The State of the Kingdom Address: War is Peace

[Cain]

In keeping with my lazy, outsourced method of ranting, this thread will be a cut and paste article written by Jack Straw MP (Foreign Minister under Blair and current Justice Minister) and a response by Henry Porter.


Straw:  Does the sun rise in the east? Has Labour enhanced rights and liberties? The answer to the second question is as unambiguously a yes as to the first. But let us dwell on this, given the fashionable but false orthodoxy that seeks to deny Labour's achievements - with its tendency to pocket all that has happened since 1997 as though it were by divine intervention.

The constitutional expert Vernon Bogdanor has commented that when the history of this era is written, the last 10 years will be seen as heralding a "quiet revolution" in the way in which the UK is governed. He is correct. This period has seen a greater improvement in our democracy and people's sense of rights than any time since the development of the franchise between 1832 and 1928. But the difference is: that took a century, this has taken a decade.

The culture in Whitehall has been changed beyond recognition from what I witnessed as a young special adviser in the 1974-79 Labour government, when the "it's the man in Whitehall who knows best" attitude was still dominant.

However, rights are not free consumer goodies, but fundamentally about how we relate to each other - our neighbours - as well as how we are protected from overweening power of the state. We have "freedoms to" do things in a free society, but "freedoms from" as well. The freedoms from fear, crime and terrorism are as important as positive freedoms. No constituent of mine has ever complained to me that our strengthening of the criminal and antisocial behaviour laws is incompatible with their sense of rights. They are just happy that crime and disorder is down and that they can enjoy a quieter life.

Of course, and particularly since 9/11, there have been some acute issues about whether protections we have sought - especially over pre-charge time for terrorist suspects - are proportionate and fair. We are all acutely aware, as Jacqui Smith has spelt out, of the care that has to be taken - for example over any extension of 28 days. But consider what might have happened if there had been no Labour government over the last 10 years.

In the aftermath of 9/11, whichever party had been in power would certainly have strengthened counter-terrorist legislation, and almost certainly have extended the potential period of pre-charge detention to 28 days - and maybe beyond. What they would not have done would have been to introduce the Human Rights Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the Race Relations Amendment Act; make life infinitely better for black and Asian people, gay and lesbian people, the disabled; and made a better reality of freedom and rights for everyone in this land.

We know they would not have done so because they did not do so when they had the chance. In many cases - as with section 28 - they did quite the reverse. Yes, the sun does rise in the east. And yes, we have deepened and extended civil liberties for all.


Henry Porter:

Labour has restricted the rights to protest and assembly

• Protests are banned within 1km of Parliament Square without police permission. (penalties 51 weeks in jail and/or £2500 fine).

• Groups may be dispersed under antisocial behaviour laws.

• Groups may be dispersed within a designated areas under the terror laws.

• New offence under SOCPA of trespass within a designated site. No justification for designation is required.


The government's eavesdropping operation

• Under the Regulation of Investigative Powers Act, government agencies may intercept email, internet connections and standard mail without seeking a court's permission (latest figure: 500,000 secret interceptions a year).

• Since summer 2007, the government and some 700 agencies have had access to all landline and mobile phone records. No primary legislation. No debate in parliament.


The construction of the database state under Labour

• Without primary legislation, police introduced a national network of all automatic number recognition cameras. The travel data is stored for two years.

• The ID card national identity register will store details of every verification made by an ID card holder and give access to government agencies without knowledge or consent of the private citizen.

• ID card enrolment requires every citizen to offer up 49 pieces of personal information to the national database. Heavy and repeated fines for non-compliance.

• Children's database - all children's details stored on a central database. Access granted to a wide range of public bodies.

• Children's Common Assessment Framework database stores all details of children with problems indefinitely.

• The home secretary has announced laws that demand 53 pieces of information for people wishing to travel abroad. No primary legislation was required.


Speech crimes

• Public order laws have been used to curtail free expression. A man wearing "Bollocks to Blair" on his T-shirt was told to remove it by police.

• Race and Religious Hatred Act 2006 bans incitement of hatred on religious grounds.

• The justice minister Jack Straw proposes new laws which would ban incitement of hatred for the disabled and on the grounds of a person's sexual orientation.

• Terror laws are used to ban freedom of expression in designated areas. Walter Wolfgang was removed from the Labour party conference for heckling Jack Straw.

• People searched for wearing slogans on their T shirts or carrying banners.

• Protection from Harassment Act 1997 bans the repetition of an act. People prosecuted for repeated email protest.

• Terror laws ban the glorification of terrorism which has resulted in the prosecution of a young woman for writing poetry.


And in the courts ...

• Asbo legislation introduces hearsay evidence which may result in a person being sent to jail.

• The Criminal Justice Act 2003 allows prosecution to make an application to be heard without a jury where there is a danger of jury tampering. Fraud trials will be included in this.

• Admissibility of a person's bad character, previous convictions and acquittals.

• The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 gives the state powers to confiscate assets in circumstances where it does not have enough evidence for prosecution.

• Special immigration appeals court hearings are held in secret. Those terror suspects whose cases come before the court are not allowed to know the evidence against them or to be represented by a lawyer of their own choice.

• End to the right to silence without inference being drawn by the court.

• The Courts and Tribunals Enforcement Act abandons the tradition of an "Englishman's home is his castle" which since 1604 has made breaking into a home by bailiffs illegal.


Finally, the terror laws

• Terror laws have been used to stop and search ordinary citizens. The current rate is 50,000 per annum.

• A maximum of 28 days without charge is allowed under terror legislation. The government has announced plans to extend this to 42 days.

• Control orders - effectively indefinite house arrest - were introduced after the Belmarsh decision.


No further comment needed.  Our leaders are liars who think us fools, who would tell us the sky was green in contrary to all evidence, and they do not even have the shame to pretend it was done "for our own good", instead pretending it never happened in the first place.

[East Coast Hustle]

HAY GUYZ THANKS FOR THE MAGNA CARTA!!

[Mangrove]

HAY GUYZ THANKS FOR THE MAGNA CARTA!!

cain & ech get a combined potd.