Diary: Theresa May's great DNA trawl hits trouble

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jan/16/hugh-muir-diary-theresa-tatchell

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• Another top wheeze from the Home Office. Anyone deemed to pose a threat to the public is to have their DNA taken and matched against DNA from unsolved crimes: samples to be stored on the national DNA database to check against future crimes. Can't argue with the theory behind Operation Nutmeg, but these things have to be done in practice. And that's when virtually anything with Theresa May's stamp comes to grief. And so it is, we learn from our friend Peter Tatchell, that as forces seek past offenders to shake down for DNA, all sorts of people are being dragged into the net. Among them, apparently, are law-abiding figures who were convicted up to 30 years ago for consensual same-sex offences that have long since been removed from the statute book: one such case, it is alleged, in Northumbria, another in Greater Manchester and another recently highlighted in the West Midlands. "Police have apparently lumped gross indecency – the victimless offence that was used to jail Oscar Wilde in 1895 – with violent sexual assaults and child molestation. The gross indecency laws weren't repealed until 2003," Tatchell says. Police letters, hand delivered, did not specify the offence, but in each case, says Tatchell, the men were told the visit related – at least in part – to a conviction punished under archaic legislation. Each was told they must attend a police station within seven days. This is not what we hoped for, says the Home Office. "DNA is a great aid to the police in preventing and detecting crime but we need to ensure the right people are on the database." That would be for the best wouldn't it?

• It's not who you are, it's who you know, and that applies to King's College London, where the war studies department is itself at war – with its own students. The outgoing US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, is giving a big speech on Friday and places have been snapped up. For this is no mere learning opportunity. This is a showcase for King's, with MoD types, thinktankers and military officers all salivating. So it's BA students – not invited; and MAs – only the very fortunate get to see Panetta. Pity the others. Still, if anyone can storm the auditorium, it's them.

• The agony continues for Tom Cruise and disciples of L Ron Hubbard, meanwhile. They're battered on this side of the pond by The Church of Fear, John Sweeney's book exposé launched last week; and in the US by Lawrence Wright's Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief. Neither depicts the Scientologists as they would wish. And so they turn to the respected journal the Atlantic, and buy an advertorial: cut out the pesky journalists. But even that doesn't go as planned. Those who log on quickly share the glory of a "milestone year" of new churches and new energy. But the tardy all miss out: for yesterday – responding to protests – Atlantic took the screed of self-love down. Money talked, but only for a while.

• The countdown to the next election continues apace, and we know of the anxiety that's causing at PM Dave's HQ in London, especially as Labour now leads on the economy in the polls. Compounding the misery is Nigel Farage and Ukip. What to think? What to do? Someone is obviously mulling it over at Central Office because on Monday evening, when Oxfordshire independent Paul Wesson checked who had been perusing his little updated blog, he was able to do some detective work and found that one toiler using the ISP of Conservative central office alighted on his site via the search term "List of Ukip candidates 2015". No such thing as yet. Still, full marks for trying.

• One day to go until we all see Lance Armstrong opening his cheating heart to Oprah Winfrey.And there's particular interest in France. For a year ago one magazine claimed Armstrong used the connections of his good friend President Sarkozy to ensure that he always had a tip-off from on high when the "surprise" testers came calling with the test tubes. No direct link to Sarko himself was alleged, but the former president was quoted joking in 2009 that "even Asterix takes the magic potion". Might have seemed a good joke back then. Not so clever these days.

Twitter: @hugh_muir