Posts Tagged ‘The Guardian’
We have nothing to worry about
Posted by: Gav in Gavin Ayling's blog on February 23rd, 2009
Some people, when I discuss civil liberties with them, accept that laws exist that ought not, or that powers provided to the authorities exceed what they need, but fall short of outrage.
The reason, it seems to me is one of two things:
- because, despite all the powers they have, “the authorities are unlikely to pick on me” as an individual (hey, I’m not Muslim); or
- I don’t believe the police would misuse their powers in respect of my activities.
But this naivete is worrying in the light of increasingly frequent news items which show that British authorities are more than happy to torture to ‘fight terrorism’.
Again, you may argue, “I’m not Muslim”. But is that the point? And if today’s enemy is people with pale-brown skin, is the enemy of tomorrow the person who takes pictures of politicians doing things they would rather people didn’t see? If our government will condone torture to any extent at all then we should fear it. And anything we genuinely and justifiably fear should not be empowered by our apathy.
I am sorry if you’re bored of reading about civil liberties, but the blame for that is surely our government. Politics used to be about ideals — socialism and capitalism — now it is much more important: it is about whether we are governed by people like us for the benefit of everyone, or whether we are governed by people who, once empowered by the ballot, literally take liberties.
The new imperative: freedom
Posted by: Gav in Gavin Ayling's blog on February 16th, 2009
There are times, when you write a blog, that you wonder whether you get a little carried away, a little over obsessed with a particular concept or theme. There is a risk that I have started to become overly concerned about civil liberties.
Obviously I don’t think my views are being skewed but I am willing to accept that they may be.
For example, it would be easy to think that the Serious Crime Act 2007 (SCA), the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), amendments to the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 and the Terrorism Act 2000 (TA2000) are leading inexorably towards a police state.
A new ban on taking photographs of police; reports that in Brighton, political activists were filmed doing nothing wrong entering an environmental meeting; allegations that stop and search under the TA2000 are being used more than 99% of the time against non-terrorists… etc. could lead a naive person to imagine that the government, and maybe Her Majesty’s police have decided that free and open debate amongst proles is a danger to the status quo.
This is worth a read from today’s Guardian. I don’t believe, personally, that it over eggs the pudding.
The time is now for the Conservatives (and the Lib Dems minus Chris Huhne) to start making some noise about freedom. It is time for the people to demand the return of their lost freedoms. It is time to focus on the most important issues.
The EU has been called the EUSSR by those who understand its methods and how it is designed. But the UK is fast approaching the same sort of controls as there are in China and Airstrip One.
On a lighter note (and with an important, if less-important, message):
