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“Blairite Tyranny” To see a term like “Blairite Tyranny” bandied about on a blog like this by people who think things like civil liberties actually matter, is to be expected.
However to see those words in print at all in the mainstream media is quite remarkable! More of the same please.
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Now if only you can get members of the emasculated opposition speaking of “Blairite Tyranny”, or even labor backbenchers. Not likely, but who knows.
I’m not a big fan of written constitutions — they all erode with time as courts decide that it is more convenient to interpret “black” as “white” — but at least they act as stumbling blocks on the way to dictatorship. Here in the US, the President can violate the law, but we can at least sue when it happens. Perhaps you could use a written constitution of your own.
Of course, it is probably too late for such thoughts now. Absent a much stronger outcry from the public, you’ll be lucky if the token libertarian faction in the UK doen’t end up in re-education camps to purge your minds of dangerous thoughts. I hear the new surgical techniques are much safer than the old fashioned sort of lobotomies, and are the very latest in “modern” governance.
Maybe if the redtops would print this.
Ah, well, I can but dream.
Totalitaria here we come….
I read the same article and just accepted the term as appropriate but you are right, on reflection it IS remarkable to see a term of such bloglike clarity in the Torygraph!
I know how to get rid of him – Gordon riots.
Amazing how the unelected House of Lords so consistently does a better job (at least, a better attempt) of protecting us from overbearing government than the elected chamber.
Something to be said for a mixed constitution.
And what’s more, it’s mostly stuffed with Tony’s sleazeboy friends. And they still do a better job than the Commons.
Grim, eh?
Is it me, or is there some sort of “Tyranny For Dummies” checklist y’alls government is following? Inescapable CCDs – check, “hate speech” laws – check, bypassing the courts – check, disarming the populace – check….
A fun game – predict what’s next on the list:
* further disarmament (“only break-action shotguns and .22LR rifles…with special license, of course”)
* further speech restrictions (no “offensive” or “harmful” political speech…like a certain blog I could name)
* further surveillance (“New National ID card scanners are now available everywhere…for your convenience!)
* other (?)
Post your guesses and place your bets!
No, Cliff S. It’s you.
I think Cliff pretty much has it nailed!
Verity,
And what’s more, it’s mostly stuffed with Tony’s sleazeboy friends.
Not quite. Mr Blair may have sent more friends to the Lords than any previous PM, but Labour is still in a minority, though the largest group, in the Lords.
A lot of Labour peers pre-date him, and can on occasion be encouraged to predate his legislation. Otherwise socialist lawyers, in particular, who have often seen the complexity of life and variety of lifestyles in long service at the criminal bar, do grasp the importance of personal liberty and fair process—which are to the Head Boy meaningless obstructions to Making People Be Good.
>>Post your guesses and place your bets!
A creepy party/state youth cadre (membership ‘voluntary’), of the proposed by Brown to the Fabians on Saturday.
Bet it’s here by 2009.
Cliff, they’ll use Northern Ireland as a blueprint. Very restrictive firearms laws have been in here for years ( funny, the gangsters have large calibre automatic weapons). The terrorism act(NI) had/has a clause that no more than 3 people could meet in public. Not very often enforced but still there.
I can predict with some confidence that the next attack will be on our cars. Tracking of all our movements “for tax purposes and for the sake of the environment”, and “because our roads are just too congested” and “because so many people are out there doing 90 on our motorways”.
This has been floated a couple of times in the press over the last year, but I see no legislation. Could be the Police are trying it without legislation (and therefore, interestingly, without all of those excuses).
SJG
All quotes are illustrative only.
You mean like this, Simon?
April 2006 is the nominal live date for the centralised log, and the ambition is for all car journeys in Britain to be tracked via ANPR, according to ACPO. The ACPO connection is in itself interesting. It is a body without any legal standing or responsibility, yet it appears to be highly influential in setting up nationalised policing activities. Until the 90s, and mostly until this Government, apart from some very specialised functions, there were no nationwide policing functions. And Chief Constables are still supposed to be responsible to local Police Authorities. Whatever happened to ultra vires?
Much more interesting. . . what’ll be the first manifestations of the fightback by those who value liberty? Which of the dreadful statist schemes will be the first to get nailed?
* ID cards
* EU membership
* “Hate speech” crimes
Or, alternatively, which will be the first signs of a recovery of civil life?
* Elected tribunes to reflect local priorities for the police
* Refusal of local councils to waste money on Westminster priorities?
* Mass refusal to pay BBC licence fee (it’s just happened in Japan!)
Quite obviously I don’t know. But the history of the country strongly suggests that the British (or is that English) love of liberty will reassert itself soon enough. Too optimistic?
Michael Taylor – Amazingly enough, most people seem to think they get “good value” from the BBC. England is collectivist, I am afraid.
& the next time you end up watching the 6 hour Sunday afteroon re-runs of that weeks Eastenders, just remember that that sort of quality programming is only possible “because of the unique way the the BBC is funded”
With all this talk of tyrrany, the following might bring at least a hint of sunhsine. It’s about the UKIP and it’s from The Business, dated 15th January:
“The party has appointed David Campbell-Bannerman, great nephew of the former Liberal Prime Minister Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, as its new chairman with a remit of conducting a radical libertarian policy review.
“It aims to recast itself as a party campaigning for independence from government “whether in Brussels or in Westminster” and believes it can win funding from disgruntled Conservative donors.
“After last week’s conferences, UKIP – which finished third in the 2004 European Parliament elections – decided to pitch itself as the only alternative to what it will call the “social democratic consensus” in Westminster.”
We can but hope!
That is fabulous news, and thanks, GCooper! This is how grass roots movements start to get legs.
The party’s only been going for around 10 years, yet it’s still on the scene, meaning it has had enough support over the last 10 years to get some traction. That is pretty amazing.