This is a departure from the usual drivel I write here, but anyway I actually feel like writing something serious tonight.
This afternoon, my elected government in the UK wanted to introduce new anti-terror legislation that would involve locking people up for 90 days without charge. Their argument was simple: "The police want this power" and thus we should give it to them. Despite the fact that most people in the country would (some of us grudgingly) accept the need to increase the current limit from 14 days, the government decided against any form of compromise with those in parliament who opposed such a massive 6-fold increase.
They gambled on being able to steam roller others, to scare us, on the power of the tabloid press.
They lost. And that makes me feel slightly less depressed about the state of my country's democracy.
By increasing the current level from 14 days we are agreeing to give up some of our hard fought civil liberties. We should reflect, with sadness, on that. So this isn't a moment of victory of any sort. But it does show that sometimes the powers that be don't always get their way, and I'll sleep slightly better tonight knowing that.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Getting more serious
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4 comments:
Good to see a bit of whole hearted seriousness.
nb Some kind of obsession with swans? Is that healthy or merely Genevan?
Well, people are a little bit odd here.
The only way you can prove that is by photographic documentation. I look forward to three legged Genevans; two-headed Genevans; Genevans with their heads screwed on the wrong way round; dwarf Genevans and giant Genevans; Genevans who don't look like Genevans; Genevans who look like a bottle of gin.
I am working on this... Genevans who look like a bottle of gin sounds especially interesting.
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