I’m not about to turn this site into political soapbox but I would like to share a few thoughts. In the past I’ve scoffed at people who worried that our civil liberties are being chipped away, I may have suggested that they’re being paranoid. This article, which makes pretty scary reading, may have changed my views a bit. A snippet to encourage you to click the link:
The right to a jury trial is removed in complicated fraud cases and where there is a fear of jury tampering. The right not to be tried twice for the same offence – the law of double jeopardy – no longer exists. The presumption of innocence is compromised, especially in antisocial behaviour legislation, which also makes hearsay admissible as evidence. The right not to be punished unless a court decides that the law has been broken is removed in the system of control orders by which a terrorist suspect is prevented from moving about freely and using the phone and internet, without at any stage being allowed to hear the evidence against him – house arrest in all but name.
I have to admit that I didn’t know that it had gotten quite that bad, which does make me wonder what else has passed me by. Sadly a great deal of the comments on the internet falls a bit too far into tin-foil hat territory, which is a shame as it damages the sane commentary that exists out there and means that people may miss what’s going on.
Those who argue, as I have often done, that the innocent have nothing to fear might also want to check out the Londonist post where I found the link originally. Maybe now is the time to start worrying.
