W Midlands police and the ban on Maccabi fans

Assessment by West Midlands police in relation to the banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from the Aston Villa v Maccabi Tel Aviv fixture on 6 November 2025 is reported on today. "Inspection of police forces’ contributions to safety advisory groups: West Midlands Police".

It seems clear that the issue now focuses on process rather than outcome. Until now I have viewed the decision to ban them as at least feasible. Given what we know about a) the existence of a hard core of belligerent Maccabi fans, and b) the volatility of the situation given how high feelings were running about Israel's genocide in Gaza, the possibility of a nasty and escalating clash appeared substantial. I still regard it as a feasible outcome, if the process had been followed properly.

But the Inspector's letter to the Home Secretary makes clear that the process leading to WMP's submission was seriously bungled. It was not just a question of one or two mistakes being made, but of a generally amateurish approach to the process of gathering evidence and arriving at a conclusion.

The worst part of it, IMO, is the use of Copilot leading to a "hallucination" which contributed to the ultimate decision. There is only one officer's word for this, but, if it is true, it demonstrates an absolutely dunderheaded approach to evidence gathering, for which a rap over the knuckles does not suffice. Many, many ordinary people, who don't actually have to make decisions about important matters allow themselves to be egregiously misled about the nature of artificial general "intelligence". That is really frustrating, but understandable, given the low quality of debate in what passes for media in this country. But for a body that is aware of its responsibility for decision making on high stakes issues regarding freedom of speech and personal safety to use AI generated material in such a slovenly and cavalier manner is seriously reprehensible. Repercussions should follow.

Whether the repercussions should be triggered by the (incapable) Home Office is a separate debate, but at the very least Craig Guildford, the chief constable, should acknowledge to himself that the serial naivete of his force's actions requires rooting out, and, at the very least, he should be considering his position.