Wednesday 18 April 2007

the state of Denmark

“ We have a government by a party that reinvented itself by being ashamed of its roots and determinedly betrayed the traditions and ideas of its founders. They may well have been right so to do, but they cannot be trusted to hold dear the traditions of others.”, wrote the Earl of Onslow a year ago.

On parliamentary practice:
Labour has ‘.. emasculated the House of Commons by the permanent use of guillotines.’
The Lord Chancellorship ‘..has been neutered, removing a voice of law from the cabinet.’

On the liberty of the subject:
It has ‘..repealed the law on double jeopardy. .. , it has sent to prison some of the young on hearsay evidence for things that are not even criminal.’
It has created a centralised register held by the government on all citizens..
It is its intention to ‘.. force ..[all] to have ID cards.’
It has ‘.. formed a police force with unprecedented powers of arrest - the Serious Organised Crime Agency - over which the Home Secretary has authority no predecessor has previously enjoyed.'
With ‘.. control orders, ..[it has] introduced a system of deprivation of liberty without trial on the say-so of the executive.’
'.. the Civil Contingencies Act.. allows a minister to override any statute after the calling of a state of emergency..’
The Regulatory Reform Bill, ‘..which has been described as 'the abolition of parliament bill' .. gives gauleiter-like powers to ministers ..’
There is ‘..the retention by the police of DNA details of thousands of innocents..'
The amendments to ‘.. the Nationality, Immigration and Asylums Act 2002, [create].. a single-tier appeals procedure which Lord Steyn ..described as ..ousting the jurisdiction of ordinary courts.’
The government has introduced anti-terrorism stop-and-search powers that are constantly being misused ..’.

These facts have been taken from a longer argument addressed to a narrower audience. Yet that '..ancient liberties ..[are] ..the key to the advancement of our fellow citizens.’, and that we should be ‘..jealous of our constitution.’, applies to us all, as much as does, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

3 comments:

Newmania said...

Ending with a nice pom pom there HG . . The most serious is the spread of inter agency data and surveillance and in the light of the £20 billion NHS data disaster I dread to think of what a cock up the ID outrage is. You have taken us through a range of symtoms but you have not identified the culprit ...( trapped the mouse)

The reason that low level crime has had to be dealt with by asbos and so on is that the law does not work there What do you suggest , you appreciate that these illiberal measures have wide support for obvious reasons .
A certain sort of government loves an emergency do they not.

What is your diagnosis HG,.

I emailed bel the other day to tell her she had a rival for the blogaspheres brainiest woman. I think the two of you could levitate small objects if you both sat and thought really hard at once.

Scary ...but good

Newmania said...

£400,000,000 Annual budget of the new Serious Organised Crime Agency
4000 Officers employed by the new Serious Organised crime Agency
400- Total prosecutions brought in the first year by the Serious and Organised Crime Agency

hatfield girl said...

N,

No-one voted for Brown and what he stands for, we were publically assured we wouldn't get Brown; much of the government (and its administration) is appalled at what he has done and what he intends, and the means he uses to get the power to do it more.

We're brought up not to stare but BrownLab has got me goggle-eyed.