situation to images of migrants arriving at an immigration registration centre in Croydon, having travelled on a coach from the Calais Jungle in France.
Sergeant noted that while all the arrivals claimed to be under 18, most looked considerably older, possessing facial hair, muscular physiques and adult features.
Her May 2012 reporting on the care system highlighted the case of a 15-year-old girl who was raped by a sex gang after care home staff allowed her to run away 19 times.
In other articles, Sergeant branded the adoption system "rotten" for serving the prejudice of social workers rather than children, calling it unspeakably cruel in November 2010 to label families as too white to adopt.
Gangs and youth violence
In April 2011, Sergeant wrote about spending a year investigating Britain's gangs, reporting on younger killers running wild on the streets. She befriended two teenage criminals, including a 15-year-old named Lips who asked her to hide his ammunition.
In November 2011, she compared the justice system's treatment of the teenagers to that of Charlie, the highly privileged son of a Pink Floyd star, telling him to count himself very lucky.
In March 2011, the journalist wrote extensively about what she described as a new breed of young women, known as "bad girls", who she said were as violently alienated and brutally sexualised as the worst male youths.
Her work examined the explosive violence and craving for love among child mothers, and questioned how girls could respect teachers who break down and cry in the classroom. In September 2010, she argued that schoolgirl pregnancy must not be treated like ballet classes.
Politics and welfare
In her political commentary in June 2010, Sergeant accused Labour Party leadership contenders of shameless hypocrisy over immigration.
She argued that immigration was the issue that worried voters the most after the economy, and questioned why politicians refused to discuss it, describing the situation as a great disconnect.
The columnist also questioned why a Conservative minister wanted to be a Stalinist social engineer, and asked why the UK's £165 billion welfare system punishes hard work while rewarding the idle.
Social commentary
Among her other investigations, Sergeant reported in July 2014 on a revolutionary rub-on hormone gel that she said could banish depression and transform the lives of countless women.
She has also written about the impotence of customers, praised a desirable website, and highlighted the cruelty of women who use their children as weapons during a divorce.
