Peter Rhodes on pongy pooches, terminating Twickers and the case for an inquiry into this week's mayhem

After the riots, what? Following previous breakdowns of law and order, inquiries were held. Wider issues such as poverty, poor housing and lousy job prospects were identified and addressed with huge injections of public money, often with good results.

The aim of an inquiry is not to excuse riots and vandalism. The sights we have seen have been horrendous and shaming and must be punished. But there's also a need to explain the roots of resentment, including uncontrolled migration. Nobody, apart from a few loonies addicted to violence, riots without a reason.

So here's the big question. Can we expect a full inquiry after this week's explosion of fury in England's cities? Don't hold your breath. So far, Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper have stuck to a tight script about these riots, dismissing them as nothing more than “far-right thuggery.” Yet even the BBC (The Moral Maze, Radio 4) dares to ask whether British tolerance has been stretched too far. How deeply do Starmer and Cooper intend to dig into the causes of this disorder? As deep as in Brixton, Handsworth or Toxteth? If not, why not?

A luxury perfume for pampered pooches has been launched at £84 a bottle and is promoted as “an olfactory masterpiece". It'll be fascinating to see what dogs make of it. As a golden rule, the more you try to make a hound smell sweet, the keener the animal is to find something putrid and roll in it. So that's a dash of the posh stuff behind the ears, followed by a good old dunking in essence de fox poo. So chic.