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Archive for the ‘Law’ Category

Howard Jacobson wrote an interesting article in the Independent: “Civil liberties or civil protection – which is the more important?”

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/howard-jacobson/howard-jacobson-civil-liberties-or-civil-protection-ndash-which-is-the-more-important-1869544.html

The majority of people who mailed in were hostile to his stance but my own feeling was that neither ’side’ was approaching the problems sensibly either.

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There was an article in today’s Independent about photographers being harassed by Police when taking pictures in a public place under something called Section 44. For a more detailed explanation, please read the article:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/warning-do-not-take-this-picture-1833127.html

However in simple terms, a “Section 44” is in fact an area deemed to be a potential terrorist target so all Main Line Railway Stations, Airports and so on could reasonably be expected to be “Section 44 Zones” however, the Government will not admit where these zones are “because it might help terrorists”. In such a zone, the Police have the right to “Stop and Search” anyone they deem to be acting suspiciously, from this some “Plods” have decided that taking pictures is “suspicious” – wrong !

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This is a deathly combination, a newspaper, The Independent fighting for survival and a political party, the LibDems knowing that they haven’t made the progress that they should have over the past 12-18 months, joining in a campaign of “Parliamentary Reform.

The Editorial and links to associated articles including Mr Clegg’s can be found here- http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-a-powerful-case-to-answer-on-the-restoration-of-power-1821274.html

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There is an interesting article in today’s Times written by Roger Boyes in which he seems, “more in sorrow style” to regret the British Euroscepticism attitude. It is rather oddly written and amusingly, one comment on the article said, having read it, he was now convinced that the UK should leave the EU. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6863712.ece

To be honest, I might have put it another way as in; “If the EU is the answer, what on earth was the question in the first place ?”

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I have never been a fan of Janet Street Porter and that was rather confirmed by a guest column she wrote in today’s Independent entitled “After Turing, the shameful abuse of gays goes on” and as someone pointed out, it should have read, “After Turing, the shameful abuse of gays in Jamaica, goes on.”

But to be honest, she has always struck me as a lightweight who would always clutch for an easy option most times but, check it out for yourself: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/janet-street-porter/editoratlarge-after-turing-the-shameful-abuse-of-gays-goes-on-1786621.html

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Something that has become all to the “norm” over these past decade or so is the constant rise of the “professional politician”, a person who from University goes down a career path that is totally unrelated to a normal world of work until eventually they emerge as the candidate for a Parliamentary Seat.

Once safely ensconced in the Village of Westminster, they become a typical MP Drone of whatever political party machine they are part of, vote as they are told by the Whips rather than by the interests of their constituents, all pretence of personal conscience discarded once they achieve their first career goal of becoming an MP. “Now for the Red Dispatch Box…”

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I’m not quite sure what point Matthew Norman was trying to make in today’s Independent because he did seem to wander all over the place, you can judge for yourself: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/matthew-norman/matthew-norman-a-prince-and-his-indulgent-public-1717971.html

I think the starting point was the “extra £3 million that the Prince of Wales cost the taxpayer last year simply because the Government wanted him to carry out a number of overseas visits on their behalf, which therefore seems reasonable that they should cough up for the expenses incurred.

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Following the election of Bercow as Speaker, Steve Richards writing in the Independent today was speculating about “real reform” and the Separation of Powers.

“A few years ago the Labour MP and ardent constitutional reformer, Graham Allen, put forward a proposal for a presidential system in Britain. I thought at the time he was living in a fantasy world, but we are almost there in terms of our preoccupation with leaders, the decline of parties and the growing demand for Prime Ministers to be held to account.”

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Let me start by saying that I have every sympathy for any journalist trying to write something interesting about British politics this day, what can one say ? The Independent Leader showed how not to do it as the excerpt below shows:

“Even the UK Independence Party, seen as a great victor on Sunday night, actually saw its share of the vote rise by only 0.3 percentage points. In terms of share of the vote, the Conservatives gained only 1 percentage point, while the Liberal Democrats lost 1.2. The Greens did best, gaining 2.4 percentage points, but that did not translate into more seats in the European Parliament, whereas Ukip’s higher vote did.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-an-electoral-debacle-that-might-save-gordon-brown-1700200.html

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So today is the Local Elections in some areas and certainly where I live plus the European Elections for MEPs, of these two elections, the least significant is the latter and it will be interesting to see whether there is a difference in turnout between those areas with both elections and those with just the European one.

In theory the European elections should be the most important but in the UK as in many other countries they are not and most likely because the European Parliament is totally the wrong format for elected representatives of EU citizens to control the EU Executive.

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