Taking Liberties

The Last Post...

2007-12-09T11:03:00.000Z

For a while anyway. The film has run it's course, and to some extent has taken on a life of it's own. While civil liberties will always remain very close to my heart, it's time to move on and go and cause some trouble elsewhere. We'll Keep the blog up online, as in amongst the frothing rants their is actually some useful information. The Blogroll on the right contains some great blogs that will no doubt continue to fight the good fight, long after we fickle film types have moved on. However I'll just leave you with a brief update on some of the ongoing issues and stories that we've covered in the film. Starting with the one that makes me feel that for once I might have actually done something worthwhile in my life:

Omar Deghayes and the other British Residents interned in Guantanamo to be returned to the UK
Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, Reprieve and the Save Omar Campaign all deserve a big hug for their tireless work in making this happen. For several years the position of the UK Government was "Let em rot" or "send em back to their home countries to be tortured", and it is thanks to the incredible work of these campaigners that these men - who have never been charged with any crime - will finally retun home to Britain. They have all suffered years of abuse at the hands of the US forces, so they will now spend many years with their families trying to rebuild their lives. Even though some credit has to go to the current government for finally standing up to the US and pressing for their release, it will remain a dark stain on this countries' history that we allowed this injustice to go on for so long. However there are already mutterings that they will be placed under Control Orders when theyreturn which is only going to increase the injustice.

Protest ban in SOCPA may be repealed
Mark Wallinger's "State Britain" - the recreation of Brian Haw's placards in The Tate - has just won The Turner prize, which has yet again shown the insanity of this law. It still makes my blood boil that we are not allowed to protest outside our own government without special police authorisation, but hopefully this will soon be shredded. Even though the Brown Government has made some encouraging noises about scrapping the requirement to apply to protest a week in advance, nothing has yet materialised so we need to keep the pressure up until they actually change it. Again we're proud to have been part of raising the profile of this issue, but the real credit should go to Maya Evans (who recently spent over a week in jail for illegally demonstrating), Milan Rai, Shami at Liberty, Mark Thomas and of course the venerable and slightly barmy Brian Haw.

Public wakes up to just how rubbish the government is at securing our data
Since the loss of the 2 x Data CD's from the Inland Revenue compromising the personal details of 25 million people (about 40% of the population) the public have finally started getting angry about how much data the government holds on us and how insecure it is. Far be it from us to say I FUCKING TOLD YOU SO or TOO FUCKING LATE, but this is an issue that we've been banging on about for a couple of years, and the chaps at No2ID have been campaigning about for much longer. While we're really glad that the public and the media are finally looking at the potentially catastrophic consequences of putting every last scrap of private information on big expensive leaky computers, it is shutting the door after the horse has bolted along with a few CD's and hard drives to sell to the highest bidder. All our medical records, school records and criminal records are already now in the control of similar systems, and there isn't a lot we can now do to get that information back. The DNA database - already the largest in the world - is expanding exponentially, and once the National Identity Register is online, all our biometric information will be accessible as well to several hundred thousand people. Unless something radical is done soon, we will soon wake up in a society where privacy is a distant memory.

What's the answer to life, the universe and everything? 42 Days
While most of the governments anti terror legislation is coming under sustained public attack, the one area where this government still wants to show the world how tough it is on a word (the word in question being terror), is of course the extension on pre-charge detention. At the moment the poilice can hold you without charge for 28 days - the longest in the western world - but Gordon Brown and Jaqui Smith are both still trying to convince us that we'll all die tomorrow if we don't increase this to 42. A month ago they were saying it had to be 56, but after the wave of critisism this brought, they have now lowered their sights to 42. But in doing so they have made it clear that this isn't really about keeping us safe, it's about being seen to keep us safe. While the current limit has never yet been reached, they are doing their level best to whip up our fears and push this through parliament. They are trotting out the same old excuses: terrorists now use computers (Oooo...scary!) and it can take a long time to search a computer. When we put this to Professor Ross Anderson (head of cryptography at Cambridge University) the response was "Hogwash". Passwords are either broken in a few days or not at all. However the government, and the senior police who back this measure have never responded when the experts rubbish their arguments.

What having 42 days pre charge detention will result in, is a sense of injsutice and outrage amoung the Muslim Community who think they are being unfairly targetted, which can act as a recruiting seargent for the very terrorism we are trying to fight. During the Northern Ireland troubles the UK government started interning suspected terrorists without charge, which far from reducing terrorism did the exact opposite by pushing hundreds of angry young men into the arms of the terrorists. When this argument is put to the ever dwindling ministers who support this extention, the repsonse is that "Al Qaeda is a far graver threat than the IRA so there are no lessons to be learned". This does somewhat ignore the statistics that the Irish troubles claimed the lives of over 3000 people in the UK, and Islamic Fundamentalists are currently on 52. Even Lord Goldsmith (he who changed his mind over the legality of the Iraq War and halted the SFO enquiry into the BAE Saudi bribes) has come out strongly against this move, so the battle lines are being drawn. My own personal opinion is that the Government will lose the vote, and when there is another bomb attack they can turn around and blame us whinging liberals for not giving them the power they needed.

Natwest Three take a plea bargain
Last week David, Giles and Gary pleaded guilty to 1 count of wire fraud in return for the other 6 charges being dropped. This means that they will spend about 6 months in a US prison, and then (hopefully) will return to the UK to spend the rest of their sentance (about another 2.5 years) in an open prison in the UK. Far from an actual admission of guilt, this shows the massive unfairness of sending UK citizens over to face crimes in the US without the production of any evidence in the UK. The NatWest three had been flown out to the US in July 2006, so had already spent a year and a half waiting to go to trial. If they had continued to plead innocent they would have had to wait about another year to even get into the courtroom - all the time under house arrest, unable to work, and thousands of miles away from their families. Also as most of the evidence that they needed to prove their innocence was here in the UK, the British Authorities and NatWest bank were actively preventing witnessses and evidence crossing the channel. As the crime was allegedly committed in the UK by British Citizens against a UK bank, the fact that they were standing trial on the other side of the planet was always going to throw a spanner in the works for the men's defense. Couple that with the fact that if you mention the word "Enron" in Texas courtroom a guilty verdict is guaranteed, the Three were always had the cards stacked against them. Plus if they had pled innocent and been found guilty they might get up to 35 years behind bars, but if they plead guilty to one charge (which is what they did) they will only get three. In the same situation most of us would have made the same decision, but this has been used by the government to triumphantly say that they were right to be sent out in the first place. The extradition treaty itself is still under review, and we can only hope that this one sided and unjust law will soon be thrown on the scrap heap.

Mouloud No Longer Under House Arrest
This actually happened round about the time of the film's release, so we're not sure preceisely how much we had to do with it... but a mole from the Home office sneaked into one of the early screenings, and we do know a transcript of the film was used in his defense. Big thanks to Jennifer and Des, CAMPACC and Mike Mansfield who have stuck with him all this time. Mouloud is extremely happy to not be confined to his little room indefinitely without any charge, but the laws that allowed the government to carry out this injsutice still remain.

And finally...
Just wanted to say a heartleft thanks to all the members of the Taking Liberties Team who all put their souls and wallets on the line to make this happen - couldn't have done it without each and every one of you... In no particular order:

Nicky Moss, Simon Robson, Nick Fenton, Christina Slater, Kurt Engfehr, Becca Elson, Vince Watts, Ian Neil, Ben Stern, Steve Goldsmith, Daniel Prim, Barny Wright, Sarah Bee, Fiona Button, Simon Goldberg, Nick S, Nick T and Justin at Revolver, Chris Smith, Jules Lewis and, finally, Nicky Moss (yes I know she's been mentioned twice, but trust me she deserves it...)

Thanks guys

Chris

Who needs privacy anyway?

2007-11-21T16:25:00.000Z

If I wanted to illustrate why you shouldn't entrust the government with personal data, I would never have concocted an arse up on the scale of the delicious disaster down at Revenue and Customs. The government is reeling from the debacle involving the most expensive items to get lost in the post since King George III sent the crown jewels off to get repaired, and forgot to put stamps on the box. 2 x CD's containing the personal records of 25 million people were "mislaid" by Her Magesties Revenue and Customs, and the chief taxman has now fallen on his paperknife in shame. The CD's were password protected (well, that's going slow the hackers down for at least 5 minutes!) but not actually encrypted, which means that we have to assume that all the data is now compromised. The records of the 7 million families that have been mislaid by the government include:

-Names (and don't forget these are family records, so it will be pretty straightforwards to work out maiden names as well)
-Addresses
-Dates of Birth
(this is all my bank needs to access my account by the way)
-Bank Account details (just in case the above doesn't work)
-National Insurance numbers

Now catastrophic as this is, it is in some ways manageable. Bank account numbers and national insurance numbers can be changed, so if it looks like these ahve fallen into criminal hands there is a level of protection. It'll cost the government (and therefore us) a small fortune to fix, but people can be issued new numbers rendering the stolen numbers useless. The really terrifying thing is to look at will happen when a similar balls up occurs in 5 years time (and, people being people, this sort of thing will happen again) but this time with the data held on the National Identity Register. When then NIR is breached (and with 60 million records that can be accessed by about half a million people, this is going to happen very easily and very quickly), it is going to be far more than just numbers that are stolen. Our fingerprints, iris scans, general biometirc information and possibly DNA will be what gets left in the back of a taxi, and when that happens the government is not going to be able to turn aruond and issue us all with new fingers, eyes or DNA. The more information that is put on a central computer, the greater the risk it has of being compromised. The NIR is the mother of all public databases, and it when it finally arrives will be the source of data breaches that make the loss of these 2 CD's seem like forgetting where you put your keys in the morning.

Torture: An Experts guide

2007-11-15T18:23:00.001Z

There's been a mini malestrom on the internet over the past week, as someone with a guilty conscience - or a great sense of humour - has uploaded the US Handbook for Camp Delta Guantanamo Bay onto Wikipedia. It's since been pulled from counteless sites but it's now safely out in the vortex. There's a fairly relaible link here, but please let me know if this gets pulled.

Some of the more revealing extracts are:
-Incoming prisoners are to be held in near-isolation for the first two weeks to foster dependence on interrogators and "enhance and exploit the disorientation and disorganization felt by a newly arrived detainee in the interrogation process."
-Styrofoam cups must be confiscated if prisoners have written on them, apparently because prisoners have used cups to pass notes to other captives. "If the cup is damaged or destroyed, the detainee will be disciplined for destruction of government property,"
-The manual also indicates some prisoners were designated as off limits to visitors from the International Committee of the Red Cross, something the military has repeatedly denied.
-"Detainees are not allowed to color their hair."
-It contains instructions as only the military can write them, such as how to use pepper spray on unruly prisoners. "Aim at the eyes, nose and mouth when possible. Use a 1/2 to 1 second burst from a distance of 36 to 72 inches away."

Charming.

And the Magic Number is... 58!
Well done to Mrs Cricklethorpe in Doncaster for correctly guessing the number of days pre-charge detention that the Brown Government would eventually come out and tell us we need to stop the world exploding in terror. A T Shirt with the words "Recruiting Seargant" is on it's way to you now. Yes after much anticipation of what number they would announce we need to hold people without charge has been unveiled. The battle lines a re clearly drawn with the Government, the Police and the security services on one side, and the tories, lib dems, the "arkward squad" of Labour MP's and Shami on the other. For me the most interesting chapter in way the announcement was managed was the antics of the defence minister Lord West. At 8.20am on the Today Program, he made it clear that he was in no way convinced of the need for extending the pre-charge period. 2 hours later - after a chat with Comrade Brown in Downing St -he completely change his mind and said that extending it to 58 days was the best idea since someone first took a breadkinfe to a crisp white loaf. When questioned over this blatant U-Turn, West said he got his words bit muddled as he was just a "simple sailor". It's nice that we can all rest in our beds at night knowing the security of the nation is in the safe hands of Captain Pugwash: "Ho Ho Me hearties, we're going to thrwart the Islamist Terrorists!"

Radio Gobsh*te. Again
Some fool invited me on Richard Bacon's Radio 5 live show last night, which was unfortunate timing as I'd just been out for a heavy dinner with my accountant. Several Mojito's were consumed over the meal, and then I had to make my way to Broadcasting house to bandy words with Bacon, and a nice chap called Peter Power who was there to support the new terror proposals. Peter is an ex copper who makes a lot of money now telling businesses how to protect themselves from terror. It started pretty well, and I got a few good points in about how extending the the pre-charge limit will only act as a recruiting sergeant for fundamentalists, and how you have more chance of winning the lottery than you doing of being killed by a terrorist bomb. But during the newsbreak my final mojito kicked in and I told Bacon he reminded me of Alan Partridge and it was all down hill from there. By the end they were really laying into me and Bacon gleefully read out a message that accused me of being a descendant of Neville Chamberlain and if it was up to me we'd all be dead tomorrow. Hopefully I enraged them enough so they won't ask me back, but that's what I thought last time...

Function Creep - A Beginners Guide

2007-11-06T14:08:00.000Z

Function Creep is one of the main reasons us libertarians get so narked off with big government databases. The scenario goes like this: A well meaning Government Minister proposes a shiny new database that is going to store A, B and C about everyone in the country. They sternly remind us that they have specifically restricted it's scope to those categories, as to store any more would be an infringement of our privacy. The database eventually gets built, and ends up costing 4 times as much and being delivered 2 years too late, by which time all the ministers and civil servants who commissioned it have moved on. The trouble is that as well as being massively expensive, it also doesn't work very well and the current minister is getting a lot of stick for this in the press. So he announces that he is going to increase the scope of the database, so that it now records D, E and F about everyone in the country. This seems to be a cunning way of salvaging what has turned into a white elephant that he never wanted in the first place. But by the time D, E and F come online there's yet another minister in charge - and this time he's facing an immigration row. So this minster tells the tabloids that the database is now going to store X, Y and Z which will stop the immigration crisis. In actuality storing X, Y and Z will do nothing to stop illegal immigration, but it sounds good in the tabloids. After 10 years what was an innocuous and polite little database has become the greatest invasion of privacy that the world has ever seen - not because of any grand design, just a series of people tacking extra functions on for short term gain. Function creep.

And so it is with the National Identity Register. Even before it's been built, ministers are quietly adding information categories that it will store about you, already breaking the promises previous ministers have made on limiting the intrusion of the NIR. The Home Office has announced that it will be bringing the Department of Marriages, Births and Deaths into the National Identity Register (NIR). This means that the NIR will not only store every last thing about your life and movements, but will now be able to provide any nosey civil servant with your entire family tree (and that of you spouse). So anyone who wants to pay to access to the NIR will be able to essentially see how the entire country is interrelated - all at the touch of a button. This will be perfect for any Tabloid editor who wants to smear someone, as being related to anyone who's ever done anything wrong is already Fleet Streets favourite trick of bringing people down. It will also be the stalking tool of choice for wife beaters hunting their partners who have escaped abusive relationships - all they need do is pay off one of the half million or so people who will have access to the NIR and they will get a handy list of all their relatives names and addresses - genius! Of course politicians and celebrities don't need to worry about private information being stored and potentially compromised - they are thankfully all exempt from the NIR.

However it's not all doom and gloom with the latest terrifying and unnoticed piece of function creep. Someone at the Home Office clearly has a great sense of humour, as this authoritarian move is coming into force on April Fools Day 2008!

My name is Chris and I'm a Liberty addict

2007-10-23T10:22:00.000Z

This is really starting to get silly. Even though I'm now supposed to be researching 2 different projects that have nothing whatsoever with civil liberties, I still seem to spend most of my tube journeys to work frothing at the mouth about some authoritarian story or other that has piqued my bristles. I'm not sure if then spending more time blogging about them is going to help cure my addiction, but for now I'm going to have a bit of a gorge...

Jacket that lets parents keep track of children
Yes this is the "must have" fashion garment for every child with demonically overprotective parents who think that by broadcasting their kids whereabouts to the world they are less likely to be nabbed by a nonce. This is a cool and trendy coat to make your youngster wear whenever they leave the house, that sends out a GPS tracking signal so you can monitor the young whippersnappers whereabouts via the Internet or mobile phone. Coming in at a snip at only £250 (Kevlar Lining is a reasonable £80 extra) these must haves are now on sale from UK manufacturer Blade Runner. (please check this out, I'm not making this up!). With a superb piece of Orwellian reverse logic, the Managing Partner of Blade Runner, Adrian Davis, actually believes that tracking your offspring 24/7 can increase the child's independence: "Parents might be more willing to allow them to go out more if they could check up on them!". Never mind that if the tearaway wanted to do a bunk they could (shock!) leave the jacket at home, give it to someone else to wear, or tie it to a cat and put a firecracker up it's arse.

But the most terrifying thing about the trackerjacket is the fact that the GPS signal will distributed to anyone who is willing to pay to receive it. Rather than have the signal known only to the "handler" (ie the parents) back at base, the exact location of your child will be stored on (you guessed it) a huge central database that is controlled by the friendly sounding company "Asset Monitoring Solutions". So, if a budding paedo wants to bundle off your bundle of joy, they just need to get someone to hack the servers (or simply pay off someone who works for AMS) and they can get the exact whereabouts of your child sent to their Blackberry. Cool!

Britain gets it's own torture camps
Yes, sick of letting the Americans get all the fun, there is mounting evidence of a "Black Site" on Diego Garcia, which is British Sovereign Territory in the Indian Ocean. Human Rights group Reprieve recently gave a dossier of evidence to the British Government containing reliable and credible evidence that innocent people who have been held there without trail by the US have and been routinely tortured. Our government has leased the land out to the US military for some time, and the base there was redesignated as a prison after 9/11 when the US was desperately looking around the world for places where it could carry out it's dirty work. The UK Government has defended it's position of complete inaction on this, by simply saying that it has asked the Americans if it has been carrying out torture or abuse on our soil, and we have been given "assurances" that they have not. Well that's OK then. Summarily the Brown government is accepting without question the assurances from a Mr Yogi Bear that he does not crap in Jellystone Park, and the assurances from Pope Benedict that he is in fact Jewish.

Sir Ian Blair demands a Pay Rise
No that's not a gag, just the gobsmacking truth. The head of the metropolitan police (or "Lonely of the Yard" as wags within the force are now calling him) has been a busy boy recently, what with announcing to the press (again) that he needs to be able to lock us up for 3 months without charge, and being revealed to be either mindlessly incompetent or a barefaced liar in the ongoing Menezes trial. He's been so overworked that he's put in a request for his maximum possible bonus (£25k) which has sent shockwaves of incredulity and anger through the Met itself. Blair's very own deputy, Paul Stephenson, was so outraged he is said to have actually told Sir Ian that "Of course you f*cking can't take the bonus, stupid!" This bust up between Blair and his right hand man, has resulted in them not speaking to each other for several days. This is presumably going to not be particularly helpful in their ongoing crusade against terror in which they apparently working night and day to stop us all getting blown to pieces.

Another senior police source has been quoted as saying that "Blair is off his trolley... he is the most self centred man I have ever met". The reason for this uproar is not just that Sir Ian is the most Gaffe prone policeman since Inspector Clouseau , but that he has picked the week to fill his boots as yet more damming evidence is made public at the Menezes trial. This week saw one of the (unnamed) officers defending the decision to shoot this innocent man in the head without warning by saying that Menezes was behaving suspiciously in the following ways:
-Getting on and off a bus
-Texting on his mobile phone
-Appearing frustrated when a station was closed.
Well if that's all it takes to be identified as a suicide bomber then most of London's commuters are in deep shit.

Richard Thwaites QC, who has the unenviable job of defending the Met against charges of breaching health and safety guidelines, has presented this evidence as his ultimate "Chewbacca Defence" to prove that this behaviour means that Menezes deserved to be shot: "If people deploy anti-surveillance methods it's usually because they are up to no good, isn't it?".

The other revelation last week was that the Met deliberately manipulated the picture of Menezes that it released after the shooting, so that it looked more like one of the suspects from the previous days failed bombings.

In a move that even Alistair Campbell might have found distasteful, some boffin at the Met actually had a fiddle on photoshop and tweaked the proportions and skin tones of the photo of Menezes to make him look more like the the person they were supposed to be following.

So while all of these damning revelations have been coming out on a daily basis, Sir Ian Blair has been demanding that he be paid what he's worth, a tactic which has suprisingly backfired. The Metropolitan Police Authority is said to be considering a motion to have him removed from office as soon as possible. According to one source, Sir Ian had "reached the last-chance saloon" and some members may pass a motion against the Commissioner at a meeting with him on 30 March. One said: "It's getting to the stage where he is the issue and not the safety of London. We should be talking about burglary and knife crime, not his latest gaffe."

Nearly there...

2007-10-13T13:58:00.001Z

The Taking Liberties journey is almost at an end... Well for us anyway. The DVD comes out TODAY (Monday 15th October), and that will sadly be the final installment of Britain's first (and probably only) feature film about the loss of British Liberty. Either things will get better so that films like Taking Liberties aren't necessary, or things will get worse and making films like this will be made illegal. DVD pre-orders are doing reasonably well - as of today we are at sales rank 422 on Amazon. To give this some kind of context Black Gold (docuimentary about coffee that was released at the same time) is on 5,088.

If you haven't got a copy yet, you can order yours here.

For those of you who managed to miss the reviews screaming at you on the website, I've cut and pasted a few of the crits below:

**** "Exhilarating... A vitamin boost of scepticism... cheerful, polemical and tactless." Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

"Excellent... you shouldn't vote at the next general election until you've seen this film" Phillip French, Observer

**** "Pure Dynamite... An eloquent mugging" The Times

"Bold, fearless and blackly funny, this vital film should be compulsory viewing" Dazed and Confused

**** "One of the most important films of the year... Watch it and get angry!" Daily Mirror

Film of the Week - Mark Kermode BBC Radio 5

**** "A less hysterical, but still gripping, incendiary and amusing British answer to Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11…An excellent piece of populist film making" The Scotsman

**** Time Out
**** Sunday Times
**** Sunday Telegraph
**** BBC Films
**** Daily Express

OK enough navel gazing! Even though I'm supposed to be weaning myself off the subject of liberty loss, two items in the news last week had me frothing at the mouth:

Sir Ian Blair announces he will hold his breath until the Government gives him 90 Days pre charge detention
This Blog's favourite policeman has announced that he wants to be able to lock people up for 3 months - without having to tell them why. Even though there has never been a single occasion when they have needed even the existing limit before someone has to be charged or released (28 days – the longest in the free world), Sir Ian has declared that we'll all die tomorrow unless we turn Britain into a Police state because, er, he says so that's why. Sir Ian puts in a request for this power about once every 2 months, but on this accoaision the timing could not have been more galling.

Sir Ian’s plea for us to trust him unconditionally with our liberty, comes alongside the first and only court case into the shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes. (No-one’s actually standing trial for the murder of the innocent Brazilian electrician 2 years ago… instead the Metropolitan police is being sued for contravening health and safety guidelines for firing a gun repeatedly into his head at point blank range. It’s a bit like giving Harold Shipman a written warning for breaking the Hippocratic oath.)

During the hearing last week, CCTV pictures were been made public showing Menezes calmly walking through the ticket barrier at Stockwell Tube on the 22nd July 2005. Moments later he was shot dead by 2 armed officers. Seven hours later, when most of London’s police force knew that Menezes was as dangerous as a Police Community Support officer, Sir Ian went on Live TV and announced that the suspect had “jumped the barrier” and therefore deserved what he got. These images prove that Sir Ian is either a blatant liar or horrendously incompetent. So Sir Ian choses this very moment that the images are released, to make a request to extend pre-charge detention - again - based on the say so of none other than Sir Ian Blair.

The arguments are exactly the same ones that have been trooped out the last half dozen or so times, namley: "There are lots of bad people out there who want to blow us up and this is the only way to stop them"

Firstly this is not the greatest threat we have ever faced, and we seemed to muddle through the Second World War, The Cold War and the IRA bombing campaign without tearing up the oldest civil liberty we have. Secondly keeping people locked up for long periods before charge produces terribly unreliable evidence. Studies have shown that the longer someone is detained without charge, the more likely they are to confess to something they haven't done. Thirdly, introducing the same limit for pre-charge detention that was in force in South Aftrica during Apharteid, is not going to do wonders for relations with the Muslim Community, who are the very group of people you want to keep on side while trying to fight terrorism. Of the very few actual real terrorists that have been caught plotting attacks in the UK, the evidence that has been used to scure conviction has not come from CCTV cameras, ID Cards or from people who have been locked up for weeks without charge. It has come from tip off's and sources from within the Muslim Commnuity, but this intelligence is going to dry up if we continue to pass illiberal laws that inevitably are going to create a feeling of grievance and injsutice within the community itself. At it's very worst this feeling of injustice can act as a recruiting seargent for the terrorists themselves, so by passing a law designed to prevent terrorism, you can in effect set it off. Similar laws were passed to try to stop the IRA, which enabled the authorites to intern people suspected of terrorism, without charge. This backfired massively and ended up ercruiting hundreds of dissafected young men to the IRA's ranks. If only our political leaders and senior police spent more time looking at recent histroy and less time poncing about in front of the cameras, then we might escape repeating the mistakes of the past.

Exporting Democracy to Burma
Yes it's all well and good for Gordon Brown to read out carefully drafted spin sheets condemming the Burmese Junta for crushing peaceful protests, but there is one tactic that in use by the Burmese military that will be frighteningly familiar to anyone who's been to a prtoest in the UK recently. Once the Burmese protests started, the authorities stood back for several days. After about a week the soldiers brutally rounded up the ringleaders in the dead of night. How did they work out who was organising these peaceful actions with such calculating efficency?

Step frowards the Burmese FIT teams, who seem to have imported thei tactics from Britain. Anyone who has been on any protests in the UK recently will have seen the FIT teams in force. These are overt surviellance officers who film peacful protests in the UK in order to gather information about who goes on political marches these days, as well as to dampen dissent by letting you know you're being watched. In some cases activists are followed for days at a time, and the effect is extremely threatening. Clearly the FIT teams are they are so effective at restricting protests that the idea has been joyously picked up by the authorities in Burma. During the first week of protests - when the government appeared to be restrained - the Burmese FIT teams were out carefully filming the activists, so they could work out who the ringleaders were. Thanks to this British technique, the Burmese were able to draw up a hit list of the orgnaisers, and then knock on their door in the middle of the night. Isn't it nice to see Britain exporting democratic values around the world, and it makes you feel proud that when we set the standard for civil liberties, other countries are more than happy to copy our methods.

Crossed Wires over Zimbabwe

2007-10-08T14:53:00.000Z

It's not just on the subject of General Elections that Gordon is sending out mixed messages. On the one hand our new leader is trying to show us his caring sharing side, by publicly lambasting Robert Mugabe's muderous regime and the horrific human rights abuses it carrries out in Zimbabwe. So far so Tony. Gordon has now gone one stage further by refusing to attend the EU summit if Mugabe shows up, though this could be just a cover as he doesn't want to fork out for the airfare. But nonetheless, Gordon has been flexing his liberal muscles on this issue and at the Labour Party Conference declared:

"The message should go out to anyone facing persecution anywhere from Burma to Zimbabwe. Human rights are universal and no injustice can last forever,"

Quite so. But could this be the very same Gordon Brown that is doing everything in it's power to send scores of innocent people back to Zimbabwe where they are guaranteed to face torture and death?

In April, British Court of Appeal judges halted the deportation of three Darfuri asylum seekers that the government wanted to send back to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. The judges ruled the three should not be sent back to camps in Khartoum, because conditions there were "unduly harsh." But the government has now petitioned the House of Lords, the highest court in the land, for permission to appeal the court's decision. This is a crucial test case, and if the government wins, the first in line (after the 3 unfortunate Darfurians) are hundreds of Zimbabweans. NGO's are queueing up to show the government evidence that these people will face immiedate persecution on their return (the fact that they have run away and then been deported is a bit of a giveaway to the authorities) but the British Government continues in it's battle to fill Mugabe's Torture chambers.

Not surprisingly Britain also hold the European record for deporting the highest number of Iraqis back to the country we have done so much to stabilise.

Take the data and run...

2007-10-01T16:04:00.000Z

One of the consistent themes running through our seemingly unstoppable slide towards an authoritarian state, is that most of the key changes slip by almost completely unnoticed. While a lot of the blame for this can be placed squarely on the shoulders of an apathetic public, our government has become increasingly adept at bringing in new powers without properly telling anyone. And so it is with The Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations 2007. A seemingly innocuous piece of Government red tape, actually gives the state sweeping and unprecedented powers to probe even deeper into your life, that will put us on a pegging with the Chinese when it comes to monitoring and tracking private citizens. Before I vent forth on the latest tools in this privacy busting document, it's worth noting that this is one of an increasing number of laws that are being made and changed without going through parliament. Under The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act, Ministers can amend existing law without needing to debate the proposed act before parliament. This means that when they have something particularly controversial they want to get through, they can deftly avoid all that boring democratic debate and potential defeat. Not surprisingly the New Home Secretary Jacqui Smith used the Leg and Reg to whip this piece of data retention legislation, as if she had put it before parliament even the most docile of slumbering MP would raise an eyebrow or two.

Show me the Data!
The new rules compel phone companies to retain information, however private, about all land line and mobile calls, and make them available to some 795 public bodies and quangos. While the justification for these new powers was, predictably, fighting terrorism, the vast majority of these bodies have absolutely nothing to do with foiling suicide bombers, and include:
-The tax authorities
-475 local councils
-The Food Standards Agency
-The Department of Health
-The Immigration Service
-The Gaming Board
-The Charity Commission

While I'm sure The Charity Commission does excellent work, I'm a little confused as to how they will stop Al'Qaeda bombing parliament by knowing how many sex lines I've called this week.

Records will detail precisely what calls are made, their time and duration, and the name and address of the registered user of the phone. The files will even reveal where people are when they made mobile phone calls. By knowing which mast transmitted the signal, officials will be able to pinpoint the source of a call to within a few feet. This can even be used to track someones route if, for example, they make a call from a moving car. Files will also be kept on the sending and receipt of text messages.

While genuine baddies are easily going to be several steps ahead of such ham fisted surveillance (real terrorists sadly use codes to avoid detection - this little trick was first used in the Gunpowder Plot) the real losers, again, are going to be unsuspecting members of the public, about whom yet more data is compiled, sifted and sold.

This is but a taste of what's to come. By 2009 the Government plans to extend the rules to cover Internet use: the websites we have visited, the people we have emailed and phone calls made over the net.

But if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear, right?

Vindication from an unlikely quarter...

2007-09-27T10:44:00.000Z

I have to say it does take a bit to get us shocked these days, but Tony McNulty -Home Office Minister and trasher of civil liberties extraordinaire, has left me somewhat speechless. At a Labour Fringe meeting, he came out with the opinion that:
-Tony Blair had got it wrong in his reaction to the 7/7 attacks,
-The Rules of the Game had in fact not changed,
-And since the start of the war on terror the government has done all sorts of things that have curtailed our civil liberties. Furthermore these measuers have heightened resentment among the Muslim community which has subsequently increased - not decreased - the threat of terrorism.

Yes, I couldn't believe it either, so please check out full story here.

This is somewhat akin to being sternly told by a defecating ursus mammal in a tree dense area, that bears do in fact shit in the woods.

When two stories collide...

2007-09-24T17:53:00.001Z

There's been quite a lot of this recently. A month ago the heathrow climate camp brought together the ubiquitous Lawyer Timothy Lawson Cruttenden who was part of the campaign to stop the EDO Protests, and the Plane Stupid activists who feature as a separate story in the film. This week it seems that the extradition laws are now going to be used to target executives from BAE systems.

Even though Tony Blair shut down the serious fraud office enquiry into BAE Bribes with the laughable excuse of "National Security", it seems that the authorities on the other side of the pond are less corruptible in their corruption investigations. The US department of Justice has been investigating the BAE bribes to Prince Bandar, which he freely admits taking. As the £1 billion bungs were covertly facilitated by the Ministry of Defence, there is an increasing list of civil servants, MP's and Ministers (from both the Tories and New Labour) who are facing indictments in the US for bribery. Now if there was any sensible barriers to extradition from the UK to the US - for example having to provide evidence in a British Court - then New Labour would be spared the embarrassment of having several mandarins, ministers and BAE executives hauled off to the US in chains. However, thanks to the 2003 Extradition act, the US no longer has to provide any evidence to extradite a British National, and all they have to do is fill in a form and off they go. The Natwest Three story in the film showed how unjust and nonsensical these arrangements are. The Home office is now doing somersaults as it is in an impossible situation - unless it breaks it's own law it is facing the prospect of shipping members of her Majesties government off to the US for corruption. The most amusing development so far was when Washington made a formal request for assistance from the Home Office, which was unusually denied, as opposed to slavishly carried out. When questioned about this, the Home Office said that refusing requests from the US was "not without precedent", but then failed to cite a single occasion when they had not complied with a formal request before.

The news for the Home Office, MOD and BAE Systems keeps on getting worse. The same lawyers who successfully took a $7 billion suit out on behalf of Enron shareholders, are now representing a group of BAE shareholders who want to take their execs to task over the Bribes to Prince Bandar.

The latest rumour is that the government, petrified of upsetting BAE Systems and the Saudis, will desperately amend the extradition laws so that they can continue to cover up the biggest corruption case in British history. From our point of view it's a win win - either we see New Labour ministers and BAE execs banged up in chokey, or the monstrously unfair extradition arrangements with the US will be changed. Just a pity we can't have both.

University of Florida student Tasered at Kerry forum

2007-09-20T09:20:00.001Z

Incredible footage of US student protestor getting tasered in Florida. US Senator John Kerry watches on.

Pants to Guantanamo!

2007-09-18T14:39:00.000Z

Clive Stafford Smith, legal director of Reprieve who looks after several people who are being held illegally in Guantanamo Bay, has recently been accused of smuggling in underwear and swimming trunks into his clients. Below is the hilarious correspondence of Clive's sttrggle to clear his name:

August 12, 2007

Re: Discovery of Contraband Clothing in the Cases of Shaker Aamer, Detainee ISN 239, and Muhammed Hamid al-Qareni, Detainee ISN 269

Dear Mr. Stafford Smith.

Your client, Shaker Aamer, detainee ISN 239, was recently discovered to be wearing Under Armor briefs and a Speedo bathing suit. Neither item was issued to the detainee by JTF-Guantánamo personnel, nor did they enter the camp through regular mail. Coincidentally, Muhammed al-Qareni, detainee ISN 269, who is represented by Mr. Katznelson of Reprieve, was also recently discovered to be wearing Under Armor briefs. As with detainee ISN 239, the briefs were not issued by JTF-Guantánamo personnel, nor did they enter the camp through regular mail.

We are investigating this matter to determine the origins of the above contraband and ensure that parties who may have been involved understand the seriousness of this transgression. As I am sure you understand, we cannot tolerate contraband being surreptitiously brought into the camp. Such activities threaten the safety of the JTF-Guantánamo staff, the detainees, and visiting counsel.

In furtherance of our investigation, we would like to know whether the contraband material, or any portion thereof, was provided by you, or anyone else on your legal team, or anyone associated with Reprieve. We are compelled to ask these questions in light of the coincidence that two detainees represented by counsel associated with Reprieve were found wearing the same contraband underwear.

Thank you as always for your cooperation and assistance,

Sincerely,

[Name redacted]
Commander, JAGC, US Navy
Staff Judge Advocate

*****

29th August, 2007

Re: The Issue of Underwear (“Discovery of ‘Contraband Clothing’ in the Cases of Shaker Aamer (ISN 239) and Mohammed el-Gharani (ISN 269)”)

Dear Cmdr. [redacted]:

Thank you very much for your letter dated August 12, 2007, which I received yesterday. In it, you discuss the fact that Mr. Aamer was apparently wearing ‘Under Armor briefs’ and some Speedo swimming trunks and that, by coincidence, Mr. el-Gharani was also sporting ‘Under Armor briefs’.

I will confess that I have never received such an extraordinary letter in my entire career. Knowing you as I do, I hope you understand that I do not attribute this allegation to you personally. Obviously, however, I take accusations that I may have committed a criminal act very seriously. In this case, I hope you understand how patently absurd it is, and how easily it could be disproven by the records in your possession. I also hope you understand my frustration at yet another unfounded accusation against lawyers who are simply trying to do their job – a job that involves legal briefs, not the other sort.

Let me briefly respond: First, neither I, nor Mr. Katznelson, nor anyone else associated with us has had anything to do with smuggling ‘unmentionable’ in to these men, nor would we ever do so.

Second, the idea that we could smuggle in underwear is far-fetched. As you know, anything we take in is searched and there is a camera in the room when we visit the client. Does someone seriously suggest that Mr. Katznelson or I have been stripping off to deliver underwear to our clients?

Third, your own records prove that nobody associated with my office has seen Mr. Aamer for a full year. Thus, it is physically impossible for us to have delivered anything to him that recently surfaced on his person. Surely you do not suggest that in your maximum security prison, where Mr. Aamer has been held in solitary confinement almost continuously since September 24, 2005, and where he has been more closely monitored than virtually any prisoner on the Base, your staff have missed the fact that he has been wearing both Speedos and ‘Under Armor’ for 12 months?

Since your records independently establish that neither I nor Mr. Katznelson could not have been the one who delivered such undergarments to Mr. Aamer, this eliminates any ‘coincidence’ in the parallel underwear sported by Mr. el-Gharani. Your letter implies, however, that Mr. Katznelson might have something to do with Mr. el-Gharani’s underthings. Mr. Katznelson has not seen Mr. el-Gharani for four months. As you know, Mr. el-Gharani has been forced to strip naked in front of a number of military personnel on more than one occasion, and presumably someone would have noticed his apparel then.

Without bringing this up with me, it was therefore patently clear that my office had nothing to do with this question of lingerie. However, I am unwilling to allow the issue of underwear to drop there: It seems obvious that the same people delivered these items to both men, and it does not take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that members of your staff (either the military or the interrogators) did it. Getting to the bottom of this would help ensure that in future there is no shadow of suspicion cast on the lawyers who are simply trying to do their job, so I have done a little research to help you in your investigations.

I had never heard of ‘Under Armor briefs’ until you mentioned them, and my internet research has advanced my knowledge in two ways – first, Under Armour apparently sports a ‘U’ in its name, which is significant only because it helps with the research.

Second, and rather more important, this line of underpants are very popular among the military. One article referred to the fact that “A specialty clothing maker is winning over soldiers and cashing in on war.” See here (emphasis in original). The article goes on to say:

In August [2005], a Baltimore-based clothier popular among military service members got in on the trend. * * * Founded in 1996, Under Armour makes a line of tops, pants, shorts, underwear and other “performance apparel” designed for a simple purpose: to keep you warm in the cold and cool in the heat.

This stuff is obviously good for the men and women stationed in the sweaty climate of Guantánamo, as we could all attest.

It would be worth checking whether this lingerie was purchased from the NEX there in GTMO, since the internet again leads one to suspect that the NEX would be purveyors of Under Armour:

Tom Byrne, Under Armour’s director of new business development, told Army Times that “The product has done very well in PXes across the country and in the Middle East, and we have seen an increasing demand month after month. There is clearly a need for a better alternative than the standard-issue cotton T-shirt.”

There must be other clues as to the provenance of these underpants. Perhaps you might check the label to see whether these are ‘tactical’ underwear, as this is apparently something Under Armour has created specially for the military.

Under Armour has a line of apparel called Tactical that’s modified for soldiers. It features the same styles as civilian tops and bottoms - LooseGear for all purpose conditions, HeatGear and ColdGear, meant for hot and cold weather, as well as a line for women. But Tactical items are offered in army brown, olive drab, midnight navy and traditional black and white. Also, the Tactical section of the Under Armour Web site features military models, not athletes. In one image, a soldier poised on one knee wears a LooseGear shirt, looking as if he’d just as soon take a hill as take off on a run. His muscular arms protrude from the tight, olive-colored fabric. He’s a picture of soldierliness. And he’s totally dry.

I don’t know the color of the underpants sported by Messrs. Aamer and el-Gharani, but that might give you a few tips. Indeed, I feel sure your staff would be able to give you better information on this than I could (though I have done my best) as this Under Armour stuff apparently provokes rave reviews from your colleagues:

Soldier testimonials are effusive. On Amazon.com, a convenient place to buy Under Armour online, a customer who calls himself Spc. Sublett says he’s stationed in Afghanistan. Although his identity cannot be verified, Sublett does note the Tactical line’s less apparent benefits. “Sometimes I have to go long times in hot weather without showers. Under Armour prevents some of the nasty side effects of these extreme conditions. All of my buddies out here use the same thing. They’re soldier-essential equipment. The only thing that would make them better is if the Army would issue them.”

I don’t mean to say that it is an open and shut case proving that your military provided the underwear, as I understand that other people use Under Armour. One group I noticed on the web were the amateur weight lifters, who seem confused as to whether Under Armour gave them a competitive advantage. See, e.g. here (“I was wondering what the rule on Under Armour is? I wear the briefs with my squat suit – it makes it soooo much easier to get over my thighs. My first USAPL meet is coming up and I wanted to get that squared away before I show up – Thanks, [name removed]”).

However, in the grand scheme of things, I would like to think we can all agree that the interrogators or military officers are more likely to have access to Messrs. Aamer and el-Gharani than the US Amateur Power Lifting Association.

On the issue of the Speedo swimming trunks, my research really does not help very much. I cannot imagine who would want to give my client Speedos, or why. Mr. Aamer is hardly in a position to go swimming, since the only available water is the toilet in his cell.

I should say that your letter brought to mind a sign in the changing room of a local swimming pool, which showed someone diving into a lavatory, with the caption, “We don’t swim in your toilet, so please don’t pee in our pool”. I presume that nobody thinks that Mr. Aamer wears Speedos while paddling in his privy.

Please assure me that you are satisfied that neither I nor my colleagues had anything to do with this. In light of the fact that you felt it necessary to question whether we had violated the rules, I look forward to hearing the conclusion of your investigation.

All the best.

Yours sincerely,

Clive A. Stafford Smith

DVD

2007-09-14T15:52:00.000Z

Is still not finished. There was a balls up with the directors commentary and it had to be remixed. Carly at Revolver is now only speaking to me through the medium of a cricket bat. I really don't know what they expected... the book was 3 weeks late, the film was a month late so it would have been a poor show to start being punctual at this stage in the game. Apparently the soundtrack was delivered on time but this is probably because we had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Anyway it seems like it might just make it into the shops on October 15th, which is just as well as I've just spent the last month doing interviews and publicising the DVD launch like my life depends on it. Some of the more amusing interviews to look out for are with AXM Magazine (London's largest selling Gay publication) & BBC Hardtalk, where I very nearly get into a fight with the moronic presenter.

Meanwhile some stories that should astound even the most hard bitten libertarians...

Firms caught selling Torture Equipment at DSEi Arms Fair

Of course the news that instruments of torture and death being flogged at the East London bi-yearly arms jamboree is hardly news. What is astounding is that for once the normally apathetic Customs & Excise are actually doing something about it. Two firms - BCB International (British) and Famous Glory Holding (Chinese) were turfed out of the ExCel centre for selling cuffs and leg irons that blatantly contravened the ban on the sale of torture equipment. BCB called the decision "totally unfair", presumably they are riling at the fact that everyone else at DSEi is happily selling instruments of death, so why can't he also have a piece of the action as well. I popped down on Wednesday to see how the protests were going & bumped into Mark Thomas was on fine form.

The afternoon became hugely entertaning when the Space Hijackers turned up in a genuine Tank that they had gone to the trouble of buying. The police were waiting for them and stopped them a good way away from the arms fair. But just when it seemed that all was lost, it was revealed that that was in fact a decoy tank, and a second tank had in fact sneaked around the side, and got outside the Excel center. They promptly got out and tried to auction it off, and it quickly descended into farce, which presumably was the idea.

Blind drummer in Steel Band thrown off flight as he behaved like a terrorist.

Well, it's an easy mistake to make isn't it? Five members of an Afro Caribbean steel band were settling in to their seats on a flight back to London from Italy on New Years Eve after a world tour. The drummer - who is blind - happens also to be a football fan, and asked one of his friends to read him the latest scores, which he did. One of the other passengers thought this behaviour was suspicious (and lets face it we all live in fear of the day that blind suicide bombers start chanting the score draws at us) and alerted the cabin crew. The Ryanair employees took one look at these dodgy musicians, and instantly raised the alarm. The plane was then stormed by a gang of Italian Armed police (none of whom spoke English) and marched all the band members off the plane at gunpoint. Even after they proved to the Italian authorities that they were not terrorists, Ryanair refused to let them rebaord the plane. Not only were they stranded in Sardinia for another 3 days, Ryanair has not offered them an apology or compensation. They are now suing the airline, but no doubt the company will play the "terrorism" card to try and excuse this appalling and discriminatory act.

Flash Gordon

And finally it's been made public that New Labour - despite being massively in the red - has enlisted the services of Saatchi & Saatchi, the ad men of choice for people with more money than sense. I've heard on the grapevine that their strap line for the next General election will be

"New Labour: No Flash - Just Gordon"

Which probably cost them about £500k. It's also massively contradictory as blowing half a million quid with smuggest ad company in soho smacks of being a wee bit flash by anyone's standards.

In His Prime...

2007-09-11T16:24:00.000Z

Remember the dying days of Blair's reign? Just to show us that he wasn't clinging on to office for an extra several months just to get as much media exposure as possible, he went on a farewell tour of Africa with a posse of snappers and sycophants from Men's Vogue in tow. I seem to remember venting forth about it on this Blog so angrily that there is still a bloodstain on my keyboard. Anyway, I recently went to the USA for a wedding (amazed they let me in) and happened to see Blair's smug grin leering at me from a Newstand. I caved in to the temptation and bought the copy of the magazine, and spent the rest of the day furiously shouting at the article, which got me lots of strange looks on the New York Subway. I'm not surprised that you can't buy it in the UK, as otherwise there would be a significant increase in the number of incidents of newsagents being daubed in pig excrement.

But seeing as I had to endure the litterary equivalent of having my netheregions clamped in a vice, I feel forced to share the pani with everyone else. The article that cost the British Taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds starts thus:

"Tony Blair left Britain better than he found it, and now the bombers in Baghdad and the tabloids in London are someone else's problem."

Genius. It then goes on to give an subjective politcal assement of his greatness:

"With Blair, you begin and end with the eyes. His dark suits and white shirts and generally modest ties (with an occasional splash of Paul Smith boldness) are unremarkable, sending you back to his most arresting feature. Blue and warm in laughter, the eyes can harden to a gemlike intensity that has its measure of ice. This is his talisman. It is an expression that speaks of the willfulness beneath the geniality."

Eventually they do talk about things other than his ties and eyes, and Blair defends on the the most contentious part of Blair's leadership - his closeness with President Bush:

"Of course Clinton and Bush are very different personalities, But I like them both immensely as people, so personally there were never problems. Politically, obviously, you have a Republican president, and different political perspectives, but in reality, certainly after 2001, it did not make much difference."

This is atually quite revealing, admitting that ater 9/11 he shifted massively to the right. - the only other interpretation being that Bush shifted to the left.

"One of the things that I've already seen is that, as prime minister, you have to deal with everything," Blair said. "The liberating quality of this new life is that you are free to concentrate on the areas where you can make a difference."

Astonishing... firstly that he still thinks that he did "deal with everything" while Prime Minister, and secondly that he honestly believes he can "make a difference" as condoleezza Rice's tea boy (aka Special Envoy to the Middle East). The article ends with a visit to 10 Downing Street on the penultimate day of his premiership.

"On his second-to-last day in office, I find Blair at Downing Street—the kind of place where you run a country from a dowdy sofa—flanked by, of all people, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California.

He and Schwarzenegger clamber into a Jaguar, and their motorcade sets out across London, now the world's financial center. Later, Schwarzenegger admits, "I wanted to model myself on him." He describes how the fun-loving Blair is "not clamped down—as we say in German, verklemmt. You know how you can find the sweet spot in tennis or in golf? Well, in politics you can also find the sweet spot, that fine line that gets the economy and the environment pulling in the same direction. Blair did that, and I wanted to do the same."

So rather than spending his final hours doing some detailed handover notes for Gordon (where the hotline to Rupert Murdoch is, which button to press when George says to Bomb Iran, etc) Blair spends even more precious moments with Men's Vogue while hanging out with Arnie. It's also very worrying that Arnie wants to base his plans for the environment on Blair's miserable record in the UK: CO2 emissions rocketing, faliure to meet any of our Kyoto targets and massive plans approved for extensions to all our aiports.

But I've saved the most gobsmacking section for last - the desperate assertion that he will continue to have a powerful influence in the days after his abdication as the special envoy to the middle east:

"So it was plain enough even then in South Africa, shortly before the long- announced though contentious end of his three-term run as Labour prime minister, that Blair, far from turning to a multimillion-dollar memoir, would take on the Jerusalem-centric mother of all conflicts."

No-one knows preceisely how many, but Tony Blair has thus far spent less than 10 days in the middle east since he took on this mother of all well paid jobs. And what's this tosh about not doing a multi million dollar memoir?!?! The bidding war has already begun...

Show me the money...

While ranting about this to a pair of elderly New Yorkers, one of them pointed out to me a reason for Blair's absurdly long departure that I was completely unaware of. Apparently, if you are Prime Minister for 10 years or more, you get you Prime ministers salary for life.

Some Silly Laws...

2007-08-24T13:28:00.000Z

Even though New Labour has created over 3000 new criminal offences, some of which are lovingly mauled in our film, someone has just pointed out to me some of the stranger laws that have remained on the statute book from yesteryear:

-It is illegal for a cab in the City of London to carry rabid dogs or corpses.
-It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament.
-It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside down.
-Under the UK’s Tax Avoidance Schemes Regulations 2006, it is illegal not to tell the taxman anything you don’t want him to know, though you don’t have to tell him anything you don’t mind him knowing.
-Royal Navy ships that enter the Port of London must provide a barrel of rum to the Constable of the Tower of London.
-A pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants – even, if she so requests, in a policeman’s helmet.
-In Lancashire, no person is permitted after being asked to stop by a constable on the seashore to incite a dog to bark.
-In England, all men over the age of 14 must carry out two hours of longbow practice a day.
-In London, Freemen are allowed to take a flock of sheep across London Bridge without being charged a toll; they are also allowed to drive geese down Cheapside.
-A man who feels compelled to urinate in public can do so only if he aims for his rear wheel and keeps his right hand on his vehicle.
-In Chester, Welshmen are banned from entering the city before sunrise and from staying after sunset.
-In the city of York, it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow.
-In London, it is illegal to flag down a taxi if you have the plague.

And finally my favourite...

-The head of any dead whale found on the British coast is legally the property of the King; the tail, on the other hand, belongs to the Queen - in case she needs the bones for her corset.

Suddenly being arrested for setting off a nuclear weapon doesn't seem half as silly.

Branson's Eye in The Sky

2007-08-22T09:20:00.000Z

Anyone attending the Virgin organised V Festival this year, might want to keep an eye out for a brand new addition to the line up.

This is not a new saccharine boy band or whining drug addled trustafarian, but a super new flying robot that will be silently hovering over the crowds, quietly filming you without your consent. Alarmed at the thought of lots of people standing in a field listening to pop music, police have spent another small fortune on the latest gadgetry and are now piloting the drones (no puns please) at the touring rock festival every week.

Like something out of Knight Rider when they had really run out of ideas, these toys are controlled by a man on the ground, who has a big mask on enabling him to see whatever the drone sees. The stated aim of this toy is to prevent crime, in this instance drug dealing. Aside from the fact that everyone knows if you try and buy weed at a Festival you will almost certainly end up purchasing bay leaves, it does seem slightly preposterous to assert that this expensive flying camera can actually stop this happening. The drone is several hundred metres in the air, the copper with the magic helmet could be a mile away and the drug deal takes only seconds to conclude. Nonetheless, the Police have gleefully declared the trial a success and proudly pointed out the sixty two arrests at Weston Park last weekend. However when they were pressed further, the police admitted that the Drones did not lead to any of these arrests. But they are really good fun to play with, so they've just ordered a dozen more...

Postcard from Texas

2007-08-15T11:01:00.001Z

The most common question I've been asked since Taking Liberties was released, (apart from ones about the bloody Nazi analogy) is "how is David Bermingham getting on?". Well this week the Texan court - in it's infinite wisdom - has postponsed the trial for the 3rd time, and the date has now been set for January 2008. The painful irony of this is that when they had their rubber stamp extradition hearing in the UK (way back in October 2004) the magistrate actually said that they should be extradited to the US, as to prosecute them in the UK "would cause unnecessary delay". The reality is that they could have had the trial about 50 times over in the time it's taken them to even sniff a courtroom in the US. Thanks to the hideosly unfair extradition treaty, they will have basically had an 18 month prison sentance and a million dollar fine (if you add up all the bail and legal costs) before they've even got to trial. If they had gone out and bashed a pensioner over the head to buy crack, they would have been treated much fairer.

Also, contrary to the misleading platitudes that emenated from New Labour at the time of their extradition, they are unlikely to get anything close a fair trial in Texas, thanks to the skullduggery of their ex employer. This is not suprising to anyone with a modicum of common sense, as the crime of which they are accused allegedly took place in Britain, the perpetrators are British and the victim is British, so of course it makes perfect sense to base the trial in the middle of an American Desert. The real problem is that in order to defend themselves the Natwest Three desperately need to call witnesses to prove their innocence, and these witnesses are where? (I'll give you three guesses but you'll only need one) Britain!

So the Nat West Three have sent a request to NatWest bank with a list of 36 people theat they need to give evidence in their trial via video link. Lawyers acting for Royal Bank of Scotland (which owns NatWest) wrote back stating that none of the 36 witnesses are willing to testify. This turned out to be a big porkie pie, as several of the individuals who were susequently approached directly, said that they had never even heard of the law firm, or said anything to them about testifying one way or the other.

So it looks as if if RBS is going out of it's way to make sure that the men are hung out to dry (what a caring sharing employer!), the US Justice system is doing it's best to grind them down with ridiculous delays, and the British Government is keeping it's blnid eye firmly turned.

But in spite of all this, David is in excellent spirits. Thanks to the wonders of Skype video he gets to see his wife and children every day, and he has got the best suntan he's had in years. Hopefully fortune will smile on them one day soon, and we can get them back to Britain where they rightfully belong.

Those Darn T shirts again.

2007-08-13T10:58:00.000Z

While most self respecting liberty buffs have their attention firmly focused on the climate camp at Heathrow, I spotted a utterly ridiculous story about a man being threatened with a fine for a slogan on a t-shirt. Dave Pratt was warned that he would get an £80 fine from Peterborough Council if he continued to wear the offending garment. The T Shirt read:

"Don't piss me off. I'm running out of places to hide the bodies!"

But the powers that be at Peterborough have decreed that this might put someones nose out of joint, so Mr Pratt has been told in no uncertain terms that if he persists at wearing comedy tops he will feel the long arm of the law.

Workin on a chain gang...

2007-08-09T14:47:00.000Z

The much trumpeted New Labour scheme of tagging prisoners and releasing them early is now in serious trouble. And guess what, at the heart of the problem is a big shiny computer that they were sold by the massive IT Firm EDS (see blogs passim), that has now gone more than 400% over budget and still doesn't work. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is - according to the Probation officers Union "close to collapse".

The news that a government IT system has gone vastly over budget, been hugley delayed, and failed to work in the slightest should not be news to anyone, and would be slightly less sensational than the news of a pensioner in Rome banging on about contraception. What is utterly staggering about this particular IT arse up, is that EDS is fining the government for pulling the plug! EDS (they of multiple similar IT foul ups, particularly at the MOD), will be paid a £50 million "penalty" as the government is going to have to back out. This is rather like asking someone to build you a house that quadruples in cost, takes 10 years to finish, and collapses on you as soon as you move in. And then when you try to move they send you a cancellation fee. Good job EDS isn't an integral part of the National Identity Register... Oh shit, they are.

Don't sweat it at the airport...

The boffins in the basement at The Pentagon have been working overtime, and have now come up with a truly dazzling gizmo that is going to save the world from terror, but also cost the earth. This is something called Project Hostile Intent (I'm not making this up) that is a device that scours crowds and examines minute facial involuntary expressions, which it then analyses to assess whether or not you are about to blow yourself up. The plan is that these things get installed at airports, where they will tirelessly examine the minute changes in your facial expression as you are about to about to board a plane, to work out if you are a potential threat. It would be interesting to see this tested at Heathrow right now, and see what it makes of several thousand people crying, screaming and yelling "FOR THE LAST TIME, WHERE IS MY F*CKING LUGGAGE?!!" Presumably a hundred thousand people all twitching uncontrollably through severe nervous exhaustion at the prospect of a 10 hour wait for the security checks, will send a message back to Washington to wipe Heathrow off the face of the map...

Brown Government to ask for British Residents to be returned from Guantanamo Bay

2007-08-07T14:55:00.000Z

Well even a miserable cynic ilke myself, who's also recovering from a particularly heavy weekend, has to applaud this action. This means that hopefully Omar Deghayes will be coming home soon, after 5 years of illegal imprisonment without charge and torture at the hands of the US military. Omar is one of the 5 British Residents that had, until now, been abandoned by the Blair Government. As with the decision to reverse the protest ban around parliament, we don't know how much Taking Liberties has had to do with it, but it does warm the heart to see that sometimes if bang on about smoething long enough it can make a difference. While this a step in the right direction it's critically important that:
1) The Foriegn Office actually keep up the pressure on the US so that this actually happens, rather than the announcement being a bit of PR that gets quietly forgotten.
2) That we don't forget about the 700 other people who have been held illegally in the camp from other countries around the world.

As we've said all along it may well be that there are some dangerous people in there, so in which case let's deal with them as we've dealt with dangerous people for centuries: put them on trial, and if found guilty put them in jail for a very long time. Terrorism - however barbaric and violent - does not justify suspending the rule of law, as it is the rule of law which seperates us from the Terrorists.

Police Censure Independent Police Complaints Comission

2007-08-01T16:11:00.000Z

Hang on I thought it was supposed to be the other way around? But no, in the Kafkaesque world of the upper echelons of the most politicised police force this side of Zimbabwe, Senior Members of the Metropolitan Police Force have effectively sued the IPCC as it looked like it might criticise them over the death of Jean Charles De Menezes.

In a Report issued tomorrow, the IPCC has massively backtracked from it's original stance, and has cleared all the senior officers who work directly under Sir Ian Blair. This was nothing to do with them being free of blame, more the fact that they had taken the IPCC to court (all paid for by the Police Federation by the way) as presumably it was doing it's job far too well. If only Crippen had tried that on, he would have escaped hanging - not because he was innocent but taht a guilty verdict might hurt his feelings.

However the good news is that Andy Hayman - the most senior counter terrorist officer in the country - is to get a mild slap on the wrist, as he was "deliberately misleading" over his handling of the affair, namely:
-Lying to the press over the fact that Menezes had a bulky coat with wires hanging out, refused to stop for police and jumped the barrier at stockwell tube.
-Allowing his cretinous boss - Sir Ian Blair - walk in front of the worlds press and announce to the world that Menezes was a terrorist when half the met know he wasn't.
-Allowing crucial evidence (CCTV tapes and police records) to be either tampered with or lost.
However Hayman will not lose his job, or even face disciplinary action, just a stern word before bedtime. Not that Hayman is going to give a flying toss as he was awarded a CBE in Tony Blair's farewell honours round, for his services to whipping up the climate of fear and for smearing dead people in the press - another great new Labour tradition.

Liberty Box Office Stats
Believe it or not we are still getting bums on seats, and by a stroke of fluke more than anythng else, we were the highest grossing British film last weekend (unless you count Harry Potter which is about as British as a sausage filled with Californian pork.)

Also we discovered that our distribtor was actually given a whole £4000 by the film council to help with the release of the film. The full list of all the awards is below, and the staggering thing is that we are the only British film on the list (that isn't a 30 year old classic being re-released)

Film Council P&A awards 2007
$307,980 (£151,606) to Icon for Olivier Dahan's La Vie En Rose
$225,056 (£110,774) to Revolver Entertainment for Guillaume Canet's Tell No One
$203,146 (£100,000) to Pathe for Laurent Tirard's Moliere
$10,158 (£5,000) to The Works UK Distribution for Paris Je T'aime
$10,158 (£5,000) to Peccadillo for Tony Gatlif's Transylvania
$10,158 (£5,000) to Park Circus for Laurence Oliver's Hamlet
$10,158 (£5,000) to Park Circus for Laurence Olivier's Richard III
$10,158 (£5,000) to Tartan for Ingmar Bergman's Seventh Seal
$9,141 (£4,500) to Park Circus for Alexander Korda's The Thief Of Baghdad
$9,438 (£4,646) to Dogwoof Pictures for Tomasz Konecki and Andrzej Saramonowicz for Testosterone
$8,126 (£4,000) to Revolver Entertainment for Chris Atkins' Taking Liberties
$7,110 (£3,500) to the BFI for digital distribution of three John Cassavetes classics
Also, the P&A fund gave $158,458 (£78,000) to Optimum and $73,133 (£36,000) to Park Circus for their seven-week retrospective Summer Of British Film. Optimum is handling Billy Liar, The Wicker Man and The Dam Busters, while Park Circus is releasing Goldfinger, Brief Encounter, Henry V and Withnail and I.

Big Chill

2007-07-31T10:23:00.000Z

Taking Liberties will be screened at the Big Chill festival this weekend. And having seen the weather forecast we may also avoid screening the film in a swamp, which will be a real bonus. Apparently it's on at 2pm in the Amnesty Tent on the Sunday afternoon, and I'll be doing a Q&A afterward. The tricky part is going to be to try to hold it together and not come across as a dribbling wreck...

BNP Bombers Jailed

Robert Cottage, former BNP member, who was caught with largest haul of explosive materials ever in British History, has just been jailed for 2.5 years. What is fascinating about this case is that when he was arrested - at the end of the summer of 2006 (you remember, when the new offence of travelling whilst Muslim was invented) it went completely unreported in all the mainstream media. The previous month several dozen unfortunate dark skinned gentlemen had been arrested in a series of "Terror Swoops", had their names and photos splattered all over the Murdoch Press, and were then quietly released without charge. But when a right wing racist nut nut gets arrested with more explosives than wiley kyote on the way home from an ACME January sale, it fails to make a single column inch in any of the national press, and was only reported in the local newspaper. The other revealing aspect of this affair is the attitude of the police. In May 2006, when 2 innocent brothers from Forest Gate get shot by the police and thrown in the slammer, the MET commander gets on his batphone to The Sun Newspaper within seconds. The next day the paper is filled with slurs, smears & lies, proclaiming the men to be filthy terrorists - even though it was clear they were nothing of the kind. When BNP's finest get arrested, and actually do have a seriously dangerous amount of explosives tucked away in their potting shed, the unforgettable quote from the senior arresting officer was "These men are not terrorists!"

Of course not.

Boomerang Brown

2007-07-26T17:26:00.000Z

Does anyone have the feeling that they've had their Deja Vu feeling somewhere before? I think that I've blogged about Gordon making macho noises about pushing for an extension in pre-charge detention for the past 90 days. Hey, I've got a plan... If Gordon Brown stops saying he's going to increase the time the police can hold suspects without charge, I'll stop writing about it... deal?

Sadly not.

Still you can't keep a good man down. Now Tony Blair is safely causing havoc in the middle east and John Reid is locked up in the St Tebbit's home for the permanently deranged, Gordon took centre stage and said that he wants to push the limit up to 56 Days. Or at least he said he wants to push the limit up and allowed his minions to let it be known that 56 days is the preferred limit.

56 is the magic number

Where do they get this figure from? Certainly not the police as there has still never been an occasion when the police have needed to hold a terrorist suspect for the existing 28 days (the longest limit in the free world by the way) so they can't have come up with it. Are there teams of brand consultants sitting in the basement of Downing Street, with mood boards and rubber stress balls saying: "Yeah “90 Days” is sooo Tony Blair so we can’t go near that... but we have to be sexier than 28... what number sums up Gordon Brown in peoples mind... 47? No, too yellow... 63? No, people might think that's his age... 56? I like it!"

Or maybe it's a mathematical equation?

How tough Gordon wants to look divided by how much he wants to appear different from Blair subtract how many column inches he'll get in The Sun = the new limit for pre charge detention.

Nathan Barley?

Last week had an interesting chat with a journalist from spiked magazine. Interview and comment published here. Arguably the most intelligent and sophisticated piece on the film so far, and he actually compares me to Nathan Barley twice, which is quite impressive…

Mass Lone Demos Are Back...

2007-07-25T13:26:00.000Z

And sorry for delay in posting. Chris Smith (the cameraman for Taking Liberties) has just got Married in Ibiza, and foolishly asked me to be his best man. Was arguably one of the most debauched parties I've attended. Which, combined with bags being stolen, friends going missing and a restaurant where the house speciality is to put nails in the food, has meant that I've neglected blogging for a few days, for which I humbly apologise.

But yes, the irrepressible Mark Thomas has just sent me the following email regarding the next Mass Lone Demo, which I would ask you cut and paste and send to your friends, family and work colleagues.

"This is just a quick note to say thanks to everyone who has been involved in the Mass Lone Demos. Finally Brown has said he will change the law, though we are still far from certain if he will repeal it, tinker with it or replace it with something else. But his comments in Parliament is a victory of sorts none the less. Brown has said that he will change the law after consultation with the Police, the GLA , the Mayor and civil liberties groups. But until we see what he is up to the

Mass Lone Demos are back on track for August, after a short respite.
Hand in date is the 8th of August at Charing Cross police station and the Mass Lone Demo is on the 15th August - 5.00pm till 7.00pm Parliament Sq.

I won't see you on that one as I am away on holiday but will catch up with everyone in September.

Mark"

The weather promises to be something other than a hurricane, so it should be a laugh and make sure that Gordon actually keeps to his word and abolish the protest exclusion zone once and for all. The forms and full details of the MLD is on the Taking Liberties Website.

See you all down there!

As long as necessary.

2007-07-16T11:28:00.000Z

Well no-one can say that Ken Jones wants to hide his light under a bushel. The new head of the Association of Chief Police officers has recently called for the pre-charge limit of terrorist suspects to be increased, but this time with seemingly no upper limit. To call for an increase in the pre-charge limit is now a standard rights of passage for all senior policemen, especially when they want either a pay rise or a knighthood. Ken Jones has wasted no time in pleasing his new boss Gordon Brown by publicly saying that he wants to be able to hold onto terrorist suspects for "as long as necessary". This actually goes further than his predecessor, Andy "well Menezes looked like a terrorist" Hayman, who at least only campaigned to intern potentially innocent people for 3 months. Ken Jones wants the police to have the power to detain people indefinitely until "they have all the proof needed to carry out effective prosecutions in court." Presumably this "proof" means a signed confession, which they will of course get from anyone - innocent or guilty - after they've been locked up without charge in solitary confinement for a few months. Even Ken Jones would admit to cutting Diana's brakes if you banged him up for long enough.

There is a mountain of evidence that shows that the longer you hold someone without charge the more likely they are to confess to something that they haven't done. Presumably this is why the police are pushing for these powers, as it will push up their conviction rate. Ken Jones has admitted that there still hasn't been a single case where the current 28 day limit has been needed, but still wants to introduce interment, just with a different name. When challenged Jones said that "he didn't want the British equivalent of Guantanamo Bay", but being able to hold people indefinitely without charge is exactly what The Americans do in Guantanamo Bay. Jones has said that the new powers would be subject to "Judicial Oversight", but again there is apparently judicial oversight in Guantanamo Bay, but it doesn't seem to stop innocent people getting locked up there and regular suicide attempts.

His call for an increase in the pre-charge limit echoes Gordon Brown's tough rhetoric on the subject. It is also has provoked a very hostile reaction from the Muslim community, which is exactly the part of the population you want to keep on side if you want people to come forward with intelligence to fight a serious terrorist threat. There was a hope that when Gordon Brown assumed the throne that senior police officers would stop playing politics with the terrorist threat which is desperately counterproductive, but it seems that senior police officers and New Labour are going right back to their old tricks.

DVD Extras

2007-07-10T08:11:00.000Z

Are now upon us. Initially the thought of doing any more work on Taking Liberties has made those members of the team who somehow retained their sanity from the film itself reach for the nearest bottle of meths. But once that urge was tamed, there is a strong inclination - from myself at least - to return to the edit suite, go back through the vast swathes of material that were cut, and put together another hour or so of material together for when the DVD comes out in October. This is because:

1) All of the stories in the film had to be cut down considerably from their original edits, in order to bring the film in at under 10 hours and give it some semblance of pace. For example the Mouloud/Ricin story has many strands that had to be chopped (eg how the media completely misreported the outcome of the trial). We still have the longer edits for all the stories (somewhere) so hopefully we will be able to tell the stories in more detail.

2) We interviewed several academics and commentators who really know their stuff on the different aspects of civil liberties. Sadly we were able to include only very small snippets of these interviews in the film - again for reasons of pace. We will be able to go back to each of these interviews and show much more of the discussions - which will be particularly useful as an educational tool.

3) There are several stories that we had to cut from the film completely. If you've read the book you'll see that there are incredibly moving and powerful stories that just didn't make it into the film at all, and we feel we have a duty to tell these on the DVD extras:
-Simon and Gus. 2 Academics at the LSE who wrote a report on ID Cards that showed that the Government was essentially lying about the cost of ID Cards. The Government then initiated a smear campaign against them.
-Sandy Mitchell. Truly horrific. Sandy was framed and tortured in Saudi Arabia for a crime he did not commit. Rather than fight to save this British citizen from his appalling treatment, the British Government turned a blind eye and left him to rot. Once Sandy was finally freed and returned to the UK, New Labour sided with the Saudis again, and halted Sandy's efforts to sue the Saudis to get compensation for his years of abuse.
-Sack Parliament. This was a very surreal demonstration we filmed which was about attended by about 20 very small anarchists and about 800 very large policemen. The Police overreaction was astonishing and they ended up hospitalising a press photographer, Marc Valee.
-Phil says "shit". This is a tale of a heavy metal fan who was accosted by police and given an £80 fine for quietly swearing near a police metal detector.
-Alex Stone. Alex is a British citizen who was falsely accused of assaulting a child in the USA. He was extradited with no evidence and sat in a US Jail for 6 months in terrible conditions (Alex is blind). Rather than help him, the UK government facilitated this injustice. Alex was eventually released but not after his life had been ruined.

Along with several others. These are stories that we all have a very strong emotional connection with and we were gutted when they had to be cut.

4) Lots of Random weird stuff. There's a sketch by John Oliver, an extremely distasteful puppet show on the history of protest, and the many incidents we were stopped and hassled by police on a demonstrations.

There will also be the obligatory "making of" featurette (however we want to break with industry norms and talk honestly about the making of the film rather than spew forth sycophantic guff), Directors commentary (will probably end up being heavily edited by the lawyers and the distributor so apologies in advance for the long breaks of silence) and anything else silly or interesting that we find along the way.

We welcome suggestions and requests for the DVD extras so please make your views known on the Taking Liberties Forums.

Here we go again...

2007-07-04T16:29:00.000Z

Reading the tabloid press over the last few days has given me the strangest feeling of deja-vu. The response of the right wing press, particularly The Sun, to the terror farces of last week, has been frighteningly similar to the deluge of media hysteria that came after the 7/7 attacks. The scariest example of the recent thundering demands to erode civil liberties even further is to be found in Yesterdays The Sun Says.

it starts the "article" with the standard proclamation that we are all about to die:

"BRITAIN is under siege — threatened by suicide bombers and murderers who have no fear of the law or respect for human life. Just about every shopping mall and sports ground is now a target for terror. Nuclear plants and water reservoirs are at risk of attack."

Where are they getting this information? And where do reservoirs come into the equation? Surely if you set a bomb off in what is essentially an extremely large puddle, the only thing you would be blowing up is water. And why is it "just about" every shopping mall? Does Tervor Kavannah have a list of the few "safe" shopping malls that the terrorists wouldn't dream of blowing up as they find the parking handy?

He goes on to cite the Afghan Hijackers case as an example of the looniness of The Human Rights Act. This was the case where nine men hijacked a plane to avoid imminent torture and death from the Taliban (a move that John Maclean would have been proud of). They flew the plane to Britain where they peacefully surrendered. Jack Straw then tried to deport the men back to Afghanistan where they faced, surprise surprise, torture and death. So the High court stopped him and they were given leave to remain in Britain. The Sun has always had a hysterical problem with this, and Kavannah tells us that:

"All nine are still in Britain today, making a mockery of our support for international law and order."

Which is deeply ironic as it's actually only because of our support of international law and order (ie not sending people home to be tortured) which meant that Straw was overruled by the Judicary. The Sun goes on to tell us how to stop the extinction of the Human Race from the evil men with beads... Dismantle the ew civil liberties that Tony Blair left behind:

"INCREASE the absurdly inadequate 28-day detention limit — preferably to 90 days as originally planned."

Who has said that the current limit (the longest in the free world by the way) is "Absurdly Inadequate"? I suppose that we should give The Sun some credit for using such long words. In his dying days in office "Dr" John Reid was forced to admit that there still has never been a case that has even required the 28 day limit, let alone any extension. The Police are now backing down from demanding it and the security services have provided no new evidence. The only people who seem to think that 90 days is necessary, write for the Sun Newspaper, but for New Labour that's good enough reason to pass a law. We're taking bets on how long before Gordon responds and announces that introducing 90 days precharge detention is at the top of his "to do" list.

"OVER-RULE judges who rejected 24-hour control orders — leaving seven out of 17 dangerous terrorists free to disappear without trace."

Again a scary example of how the Sun, (along with various members of New Labour) have no distinction whatsoever between a terrorist and someone who is "suspected" of being a terrorist. All the people on control orders have never been charged, and are only on control orders because there isn't enough evidence against them to bring a charge about. They are put under a control order only if the Home Secretary "suspects" they are a terrorist, then they they are placed under partial house arrest. However as far as the Sun is concerned that's enough, and convicts them by media. Not only is the Sun pushing the boundaries of Free Speech by printing this inflammatory drivel, but this dangerous nonsense actually effects government policy.

"DEPORT convicted terrorists to countries like Libya — even if lawyers argue they may be mistreated."

Firstly not even terrorists should be tortured - that's what living in a civilised society is all about. Secondly the problem is that the government is trying to deport people who haven't been convicted of any crime back to countries where they face torture and death. Omar Deghayes has been in Guantanamo Bay for 5 years and never even been charged, yet Jack Straw has effectively signed his death warrant by saying that even if he is released without charged he will have to go back to Libya where he will face immediate torture and death.

It is clear to any idiot that none of the above measures would have prevented any of last weeks derisory failed terror attacks.

This editorial and others like it are almost a carbon copy of what we saw after the July bombings. Will Gordon follow in Tony's footsteps by responding to this misguided taunting, and hack away at our rights yet further?

Is that the best they can do?

2007-07-02T16:50:00.000Z

(Warning this post is likely to offend, well, most people actually.)

Yes there have been a spate of particularly rubbish attempted Terrorist attacks over the past few days. If this really is the best that Al Qaeda have to offer, then we really don't have too much to worry about. Yes it could have been a lot worse, and yes people could have been injured... but they weren't, so just calm down. In fact an hour before the world's worst parking attempt, my good acquaintance Richard Jobson passed through Glasgow Airport on the way to rehearse for the impending Skids Reunion Tour. Just think, if they had forgotten to put their clocks forward, those two chargrilled islamists would have been hailed as national saviours rather than getting banged up for 50 years. Anyway, points of note over the whole affair:

1) Gordon Brown's entrance to the cameras immediately after the London car bombs were discovered. This was painfully stage managed, and reminds you just how effortless Blair made all this seem. What is bizarre is how Gordon has to come though a door and walk down a corridor looking busy but in control, before he "happens" on the cameras. (watch this here) It has the feeling of a Jackanory episode rather than the Prime Minister addressing the nation... "Hello Children! I've just been chairing a meeting with lots of important people with guns. After the break we're going to sing a song about 90 Days detention."

2) In the speech itself, Gordon said "We will not yield, we will not be intimidated and we will not allow anyone to undermine our British way of life." This is almost word for word exactly what Blair said immediately after the July 7th Bombings. And presumably if the emulation of Blair continues, Gordon will soon do the exact opposite of what he said, and use the attacks to undermine our way of life and introduce a slew of liberty eroding anti terror legislation.

3) The New home secretary, Jaqui Smith, has now raised the "terror level" to Red Level meaning Critical. This involved a junior civil servant legging it round the corner to the Home Office to buy a new bulb, as apparently "Dr" John Reid cleaned the place out when he finally stood down as Home Secretary. However they only raised the threat level after all the terrorist activity had taken place. I'm no expert in such matters but it would seem to make sense, at least chronologically to issue these warnings before the baddies did their thing. One can imagine Jaqui Smith aboard the sinking Titanic, yelling "Red Warning... Watch out for those tricksy Icebergs... has anyone got a Red Flag?". In all seriousness, according to MI5 Guidelines, the threat level should only be raised to Critical if there is specific intelligence of an impending attack. However the Home Office and security services have made it clear that they have no such intelligence, which proves that these "threat levels" are nothing more than a political gimmick, that are there purely for the Politicians to show that they are doing something. Though it's a little out of date I've discovered an excellent table that accurately sets out exactly what each terror level means:

For a minute we were getting worried...

2007-06-28T10:07:00.000Z

For a nasty moment it looked like Tony Blair, now he has stepped down from office, would suddenly be prevented from wreaking his unique blend of hapless havoc and authoritarian control freakery on the world. For a minute it seemed like his panicky and ill informed decision making was about to be put well out of harms way. Fat chance. Someone with an obviously sick sense of humour has gone and appointed him Special Envoy To the Middle East. As if he hasn't wreaked enough mayhem and destruction in that unfortunate part of the world during his time as PM, he has been given another year or two of "extra time" so he can really kick the shit out of the region. This is the man who enabled the Iraqi invasion with his unquestioning US support, who turned a blind eye to the Abu Ghraib scandal when he was alerted to it months before it became public, and unswervingly backed US and Israel during last years incursion into Lebanon. It's hard to think of anyone more unqualified to be balanced and impartial and more likely to tow the US Line. Maybe Donald Rumsfeld was busy?

Laughingly the job title specifically does not include "finding a permanent solution", as it is already anticipated that the whole purpose of appointing the dead king to this role is to flatter his vanity, keep the US and Israel status quo in the region, and give the hapless cretin something to do. It smacks more of a PG Wodehouse novella than world politics.... "Henrietta's nephew, the one they called Barmy Blair, was so dashed awful at anything he put his hand to, they sent him to the Navy to keep him out of harms way. Then he sank 3 battleships so then they packed him off to the north pole!"

What Gordon Giveth...

2007-06-25T17:14:00.000Z

Gordon also takes away. In a move to distance himself with the dying king, PM in waiting Gordon Brown's PR machine has leaked to The Sunday Times that he will repeal section 132 of SCOPA which will remove the protest ban around parliament. Much as we would like to take the sole credit for this symbolic move, Taking Liberties was the last in a long line of angry howls about this ridiculous law. It is presumably to curry some favour with the electorate and show that he is not the same as Tony Blair. However the very manner this was made known to the public (an off the record briefing to a Murdoch Newspaper) shows that things are going to continue at the top just as before. While the Iago of British politics has made it look like he is a fluffy & cuddly libertarian, he will also be pushing policies that include:

-90 days pre charge detention. Blair only managed as far as 28.
-Introduction of new Stop and Question Powers. What Brown is proposing goes way beyond section 44 stop and search.
-"Sharing" all state data with European governments. However as no other European country would dream of collating the level of private data on their citizens as Gordon intends to in the UK, this deal will be about as one sided as our extradition arrangements with the US.
-Support the US desire to send British Residents currently being detained without charge in Guantanamo Bay, back to their home countries where they face torture and death.

Even though the protest ban around Parliament was a smear on our democracy, the above attacks on our civil liberties make the size of Brian Haw's placards pale into insignificance. Gordon Brown's policies will continue to undermine our civil liberties in every area, and a token repealing of one law can only be interpreted as a PR friendly distraction. In fact a stunt like will no doubt make Alistair Campbell and Tony Blair would be extremely proud, and they can rest in the knowledge that even though Blair is a whisker away from leaving Downing Street, his venomous and duplicitous style of governance will remain for many years to come.

"Dr" Reid takes a stand for Britain

2007-06-19T15:30:00.000Z

A few weeks ago the USA decided that it was going to make all British Pakistanis apply for a Visa when entering the US. Traditionally the UK has had a "Special Visa Waiver" system in place for British Nationals entering the US, and we have extended a similar courtesy to Americans visiting Britain. However a month ago, Washington decided that it wanted to make UK citizens of Pakistani origin far more unwelcome in the US, by making them go through the bureaucratic nightmare of applying for a full Visa.

Rather than tell the Americans to get stuffed for this blatant piece of racial profiling (which is exactly what the US and Britain said it wouldn't do after the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks) "Dr" Reid has taken a uniquely craven approach to the negotiations, by offering the US yet more data on British Citizens. Fearing a huge backlash from the Muslim community of Britain, "Dr" Reid has had the novel idea of instead offering the the US Government access to the personal data of "immigration offenders and other 'travellers of interest'." The obvious fear is that anyone can now be deemed a 'traveller of interest', which means that the Home Office will gleefully hand over to the US Government whatever personal data they see fit.

Kettle Confusion

A Journalist with a nose for the truth and a taut grasp of the facts has written an article on us on ABS-CBN News. You need to scroll down to the end of the article, but it is well worth it, as she manages to somehow confuse not only the film and the contents of Kettles snooty article, but also Kettle and myself. I've read that section 3 times and I'm still not sure if she's opposed to our message or not...

There's always someone worse off than you...

Whatever anyone wants to say about the Box Office takings for Taking Liberties, we are at least doing better than the competition. According to The Men in Grey Suits we have had higher attendances than both Black Gold (political doc about coffee) and the John Pilger Film War On Democracy (in fact we have taken more than both of these put together). But we must also thank our stars that we didn't befall the fate of The Chumscrubber. This is a film released at the same time as Taking Liberties, and stars Jamie Bell, Glenn Close and Ralph Feinnes. At the latest tally, it has to date grossed the majestic sum of £94 at the UK Box office. However the reviewers who were unfortunate enough to see it, are amazed that it managed to earn so much.

Scraping the media barrel

2007-06-15T12:50:00.000Z

The media whore lifestyle continues... I have actually been asked to go on a show called "The Real Deal" presented by George Galloway which goes out on SumoTV (sky channel 146). At least this offer has finally answered the question "are there any depths to which you won't stoop to publicise your film?" as we have respectfully declined.

Tables Turned on Extradition

As the BAE bribery scandal continues to make New Labour look less like a democratic government and more like a greasy fixer for arms companies. Interestingly the US Justice department is now "99% likely" to start an investigation into the massive sums paid to Prince Bandar and others as part of the Al Yammanah deal. Now that the MOD seems to be clearly involved in the payments of these bungs to various shady Arabs, it seems reasonably likely that charges may be brought against officials at the MOD as well as BAE executives. Once charges are brought there will be the interesting situation where employees of her majesties government will be hauled off to the US without any evidence being presented in the UK, under New Labour's one sided extradition treaty with the US. Now that Goldsmith and Blair are both heavily involved with this deal, there is an outside chance that they too could be screwed by the unfair extradition law that they themselves passed. Who says there's no justice in the world?

To show that Britain takes bribery seriously, the government has set up an enquiry (that'll have the Arabs shaking in their well filled boots!) to investigate whether there were vast over payments made. The man appointed to run the enquiry is an ex Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf. And just to show the world that he doesn't have any truck with officials being overpaid, he has accepted the meagre salary of £6000 a day to run an enquiry into people being given too much money.

Help Tony Watch The Film

Tony still has yet to work a screening of Taking Liberties into his busy schedule. We think it would very unfair on him to miss out on seeing it, so we have set up a petition on teh Downing Street Website to have the film screened in Number 10 on the day he leaves office. Sign the petition here!

I'm Turning Into Tony Blair...

2007-06-13T14:57:00.001Z

It was only a matter of time. I've done a quick appraisal of the last weeks posts on this blog, and they seem the writings of a man obsessed with his own media image, desperately clinging on to the crumbling empire he has built up around him and deluded to the point of insanity on how the public will perceive his legacy. This probably wasn't helped by the fact that I've stopped living off adrenaline for the first time in a year and a half, and my immune system seems to have been detained without trail, resulting in a revolting cold that has rendered me completely incapable of enjoying our moderate success. Anyway, in the interests of this Blog not turning into a self serving ego trip for the director (posts saying "too late" will be deleted...) it seems like we are long overdue some...

Liberty News

Where to begin? We have to start with Tony Blair's final sideswipe at the Media. Tony has either now just completely lost it on the happy pills or is practising for a future career in surreal stand up comedy.

After posing with Wallace and Gromitt outside downing street, the mad king hopped in a limo and went down to Docklands, and blasted a group of stunned hacks for not taking him seriously enough. At one point he appeared to sound slightly self critical when he said that "when he began his premiership there was too much of a reliance on spin". but this turned out to be part of a spiteful rant against newspapers that have stopped reporting facts and stated reporting views. Presumably he was referring to:
-The unquestioning reporting of the government line by most newspapers on The Ricin Case.
-The mad rush to print the governments lies and spin on WMD's the 45 minutes claim and the dodgy dossier.
-The slavish misreporting of the use of the French Veto days before the Iraq War.
-The smearing of David Kelly - after he was dead.
-The blatant use of political arm twisting to win the Hutton case and successfully neuter the BBC.
-The smearing of the Forest Gate brothers, while they detained without charge.

But sadly no. The mad king was talking about further regulations and restrictions on the media, and singled out The Independent as an example of a publication that was getting out of control. Even thought The Indie did not make many friends in this blog by giving us one of the few unkind reviews, Blair has simply descended into childish sniping by attacking the one paper that has actually done it's job over the last 10 years and been a healthy check and a balance on an ever more demonic and authoritarian executive.

Police to sell your DNA Abroad

Yes the British Police have decided that it's not fair to amass the DNA of millions innocent people on a big leaky computer in Britain alone, as it means that only people in the UK can abuse the system. So they have now opened the DNA Database up to all EU member states so that any Tobias, Jaques or Henri can steal and replicate your unique biological blueprint. At least when the access was to UK authorities only, we had some clue of who could have access to your DNA. Now that they have let 15 other countries get their mitts on the database, so practically anyone can access your DNA for a high enough fee. Also the Europeans get a far better deal than we do, as the UK DNA Database is bigger than that of all other member states put together.

Latest Terror Proposals

Are still in complete tailspin. Everyone has revolted over "Dr" John Reid's stop and question powers, but Gordon is still pressing ahead with his 90 days proposals. I haven't had time to do a full response to the consultation paper of last week, but Tim has gone through it and has got it spot on, so check out the detailed criticism here.

Yes there are lots more scary things that we've been sent and will be writing about. Please keep tips and suggestions coming.

And yes I did write a piece for the daily mail. Sort of - I ranted and they ghost wrote it for me - I'm not sure if that makes the situation better or worse. Anyway you can read it and mock here.

A different Kettle of facts

2007-06-12T11:30:00.001Z

On Saturday Michael Kettle - well known New Labour supporter and fan of Tony Blair - wrote an article in The Gaurdian attacking the film entitled "No, we are not living in a Police state". I have written a letter back, but while we wait to see if they publish it, the text is in full below. It did originally have a lot more fruity language in and several jokes about John Ried, but Tim advised me to keep it a bit more reasoned if I want to get it published.

Orginal Kettle Article

My response:

Dear Sir,

It was flattering to open the weekend papers and see that my new documentary, 'Taking Liberties' was not only to be reviewed by the cinema critics but its arguments addressed by the political columnists.

It is a pity, therefore that Martin Kettle ('No, Labour has not turned Britain into a Police State', The Guardian, 9 June, 2007) seems to have misconstrued the core arguments of the film and in doing so, appears to be engaged in what might be equally misconstrued (surely) as patronising point-scoring. Still, I'll reply directly to Kettle's main criticisms.

Firstly, that I paint a picture 'difficult to square with the evidence'. Kettle argues that protest is alive and well in the UK because some people still manage to protest near parliament. True, if you apply for permission a week beforehand then you may be given a license to demonstrate, but this is simply not acceptable in a liberal society. There are quite often times where spontaneous protest is necessary in a democratic society. Would the Government politely give us a week's notice before it starts to bomb Iran? US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, refers to the ‘Town Square Test’ i.e. if you can walk to the centre of your town and publicly criticise your government without fear of arrest you live in a free country. By this test Britain is no longer free society.

Kettle asserts that 'it is untrue that Blair has taken away an ancient right to demonstrate near the House of Commons. There never was any such ancient right.' The issue is rather that in English Common Law the assumption is that an act is permitted unless it is specifically forbidden by statute. Previously this was not forbidden, now we need permission. The government has sought to criminalise what has been previously permissible behaviour, including peaceful protest. The government has gone further, enabling the police to hand out £80 fixed penalty notices for 'crimes' as ludicrous as wearing t-shirts bearing the words 'Bollocks to Blair' - not a crime last time I checked, though as this government has created over 3,000 new offences it will take a while to look.

One of the more common criticisms of the film also raised in the article has been my alleged suggestion that a direct comparison can be drawn between the current government and Nazi Germany. If true, I would agree with Kettle, but we do not live in a police state, yet, and Tony Blair is no Nazi, whatever some of the lunatic fringe may wish to persuade you. What the film does do, however, is give a worst case example of what can happen when civil liberties are taken away: certain initial steps that lead us towards authoritarianism, such as removing the right to protest, the right to privacy and imprisonment without trial.

I want the film to sound a warning that just because we may trust our current leaders, we simply do not know who is going to take the reigns of power in the future. Kettle may be delighted to give up all his personal freedoms to the current Prime Minister, but he cannot know who will inherit them and how irresponsible they may be. I believe it is not yet too late to reclaim some of our essential liberties, but who can say when it will be?

Kettle praises John Reid for his 'emollient tone' in his recent announcements on terrorism. Perhaps he did not hear the Home Secretary’s proclamation that he may soon declare a “state of emergency” to derogate from the Human Rights Act if it prevents him from taking steps deemed against Human Rights. It also seems that when Gordon Brown is already demanding that the pre-charge detention limit is extended yet further to 90 days, that New Labour's onward march against our ancient rights and freedoms will continue undiminished despite Blair’s departure.

What has impressed me most about responses to this film, reflected also by its contributors, is that they go beyond simple left-right partisanship. Yes, I am heavily critical of the current government, but believe firmly that challenges to free speech, the right to protest, the right to privacy and imprisonment without trial to name but a few issues, whether well intentioned or not, threaten the future stability of democracy for left and right alike. So, no, New Labour has not turned Britain into a police state, but it has made it easier for a government in future to do so, and we may not be as far from it as Martin Kettle believes.

Monday Morning...

2007-06-11T11:50:00.001Z

Just heard from the Men in Grey Suits (aka Dave at Revolver). Apparently cinema attendances all took a hit this weekend thanks to the glorious weather. But we came third in gorssings for new films released in the UK last friday, just behind the edgy low budget masterpiece Oceans 13 and the critically aclaimed Are We Done Yet?

The Men In Grey Suits (not thecast of OC13) beleive we performed pretty well in the circumstances for a documentary, and enough people went to see it to open up a few more bookings for next week - as well as keep the film on in some of the existing screens.

In London (from the 15th of June) we will still be screening at the Curzon Soho, Odeon Panton St, Ritzy Britxton, Odeon Swiss Cottage (daytime only) & Tricycle Kilburn. In addition to the bookings we had for next week anyway, there are new bookings at several other London cinemas in Shepherds Bush, Notting Hill and Fulham - check the cinema listings tab to get updated.

Outside London, we have held on to Oxford, Bath and Edinburgh (this sounds like a medieval military campaign, doesn't it? My Liege, the armies of Exeter are poised to take the vale of Hereford!) in addition to all the other regional bookings we had already got for next week.

Anyway this is all changing on an hourly basis, and the news is a heck of a lot better than it could be. We were on 18 Screens this week and on 17 next week, which seeing as the world and his dog went out into the sunshine over the weekend is pretty good going. Please check the listings tab for where the film is being screened near you.

Last Reviews

I'm very glad that I no longer have to go through the tedious process of pacing up and down outside my local cornershop, summoning up the strength to go in to buy the days papers, terrified of what might be in them. I got especially strange looks on Sunday morning, particularly as the entire Sunday papers put together weigh more than I do and I could barely carry the damn things out of the shop. I think the owner of my local cornershop has me pegged as a schizophrenic on a media studies course who really needs to spend less money on newspapers and more on food.

Anyway the stress was unnecessary as the reviews on the sundays were all great:

4 Stars in Sunday Times and the Telegraph (where we are the highest rated film)

Great Review By Phillip French in The Observer, where he said that you shouldn't vote at the next general election until you see this film. And the Independent On Sunday also gave it a rave review. (Neither the Observer nor the IOS do stars - much too crude.)

Mark Kermode made us film of the Week on Radio Five Live.

So the game is not over yet. Thanks again to those members of the blogging community who rallied round and help swell the numbers. Some nice blog mentions below:

Netherworld
Greedy Capitalist Bastards
And an Excribsitionist

There is also the rant they let me put up on the Guardian Blog Page.

And finally the New Labour defence has come in the form of Michael Kettle article in the Guardian. I will post a proper response to this soon, but it is worth a read and the comments below are very lively.

The Day Of Reckoning

2007-06-08T14:23:00.000Z

The last year and a half has been building up to this very day. "8th June" has become this mythical - some would say spiritual - date when the axis of destiny spins and all our fortunes will be resolved, for good or evil.

Alternatively it's just the day a film we made opens in some cinemas.

Oh well, I've heard you only go to open prison for bankrupcy and at least I won't have to do any more radio interviews.

Still no word from the Home Office about our ongoing campaign to give John Reid an ASBO. On the other hand we have had some initial enquiries from East Sussex Police...

Last of the National Reviews out today. Peter Bradshaw in the Gaurdian wins for the most eloquent review of our film, and was kind enough to give us four stars.

Also 4 stars in The Express, The Mirror and The Star, The Metro and The London Paper.

But I'm never buying the Independent again.

Big Issue Screening

Practicaly sold out, and raised a lot of money for an extremely worthwile cause. Thanks to Steve Nicolaou for making it happen. A nice chap called Simon Astor watched it and inspired to write a poetical call to arms:

Taking Liberties, a Preview Review
Go and see this film.
Go and see what became of the magnesium moment of the 1960’s: where that freedom burnt out hasbeen buried.
Go and see how those who died, not for us since we were then unborn and unknown to them, but co-opted by the finest words of Churchill, aye, bequeathing us the legacy of ‘The Free World’ in the last world war, died in fact for nought.
Go and see what the Italian Jewish writer, Primo Levi, survivor of the concentration camps, meant when he said that ordinary evil wears the face of everyday men and women blinding the eye of their consciences with the fine upstanding upright of the scales’ impartial ‘just doing my job’.
The circumstance of every age asks where you are in the tipping scales of tyranny and liberty;
Go and see this film: be affected; make a difference - for, make no mistake, unless you do you will have no right to go out about your own business minding your own business: it, you, will all be the state’s.
Go please with someone else and see this film; be affected; make the individual difference you alone can make;
go not gently into the darkness in hearts spreading not only europe but this globed whole world through with its night of the individual's free flame in the name of cultural conflict to preserve it extinguished! the torch of liberty casts no shadow before the voids of cancelled stars that are bushit & bliar and all the behind the scenes uncivil servant masters as 'sauron and saruman' approaching us all in this endless saga older than eternity, not to ask, but to force, which side of thieving the lives of others from them to feed the monster's beak, living utterly brazen, masked only by the inabilty of human consciousness to finally comprehend the sight of its vision is the unsustainable revelation of a terror too far not to have to obscure it with deeds of a darkness putting innocence out of the eyes of a
soul does not make compare; or, coin you not a counterfeit exchange with your conscience, more gold than valuable: clear?
Diamond sighted self lit beacon others unborn yet bright the stumbling way falls off not a face unnoticed.
There will else be nowhere not on a CCTV channel live linked satellite planet wide as hacked ID iris scans of children orphaned of childhood open not to wonder at the heavens broadcast horror to opt out to.

Take and free a Liberty today.

Can I stop now please?

2007-06-07T15:36:00.000Z

It's all a bit too much. Really. Take me back to the edit suite - anything is easier than the nervous tension of:

a) Waiting for the reviews to come in
b) Wondering what the weekend box office will be like.
c) Hardly sleeping as I'm doing press day noon and night.

Having said that the Reviews have all been brilliant, but it's a bloody nightmare waiting for them to come in. Today we had:

4 Stars in The Times

And the Scotsman also gave us 4 Stars and said:

"A less hysterical, but still gripping, incendiary and amusing British answer to Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, Taking Liberties shines a harsh spotlight on Tony Blair and the gradual erosion of civil liberties that have ensued since the soon-to-be-ex Prime Minister took office in 1997. Director Chris Atkins’ thesis is that Blair saw a chance to become a player on the world stage after September 11th and seized it with both hands, becoming George Bush’s lap dog in the process and leading this country into an unpopular and illegal war. That’s hardly new information, but the film delivers a frightening array of evidence illustrating the far-reaching consequences Blair’s determination to be a key figure in the war on terror has already had for us. From the deployment of newly implemented anti-terror laws to lock up peaceful protesters (grandmothers, idealistic students, World War II veterans) to the signing away of extradition rights to America, this fast-paced, informative and thoroughly entertaining film does a good job of mixing the absurd with the serious to wake us up to the fact that we’re all a little less free (and no more secure) than we were a decade ago. An excellent piece of populist polemical filmmaking."

And you can't argue with that. But most importantly - 4 stars in "New!" Magazine. I can now die happy...

Chris is a media whore

Big thanks to John Reid for chosing today to launch his latest liberty busting legislation. This has enabled Revolver to tart me around as someone who will argue the toss on anything to do with civil liberties and of course plug the film at every end and turn.

Radio 5 Live interview

ITN News (this link may not work after a few hours - please flag if it does and we will Youtube if necessary)

Off now to do a piece for SkyNews. Have been up since 5am and it's taken me way too long to write this post, so hopefully I won't come accross as a dribbling mess...

Paneltastic

2007-06-06T13:21:00.000Z

It actually happened and was a big success. Huge thanks to Shami, Clive Anderson, David Morrisey, Riz, Nick Clegg and Ken Loach for taking part. But most of all massive thanks to Claire Binns and Marc Allenby for all their help getting this event together and their continued support for the film.

Highlights of the evening were:

-Brian Haw's passionate and extended vocal outburst. I somehow supressed the urge to ask him to leave, as it would have been a bit of an own goal for the director to haul a protestor out of a cinema.
-Riz's handling of Brian's outburst. Perfectly done.
-Clive Anderson's quip about Shami's appearances on Question Time. Sparks flew.
-Nick Clegg's assertion that we couldn't have made Taking Liberties without the work of the Liberal Democrats. Nice try...
-Ken Loach calling the film "Brilliant". Smug to revel in this I know, but it is unlikely to happen again in my career so I'm making the most of it...

And as usual a lively discussion in the bar afterward. By all accounts most of the other previews also sold out... hopefully there are still some people left who want to see it this weekend.

One final preview on thursday at the Rich Mix Cinema in Shoreditch - still some tickets left... Book here

Mewanwhile reviews are coming in thick and fast:

4 Stars in Time Out
Film Exposed Review
Total Film

And a lively discussion on Radio 4.

Interesting to see how the debate centres around the Reichstag sequence and the possible Nazi comparison. For the sake of repeating ourselves:
-We know we break Goodwins law, but you can't tell the story of how we came to entrench our civil liberties after WWII without talking about the Nazis.
-We are NOT making a direct comparison between Blair and Hitler. To do so would be idiotic. We are, as Helena Kennedy pointed out, just showing people what's right at the bottom of the long slope that we are starting to slip down.
-We are well aware of the pitfalls in bringing Hitler and the nazis into a film, which is why we get them out of the way at the beginning and never refer to them again.
-The film does not in anyway infer that Bush and Blair are responsible for either 9/11 of 7/7, as these theories are clearly all poppycock. While it is more or less certain that the Nazis did start the Reichstag fire, we do not make reference to this in the film as it would, quite rightly, make the inference that the recent terrorist attrocities are in some way engineered by the US and UK Governments. We are quite proud of the fact that Taking Liberties is factually unassailable and the last thing we would want to do is give any credence to the array of conspiracy theories out there, that are long on exciting allegations but short on fact.

However it would appear that our fleeting mention of Nazis is going to be the source of heated debate for a while yet.

Guantanamo Trials

2007-06-05T11:42:00.000Z

Are in complete disarray. In scenes reminiscent of a Faulty Towers Sketch, it looks like the entire system of Kangaroo Justice at Guantanamo set up by the Bush Administration (with tacit British support) is now about to collapse as some meat head in the US Military didn't fill in the right form. Not just content with detaining people for 5 years without charge and torturing them, Bush and Blair have tried to desperately show the world that these men are all guilty (rather than very unfortunate shepherds) by organising "Military Tribunals" which are essentially a show trial. These tribunals are such a sham, that some seasoned observers have come to the conclusion that it would actually be much fairer on the detainees, if they were tied up and thrown into the atlantic ocean: If they drown then they are innocent and if they float they are a terrorist!

After a lot of wrangling the very first military tribunals finally started, and then collapsed spectacularly almost immeditiately. The first case was of a Canadian National, Omar Khadr, who's case was dismissed as the court had failed to establish jusrisdiction. This honestly stems from the fact that they only classified him as an enemy combatant, not an unlawful enemy combatant. This administrative error also applies to all the other 385 prisoners held in Guantanamo, which is ironic really as it's an administrative error that got most of them got there in the first place.

A new strategy is desperately needed, so The Bush Administration is now searching for a lawyer that is morally bankrupt and out of work, who will say anything for money. Suggestions anyone?

I've actually ironed a shirt

2007-06-05T10:28:00.000Z

The Panel event is finally upon us. It feels like we've spent more time organising the panel than we have making the film, so it had better be good. The fact that all the tickets sold out so quickly means that none of the people on the panel are going to able to sit in the auditorium as there are literally no seats. No worries - that's why bars were invented.

Some great reviews on:

BBC Films
Eye For Film
Real Movie News

Hay Festival

2007-06-04T12:40:00.000Z

Was a great success. The screening sold out completely - I know this as I was accosted by Hugh Hudson moments before it started who told me that he couldn't get tickets for love nor money. Great response from the audience (though admittedly preaching to the choir somewhat), and a lively Q&A afterwards. Then they had to cancel the book signing as they had already sold out of books. We have yet to find out exactly how many they had in stock before we get too carried away...

City Screen Panel Event at Clapham Picturehouse Tuesday!

Also sold out. So they moved it to a bigger screen - and that's sold out as well.

However there are still tickets left at the Ritzy Brixton and the Greenwich Picturehouse.

Nice review at myfilmsblog

Gordon Talks Tougher than Tony

Anyone who thinks that as soon as Mr Brown walks through the door of Downing Street, he will immediately start handing civil liberties back to the masses, should have a look at his latest macho proclamations at the leadership "Hustings". Before we examine his liberty busting proposals in any detail, it's worth looking at the use of the word "hustings" in this context. This word is normally used to describe the process by which all the candidates for forthcoming elections make their case before the electorate ahead of a forthcoming election. It seems a bit of a pointless exercise when New Labour have essentially exorcised democracy from the leadership contest, and made sure that Gordon stands for the top job unopposed. Is it technically a husting if their is only one person to hust? Discuss...

But more to the point, when Gordon was husting with himself, he announced a series of measures that signal that he is deftly taking up Blair's authoritarian baton. The most draconian element is the plan to extend the pre-cahrge detention of terror suspects to 90 days.

This proposal is of course not a new one - Blair tried it on immediately after the July 7th bombings, but for once Parliament actually did it's job and voted the measure down - completely humiliating Blair in the process. The New Labour argument fell apart when it appeared that there was no evidence whatsoever that the extension would in any way help the fight against terrorism, and would only serve to alienate the Muslim Community even further. The only people pushing for these powers were the politically motivated members of the British Police who's careers are steered by the Government. In the Taking Liberties Book, we go through the polices argument in detail, and show it to be a collection of falsehoods, exaggerations and downright lies. The most absurd part of the police's argument for extending pre charge detention, was the use of the Ricin trial as an example of how the existing powers weren't enough.

FOR THE LAST TIME, THEIR WASN'T ANY F*CKING RICIN!!!

And breathe...

Anyway, when Blair tried to turn the country into a Police state in November 2005 - by effectively giving the police the power to hand out 3 month prison sentences without charge - he was roundly defeated. Gordon now sees this as a way of stamping his authority on what remains of the left of the Labour party, and wants to build on his image of being harder than David Cameron.

But as in the previous attempt to remove Habeas Corpus the Government, Police and Security Services have produced no viable evidence that increasing the pre-charge period will in any way help fight terrorism. There is of course substantial evidence that it will have exactly the opposite effect. When similar laws were introduced in Northern Ireland, it backfired completely, as the apparent injustice of people being detained without charge acted as a recruiting Sergent for the very terrorist cause that the government was trying to eradicate.

There is also irrefutable evidence that the longer someone is held without charge, the more likely they are to confess to something they haven't done. Evidence and confessions obtained from people who have been held without charge becomes more unreliable the longer they have been held. Some experts call being held without charge for long periods tantamount to psychological torture.

The British Authorities are also extremely good at smearing suspects in the media while holding them for long periods without charge. During the Forest Gate Farce, the Bottle bombings (that never happened), and the recent terror raids in Birmingham, senior police officers briefed the Murdoch press and planted stories about the men they were holding. In most cases the briefings turned out to be nothing more than a fabrication that was designed to have the suspects declared guilty by media. The most extreme example of this was when senior police officers briefed against a dead man, and Charles de Menezes was declared a terrorist even before his body was cold.

At the current limit of 28 Days, Britain has the longest pre-charge detention period of any western democracy. But even though we are statistically more likely to win the lottery than to be involved in a terrorist attack, Gordon Brown is hell bent on chipping away at our liberties yet further, just to make sure that world believes that he is "tough on terror".

A Very Strange Day

2007-06-01T15:17:00.000Z

It all stared down at the Ritzy in Brixton. For reasons I'm legally restrained from divulging, the panel event next tuesday has had to be moved from the Ritzy to the Clapham Picturehouse. The staff at the Ritzy are striking over low pay, and Chris Atkins and the Taking Liberties team completely support the Ritzy staff and BECTU in their industrial action.

At lunchtime interview with the Daily Mail. Yes this will give even more fuel to accusations that this is a right wing polemic, but they seem to like the film a lot and there will be a big piece coming out next week. So on balance we also made sure we did an interview with the Socialist Review as well.

Got back to office to see reviews coming through thick and fast...

Another 5 star review at Shadows on the wall

Great piece on the BBC News Website

And The Londonist is throwing it's weight behind us.

Then someone called to say we've got 4 Stars in The Mirror - life could be worse.

And, much to our horror, we've been emailed some images of a new kind of protest that seems to be springing up. It appears that as a novel way of protesting against the continued inaction of our government over Guantanamo Bay, people are putting hoods over the top of statues of civil rights leaders. Take this one for instance of Fenner Brockway (famous early peace activist and founder of CND).

Neither Revolver Entertainment nor the Taking Liberties team could ever condone this sort of direct action, but if you do end up in the possession of such photos, please email them to us. And if you could use orange hoods instead of black it'll stand out more.

Power to the People

The campaigns to get the film shown locally are all working. Thanks to Dr David Nichol at The Stirrer and my mum, Cineworld Broad St Are screening the film on the opening weekend. Can everyone now please stop sending them emails!

And due to local pressure the film will now be shown in Manchester and Glasgow.

Latest on the Newswire is that it is now booked in London at Odeon panton street and Odeon Swiss Cottage. Blimey - these are proper cinemas. Martin the booker at Revolver has done a fabulous job - especially as the film was only finished 9 days ago.

Now I'm about to jump in a car and drive across this green and liberty eroded land to the Hay Festival where we are the closing night film. We're going head to head with Ronnie Corbett, so we're playing in the bigtime now.

And one morsel of Liberty News....

Majority Of CCTV Cameras in the UK are illegal

You've got to laugh haven't you? New Labour spend hundreds of millions of pounds of our money on CCTV on the pretext that they cut crime, then they do a study in which they discover that they don't stop crime at all, and then we discover that the huge majority of them are actually committing a crime by their very existence.

Not only do most of them breach the information commissioner's code of practice, but they also completely contravene the data protection act. It wouldn't be so bad if there weren't more CCTV cameras in Britain than the erst of Europe put together. Or that they are now being fitted with directional microphones and facial recognition software so they can track our every move and listen to every word we say.

But if you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear!

Random Fact of the Week

2007-05-30T09:26:00.000Z

Taking Liberties is released on June the 8th 2007.

The first publication of George Orwell's 1984 was on the 8th June 1949.

Go Figure.

The Police State We're In...

Tony Blair has taken a curious approach to the accusations that Britain is drifting towards a Police State, by announcing radically more draconian powers for the Police - powers that not even the police want. At present the police have section 44 powers that enable the police to detain and search whoever they want without any reasonable suspicion. The test case that went to the House of Lords showed that the Police can use these powers arbitrarily and do not have to ever say why they stopped someone - even if it's because they don't like the colour of their skin. The most famous misuse of these poweres was to stop 82 year old Walter Wolfgang from re-entering the Labour Party conference in 2005. Several members of the Taking Liberties team have earned their section 44 wings during the making of the film. Thousands of peaceful protesters have been stopped demonstrating and a massively disproportionate number of Muslim men have been hassled using these powers. In all over 100,000 people have been detained using section 44 in the past 7 years.

The number of terrorists caught? None.

So what does our Tony do? Announce he wants to extend these powers. As this announcement was with the usual tough rhetoric in the Murdoch Press, there's precious little policy detail (this normally gets improvised the night before the bill goes through parliament) but it seems that the police will soon be able to:
-Stop anyone in the street without there being suspicion of a crime.
-Demand to know your name, DOB and address, and see identification.
-Demand to know where you have been and where you are going.
Refusal to comply with any of the above would result in a £5000 fine.

Sounds like a recipe for national harmony, apart from:

1) New Labour repeatedly said, when introducing ID Cards, that they would never be demanded on the spot to create a "papers please!" society.
2) The people who are most likely to be unfairly treated under these powers would be young Muslim men.
3) The Police don't want these powers. Several senior police officers told the Guardian that these new powers are not needed, have not been asked for, and will only make the terrorist problem worse.
4) Even senior New Labour Figures are publicly rubbishing the idea. Peter Hain said that these powers will only serve to radicilise people even further and could end up being the British Equivalent of Guantanamo Bay.

But apart from these little niggles, sounds like a great idea.

Tony says ta-ta to Torture and signs an Oil Deal

Blair's grand farewell just keeps on getting more and more classy. As part of his whistle stop "Giz a Job!" tour to mark the end of his reign, he has spent 5 days mincing round Africa to try and boost his value as an after dinner speaker. Journalists wanting to get on board Tony's Jet (Already nicknamed "Vanity Blair") were being told to stump up £1800 if they wanted to fly with his highness. Most of the Broadsheet Journalists have balked at this, but there is a large delegation from Men's Vogue on board the flight to cover Blair's every move..

The trip has neatly avoided anywhere that has gone to shit during Blair's reign, which is sadly most of the continent, but Blair made sure that he touched down in Libya to spend a few hours with his best pal, Colonel Gadaffi. Despite Libya's horrendous and ongoing human rights record, the nutty Colonel will always have a special place in Blair's heart. New Labour is still doing it's very best to send various unfortunates back to Libya to be Tortured (including Omar deghayes), and Blair is still maintaining that - thanks to his soothing influence - Gadaffi is no longer a bloodthirsty despot, but a cuddly amiable despot who wouldn't hurt a fly. And the fact that BP are signing a multi billion dollar deal with the man is neither here nor there...

Goldsmith Refuses to Publish Iraq Torture Advice

Anyone have a feeling of Deja Vu? Goldsmith's secret filing cabinet must be fit to bursting. Not only is he having to hide away:
-The advice he gave on the Iraq War.
-The Reasons why he dropped the BAE Fraud enquiry.
-Why he still hasn't properly excused himself from any decision making role in the cash for peerages affair.
But poor of Lord "Fag Packet" Goldsmith is now having to hide away the advice he gave about the use of Torture in Iraq by British Soldiers. This all stems from legal advice issued by the flexible Attorney General on whether the Human Rights Act (and in particular the ban on torture) applies when British Soldiers are dealing with Iraqi Civilians. This comes after a spate of incidents where British Soldiers have been blatantly mistreating and torturing Iraqis, which seems to have stemmed from the fact that they were not given clear instructions that hooding and being forced in the stress position is completely illegal. Goldsmith denies that he gave advice that would lead to Torture, but - strangely - is still refusing to publish the advice to put himself in the clear. He's almost certainly going to need a bigger filing cabinet.

Fairford Two Are Cleared

This is an unexpectedly bold move by a British Judge, that has enabled 2 peace activists to be cleared over trying to stop planes taking off from Fairford on the eve of the Iraq War. The pair were caught red handed trying to put the planes out of action, but as their defence they claimed that they were trying to stop a greater crime being committed by the illegal invasion of Iraq. This defence has been tried by numerous protesters and activists, but has, until now, been thrown out before it's heard by a jury. But with the Fairford Two the Judge allowed this defence to be presented, and the Jury found them not guilty. This is the furthest the Judiciary has gone to date in declaring the Iraq War illegal, and could be a crucial step towards bringing some of the perpetrators of the war to book. Geoff Hoon - if you're reading this - they criminal defence lawyers at takelegaladvice.com are very reasonable...

FIRST PREVIEW SOLD OUT

2007-05-29T11:08:00.000Z

Yes the good people of the midlands came out in force to see Taking Liberties at Warwick Arts Centre on Saturday the 26th. We had a queue and everything. And the reaction was extremely good - laughs, tears, and angry tutting in all the right places... and there were even a few claps for the Rendair sequence.

Review in Birmingham Mail.

The campaign to get the film shown in the Midlands on the opening weekend continues - watch this space. It also seems that there are other campaigns starting up to get the film in other cities, including Glasgow.

Next preview screenings are next week. There are ones at various picturehouse cinemas on June 5th (including special panel debate at the Ritzy in Britxton and Directors Q&A at the Greenwich Picturehouse) one at the Everyman Cinema on June 6th, A Big Issue one at the Rich Mix Cinema on June 7th.

Tony's Totally Lost It

Over the weekend the Sunday Times published an article by our dying king, in which he clearly states that civil Liberties are a waste of time and he no longer believes in the Rule Of Law.

Full Article

But the highlights are:

"Within the next few weeks we will publish new proposals on anti-terror laws. Our aim is to reach a consensus across the main political parties. "

Nurse! The Screens! The opposition parties have all said they this new legislation is barking mad and even his own party is completely incredulous as to how on earth he thinks he can get a new terrorism act through in a month - especially as it seems that only John Reid is taking his calls.

"After September 11, 2001, in common with many other nations, we passed new anti terror laws."

Correct that New Labour rammed through a draconian anti terror law after the twin towers atrocity, incorrect that other nations passed laws anything close to what Britain had. Britain and the US were the only nations to abolish Habeas Corpus and allow the government to lock up foreign nationals without charge. Fortunately the House of Lords effectively tore up the 2001 anti terrorism act in 2004, and called it a greater threat to our way of life than Al Qaeda.

"So we were forced to opt for the much milder remedy of control orders, applicable to both foreign and British nationals. These do not involve detention. They impose some limits on the individual’s freedom."

Firstly no-one forced the government to do anything. They could have just not passed the 2005 act that brought house arrest without charge into Britain. Secondly it is hardly a "milder" option, when he extended arbitrary detention from just foreign nationals to everyone - including British Citizens. And thirdly the last 2 sentences are completely contradictory, by saying that Control Orders do not involve detention, but that they do impose some limits on an individuals freedom. But these limits on your freedom can be increased to a level where you can be locked up in your own home 24 hours a day... a form of detention.

"In addition, after September 11, and again after July 7, we have tried continually to deport foreign nationals who were either engaged in or inciting extremism."

Here Blair has completely abandoned any pretence that he cares whatsoever about the Rule Of Law. In most of these cases the accusations of links to terrorism had not been proved in court of law, and in some cases no formal charges had ever been brought. So in Blair's eyes there is no differentiation between a suspect and someone who is guilty.

"We have chosen as a society to put the civil liberties of the suspect, even if a foreign national, first. I happen to believe this is misguided and wrong."

I wonder if he feels the same way when it comes to:
-Lord Levy's involvement in Cash for peerages affair
-Tony Blair's involvement in Cash for peerages affair
-Tony Blair's involvement in Rendition Flights
-Tony Blair's involvement in starting an illegal war in Iraq.

Strangely whenever these issues are mentioned, suddenly everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

"Their right to traditional civil liberties comes first. I believe this is a dangerous misjudgment. This extremism, operating the world over, is not like anything we have faced before."

Bullshit. What about the Nazis you idiot? What about The Cold War? The threat today may be different, but it is preposterous to say that we are under a threat unlike anything we've seen before.

"This extremism can be defeated. But it will be defeated only by recognising that we have not created it."

Just gobsmacking really. A last desperate attempt to try to convince whoever will listen that Iraq is not a cause of the terrorist threat. But he is now going one further by pushing the absurd logic that the only way to stop terrorism is to stop blaming him for it.

And over the weekend we saw exactly what the mad king has in mind to stop the baddies... another post coming up.

And also a few people complained that the ITN Control orders clip was trick to find so we've put it up on youtube.

It's all kicking off

2007-05-25T09:56:00.000Z

It's been a mental couple of days. In no particular order....

First 5 star review!

From the Birmingham Mail - which is nice of them. And an extended plug for the film's first public screening which is at Warwick Arts Centre on Saturday 26th May. Tickets still available but starting to shift so book now to avoid heartache.

ITN News

Used a scene from Taking Liberties in piece on Control Orders. More on the Control Order story below, but it was deeply satisfying to have us inter cut with "Dr" John Reid trying to look tough outside Downing Street.

See The Clip

Myspace traffic still very strong. We should have a new viral/sketch/webclip coming very soon, so watch this space...

The Brummies are revolting!

Even though the press in the midlands is raving about the film, it is still not showing anywhere in the midlands on the opening weekend. A few people in Birmingham have started a campaign to see it, which just involves emailing your local cinema and telling them that they should screen it. Apparently Cineworld Broadstreet Birmingham is the most likely to go for it, so please email them and tell them you want them to open it along with the rest of the country on June 8th. Write to customer.services@cineworld.co.uk

It's been a busy couple of days in the news for civil liberties...

Google launches Fortune Teller Service

Google has taken it's smug hype to a whole new level by saying that it will soon be able to use what it knows about you from your Internet behaviour, to start telling you how you can live your life. The CEO Eric Schmidt (a man who is so damn cool and smug he has a full size snooker table in his toilet) gleefully told a conference in London "The goal is to enable Google users to be able to ask questions such as:
-'What shall I do tomorrow?', and
-'What job shall I take?'."
Presumably the correct responses are:
-'Tomorrow I shall remove Google from my homepage as they are using private data to make even more money out of me', and
-'any job other than work for google as they obviously have less respect for individual privacy than New Labour.'

John McCarthy Condemns "24"

For helping make torture acceptable. John knows better than anyone what a barbaric and completely counter productive practice torture is, so it's good to see him lining up to slate the crypto-facist wankfest that is "24". Taking Liberties has it's own pop at "24" for much the same reason, he also uses the same clip in his argument as we use in the film (Jack Baur shoots man in the knee and threatens to do the other one unless he talks)

The current resurgence in the use of Torture in The War Against Terror stems from the myth that is the "ticking clock" argument: A bomb's about to go off, and the only way to stop it is to torture someone to get the information you need. The only problem with this argument is that this has never happened once in the history of the world ever. When the proponents of Torture (George Bush, Tony Blair, Jack Straw, "Dr" John Reid and Rupert Murdoch) tell us that Torture is sometimes necessary, they can never describe a single occasion where the ticking clock scenario has actually happened.

Control Order Suspects still on the run.

So to avoid embarrassment, John Reid wants to declare a state of emergency. This was the subject of the ITN news story that used a couple of clips on the film, and the row is still showing no signs of going away. A quick recap:

-A cornerstone of the the Rule of Law is that no one can be detained unless they have been charged with a crime.
-When Britain has tried Internment (ie locking people up without charge) in Northern Ireland in the 70's, it backfired completely and actually helped recruit people to the IRA.
-After 9/11 Blair and Blunkett panicked and brought in a law that gave them the power to detain foreign suspected terrorists without charge. They tried to derogate from the Human Rights Act with the claim that there was "a genuine threat to the life of the nation".
-When the law was tested in 2004, the Law Lords threw out this argument and declared that the real threat to the life of the nation was not from terrorism, but from laws like that.
-Blair and Charles Clarke went back to the drawing board and came up with "Control Orders". This means that the home secretary can now put anyone under house arrest without charge. All he needs is a reasonable suspicion (no need for evidence) and you can be held indefinitely.
-The first problem with this is that completely innocent people end up getting completely screwed - one of them is Mouloud Shihali whose devastating story is told in the film (and this is the clip they used on ITN News)
-The other problem is that people who really are dangerous aren't charged and locked up properly... they just get left on control orders from which anyone can escape from if they put their mind to it.
-At the moment 6 of the 17 people who were placed under control orders are currently on the run. The Government on the one hand has said that these men are so dangerous that they need to be placed under house arrest without charge, but as soon as they do a runner we are told they aren't dangerous in the slightest and there is no need to panic.
-"Dr" John Reid yesterday blamed the whole scenario on whinging Liberals like us, and said that if only he had the power to lock up anyone he wants and throw away the key, we would all be completely safe.
-"Dr" Reid, has also said that he is going to declare a "state of emergency" in order to overturn the offending part of the human rights act (ie the presumption of innocence, Habeas Corpus and other pesky rights) so that he can detain who he wants with impunity.

But what is this state of emergency? Where are all these terrorist attacks that we keep being told are going to happen? And if these men really are that dangerous, why don't the police charge them in the usual way, try them before a jury, and if guilty put them in prison where they belong? New Labour is the very first to howl about "innocent until proven guilty" when it comes to the cash for honours affair, but as soon as the "suspect" is a dodgy looking Muslim bloke with a beard then the rule of law no longer applies.

Amnesty International condemns New Labour. Again.

Not that New Labour is going to take a blind bit of notice, but Amnesty's annual report has condemned Britain's record on Human rights, from curtailing the free speech of anti war protesters, to failing to stand up to the US over Guantanamo Bay. Tony Blair's response? Books himself in for a manicure before his tough day on the sofa with Richard and Judy...

And finally...

Robert Rodriguez to remake Barbarella

OK nothing whatsoever to do with civil liberties, but looks pretty damn cool.

My Head Hurts

2007-05-23T12:08:00.001Z

Contributor and crew screening went extremely well. A little too well judging by the green faces around the s2s offices. Everyone who had worked on the film or had their stories told came down to the Rich Mix Cinema on Bethnal Green Road, and in 90 minutes watched what has taken us a year and a half to put together. The delightful Helen and Sylvia came all the way from Yorkshire, but clearly enjoyed the screening.

Sincere thanks to everyone who came along and took part in what has been a surreal but massively fulfilling experience. Now we just need to get the rest of the country to see it. Cinema listings are up on the listings page if it isn't screening near you, bombard your local cinema with emails until they put it on!

Big Brother takes flying lessons

I honestly thought this was a Chris Morris practical joke, but sadly this is a real story. Police in Merseyside have obviously run out of places to put CCTV cameras, so they have spent a fortune on remote control helicopters with surveillance cameras on. The reasoning behind this absurd piece of techno-snoopery is that the police want to "record anti social behaviour"

These unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's) were designed for military use and were used to identify where to bomb. For a long time we have been saying that Britain is becoming a nation where we are all considered suspects. Now it seems that the next stage is we are all being considered military targets.

Yet more blog chatter...

Stumble upon stumbled upon us.

The one and only Boriswatch

And a considered review on samizdata. Though they seem to think it's a right wing polemic. We should start keeping track of how many comments we get on whether the film is right wing or left wing, but at the moment I'd say it's running neck and neck.

And the triumphant return of Rachel North - the queen of the blogosphere...

Who's space?

The myspace situation is now getting out of control. We have got some truly remarkable emails from people who have only seen the trailer and already think we are the spawn of the devil. We have no choice but to publish on the blog some of the weirdest emails. Today's winner is below:

"I am appauled at you.

Look at your film. It is a fashionable statement of cheap biased jibes aimed at a man of such credability and integrity, of such success and brilliance, that it only portrays you further as ignorant and blind.

This is a man who for 10 years, has built upon the crumbled ruins of tory rule, and lit a beacon of political light for the working people. You're film merely takes pot shots based on the naive media attacks taht he suffers as a result of one mistake. A mistake that i am in no doubt he was pressured in from all angles.

How dare you frame this man as the man i see in your trailer. Be thankful for everything he has done. Be thankful for his work and his time. Be thankful that you and i are not under another 4 years of Tory rule.

Thank you for your time.

Your's truely,"

We are still not sure if this is a wind up, or it's been sent by a Mr T Blair.

The time has come...

2007-05-22T11:55:00.001Z

Contributor Screening Tonight! Which should be interesting considering the massively diverse groups of people who have taken part. By the looks of things most people who have been involved in the film will be coming along. Notable exceptions will be Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Jack Straw - but we're going to keep seats free just in case.

Anyone who thought that individual liberty is going to flourish under the stewardship of Gordon Brown, need only scan some of today's news to see that the gradual drift towards authoritarianism will not be slowing down when TB kicks the political bucket.

-Heckler bundled out of Brown's hustings.

Admittedly this was not an 82 year old refugee from the Nazis, so maybe things have improved slightly since Walter Wolfgang was booted out the Labour conference for daring to disagree with New Labour. Gordon's speech on Iraq could well have just been cut and pasted from any of Blair's recent diatribes on this subject. Rather than admit that the country has descended into out and out civil war and make a decision about when pull out the troops, he is copying Blair's favourite trick and avoiding any rational approach to the argument and just insisting that the decision "was right".

The other key similarity in the Brown/Blair rhetoric is the phrase "I acknowledge that this is an issue that has divided the country." Which sounds like an admission of fault but is actually nothing of the kind. It also implies that the country has been divided on the issue equally which is also slightly inaccurate. There's everyone in the country who still thinks the decision to invade Iraq was a good idea (Tony Blair, Gordon Brown & Rupert Murdoch) and those people who don't (the rest of the population).

Russians Refuse to Extradite Litvinenko suspect

The Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett showing, once again, that Britain has less clout on the world stage than Azerbaijan. When other countries (eg The USA, most of Europe, Russia) want to extradite British nationals to stand trail in America, the US simply fills out a form, and off they go - without the need for the tiniest shred of evidence to be presented in a British court. The Natwest Three are still under house arrest in Texas awaiting trial and Alex Stone had his life ruined thanks to a chronic miscarriage of Justice - all because New Labour gleefully hands over British Citizens for extradition even if it's blatantly obvious they are innocent. But when it comes to extraditing people the other way, then suddenly it's a different story. The evidence against the Andrei Lugovoi - the KGB officer accused of poisoning Litvinenko - is compelling, and the head of the DPP has publicly said he should stand trial. But because Britain has a risible record of negotiating extradition treaties, he will probably never face justice in the UK. And there's fat chance of him facing justice in Russia as if he did carry out the poisoning he did so at the behest of teh Russian state itself. When Margaret Beckett requested extradition, The Russians basically told her to get stuffed, and she has scuttled back to the Foreign office to angrily count paperclips with Geoff Hoon.

ID Cards to be used for racial profiling

After soothing noises from the government over the past 3 years that in no way would some one's ethnic background be a reason for them to be stopped for ID, an all party committee of MP's has just announced that this is precisely what will happen. The very fact that they will be brought in for foreigners first, means that statistically you will be more likely to be asked for your ID card if you have dark skin. Papers Please!

Control Order Contradictions

It can't be easy being John Reid. On the one hand you have to justify your hard man image by making wild announcements in the tabloids about being "tough on terror", and on the other hand you've got to sit in front of the Joint Committee on Human Rights and justify these authoritarian measures. His recent performance is riddled with contradictions - first of all saying that Control Orders are not "completely effective" - even though when passing the legislation they said it was "vital to protect the nation from future attacks". And when 3 people had been under control orders for a long period of time (because - according to John Reid - they were all about to commit major terrorist outrages) suddenly escaped, "Dr" Reid then turned around and said there was no need to panic as they were not a threat to the public...

Born To Be Wild (Just as long as no-one submits an FOI request)

2007-05-21T11:47:00.000Z

The logical sommersaults surrounding the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill continue. The Tory MP David Maclean has proposed ammending the FOI Act so it basically exempts MP's from having to declare their expenses. This has the tacit support of New Labour, who have long argued that the maxim "Nothing to Hide, Nothing To Fear" should apply only to the public, not to politicians. As if to prove how embarassing MP's expenses claims can be, Mr Maclean recently bought a £3300 quad bike and got the taxpayer to fork out for it. Presumably he did this to demonstrate how much MP's can fiddle their expenses if they put their mind to it, and therefore how important it is to keep what they spend our money on secret. Mr Maclean has defended his toy purchase by saying it was "vital to help him get round the constinuency". This is up there with other great lame excuses from politicians after they've been caught out:
-Jeffrey Archer apparently gave that prostitue a stack of cash "to further her studies in biology and chemistry"
-Jonathan Aitken's bill at the Ritz Hilton was paid for by a Saudi Arms broker "As an act of Christian kindness"
-Richard Nixon authorised the Wartergate burglary as "A practical joke".

But now that it looks like the FOI ammendment will be going through so MP's can buy their perks in peace.

Taking Liberties is Myspace Featured Film

Which is nice of them. Lot's of people now want to be our friends - and some of them are not from Porn sites!

News item by Shami in the Telegraph.

And the comments underneath are definitely worth a read. Particularly the one that uses the civil liberties argument to try to repeal gun control laws.

And lots of mentions on blogs far and wide...

Bread and Circuses

Wordpress

Solo Passion

The Next Wave

New Narration

2007-05-18T15:01:00.000Z

The narration for Taking Liberties has just been re-recorded by the wonderful David Morrissey .

You heard it on the Blog first.

And boy is he good. Apart from being one of the the best actors of his generation, there is the wonderful irony that David famously played Gordon Brown in Steven Frears award winning drama "The Deal" based around the turbulent relationship between Blair and Brown.

Some might say we are cutting it a bit fine (we are) but the machinations surrounding the narration for Taking Liberties have been the subject of the biggest rows in film making since James Cameron wanted to make a little film about a boat that sank. However we now have something we are completely delighted with and maybe, just maybe, the film might actually be finished in time for people to see it on June 8th.

Tony Blair is clearly doing all he can to make sure his legacy is well and firmly entrenched before he packs his bags...

No 10 Website hosts racist petition

A BNP led campaign to ban a new Mosque in East London has found a home on Blair's website. Number 10 has distanced itself from it by saying that "The views expressed in e-petitions in no way reflect those of the Government or Downing Street." Strange though that they haven't pulled it down immediately as they do to petitions calling for Blair to be tried as a war criminal.

DNA Database Screw up allows 200 crimes to be committed

This can't be right surely? The DNA Database is foolproof?!? The men at the IT Firm we gave hundreds of millions to said that as long as we kept giving them money it would be perfect. It didn't say anywhere in the contract that errors would go undetected for 11 years and allow a string of rapes, burglaries and arson offences to happen that were completely preventable. Ho Hum.

Blair Might get Wolfowitz World Bank Job

So it's no all doom and gloom for our Tony. Even though Wolfowitz has been handed his P45 for corruption, the Bush administration is keen to make sure that his replacement as the head of the world bank is also a war mongering neo conservative. And as Tony's got some time on his hands, he is currently being given odds of 25/1 to get the job. But once the world bank gets TB's updated CV, and sees his extensive experience in spending other people's money and dicking over 3rd world countries, these odds are expected to shorten.

Bombers Widow Released

2007-05-17T10:14:00.000Z

The wife of Mohammed Sidique Khan (Ringleader of the 7/7 attacks) was arrested last week in a blaze of publicity. Yesterday she was quietly released without charge. The only thing it seems to have achieved is pissing off the Muslim community even more, and added yet another reason for having a public enquiry into the attacks.

A last hurrah for "Dr" Reid

Go on John - play that song just one more time... Yes, John Reid is going to deliver one final criminal justice bill before he stands down as Home Secretary at the end of this month. And thank heavens he is, as the other 53 Criminal Justice Acts that New Labour have passed in the last decade were starting to get a bit lonely. One might have thought that "Dr" Reid might have actually run out of things to criminalise, but he's pulled through and clearly wants this to be his authoritarian swansong. Still on the hunt to stamp out "yobbish" behaviour, the New Act includes:

-Police Powers to shut and seal premises. It also gives people the power to simply evict neighbours they don't like. If only this law had been passed sooner then Gordon Brown might have got into number 10 much quicker.
-Violent offender orders. Lots more on this in the Taking Liberties book, but these are police powers to put restrictions on people who they think might commit a crime in the future.
-Introducing Tasers to the police force. These are weapons that deliver a debilitating electrical charge and are very popular in the US, so naturally we have to have them in the UK. The Arizona based company that makes them (that's shortly going to make a ton of cash courtesy of the British Taxpayer) defends it's product by saying that they "save" hundreds of lives. This amazing backwards logic is based on the reasoning that if the police didn't use a taser then they'd just shoot the person instead with a gun. This is rather like running someone over with a car and seriously injuring them, but then claiming that you have in fact saved their life as you could have run them over with a bus. The statistics speak for themselves - 220 people have died from being "Tasered" in the US and Canada according to Amnesty international. But they look really cool on the US TV show "Cops" so who do we make the cheque out to?

When "Dr" Reid announced these measures to the Police Federation in Blackpool he was booed and heckled by the audience - though mainly over pay and working hours. Surely this yobbish behaviour warrants them all being evicted from their homes and given a 50,000 volt electrical charge?

And a great running debate on the political affiliation of Taking Liberties on Chris Paul's Blog. For the record we have kept Taking Liberties apolitical - hence we have got contributions from the 3 main parties in the film.

Vanity Fair Screening

2007-05-16T11:29:00.000Z

Was a blast. Our eternal thanks to the wonderful Henry Porter for hosting the occasion. Some real movers and shakers turned out in force, including Malcolm Macdowell, Shami Chakrabarti and Tony Benn. Fantastic response, and the wine flowed very freely afterwards. And some of it managed not to get drunk by the film makers.

The next step is to get people to actually pay to go and see it, but with the help of the fine people at Revolver Entertainment, there should be a few bums on seats. Apparently it's rather important that people go and see it on the opening weekend as this will dictate how long it plays for, so keep June 8th free. We're up against Ocean's 13, which has the edge on us when it comes to marketing budgets, but we have the edge over them by not being marketing led hollywood drivel.

Microchips in children

You really can't make this stuff up any more. Public hysteria over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has inevitably come round to the conclusion that if we had a microchip in every child then it wouldn't have happened. This is of course utter twaddle, but still doesn't stop various companies and individuals making a load of cash from kiddie surveillance gizmos. Along with microchips in your tots arm (that need recharging once a year - just wave your bundle of joy near a gigantic electromagnet) the surveillance industry is using the fear of paedophilia to flog you:

-Sim card tracking services so you know where your child is 24/7.
-An easy to throw away tagged badge.
-A cuddly device called the Teddy-fone which enables parents to listen to everything the child says and does.

Apart from being absurdly expensive, and detrimental to the child's upbringing, all of the above will be completely hackable so any budding paedophile just needs to go on a few IT courses, and these devices will actually assist them in their ghastly antics.

BBC documentary on CCTV

Apparently Jamie Theakstone thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread. Strange that a man who's career collapsed (and later rose again) because of slightly unorthodox goings on in his private life should want cameras recording our every last move. Presumably if he had been filmed enjoying vast quantities of coke in the company of several prostitutes he would have been sacked as a kids TV presenter much sooner. More on this at Tim's Blog.

Libetry Blogging

Starting to get the hang of this Blog thing. Published our first photo above which was so exciting I had to go and lie down for a while.

Absolutely Brilliant promotional idea for film at Beau Bo D'Or. Where can you get 10,000 stickers printed?

Heavyweight political discourse at Open Democracy

Yes the whole written constitution debate has been a pleasant surprise in terms of timing. Yes we'd all be a lot happier if we had a Bill of Rights that put the core Civil Liberties out of the hands of meddling politicians. Only question is who's going to write it? If his first name is Gordon and he's good with numbers we might as well not bother...

And the netherworld has some nice things to say as well.

Still not finished

2007-05-15T12:22:00.000Z

At this rate the film won't be finished for Gordon Brown's departure, never mind Tony Blair. More on this later but the decision has been made to re-record the polemic narration with a named actor. Can't give the name away just yet, but there is a delicous irony in the choice that hopefully will not be wasted on New Labour.

More chatter on the blogosphere:

Devil's Kitchen - yes we can confirm that we do look into Magna Carta and the destruction of the British Common Law tradition. And we can safely say we are the first (and possibly the last) cinema film to do this.

And a nice review on Bloggerheads. In fact in general the reaction from the Press screening last thursday night was very positive. Though the death threats and accusations of us all being Hard Let/Hard Right/MI5 Agents are starting to trickle through.

Police are starting to arrest for really absurd reasons in order to keep their arrest quotas up:
-Man in Cheshire arrested in posession of "Egg with an intent to throw".
-A child in Kent arrested for throwing cream buns at a bus.
-Bride in the West Midlands arrested for criminal damage when she accidentally hit a park barrier on her wedding day. Women drivers, eh?

John Reid's last hurrah

2007-05-13T13:12:00.000Z

No one can ever accuse our chum "Dr" John Reid for going out with a whimper. Although he has spent the last year at the home office making absurd and sinister authoritarian proclamations along the lines of:

-"The Rule of Law should be scrapped."
-"Muslim Parents have to shop their children if they stay out late and grow beards."
-"I will sort out the Home office in 100 days" (where in fact he broke it in two after a year)

He has saved the best til last. He told a European summit that judges should stop following the law "to the letter" as it hampered the fight against terrorism. How exactly judges follow the law if it is not to the letter was not fully expanded on, but one can only assume that he means that they should follow the law to his letter, and stop making rulings that make him look like a tit. Obviously still smarting from his humiliating defeat in trying to send Lybian nationals back home to be tortured, "Dr" Reid decided that the law had to change so that judges would just do as they were told.

Yet again he came out with the potty logic that the European convention on human rights was outdated as we live in far more uncertain and dangerous times than when the ECHR drawn up. Of course we do. Europe in 1950 was a time of peace and harmony... there hadn't just been the most brutal devastating war that the world had ever seen, 60 million dead and the world in tatters... god no. The Europe of today is far more deadly now than it was at the end of WWII. Osama Bin Laden is a much graver threat to our way of life than those wannabe's Hitler & Stalin, so all those pesky civil liberties (that were entrenched to stop the Genocide of WWII ever happening again) have now got to be given up in order to make John Reid look like less of a dipstick.

Yes, "Dr" Reid knows how to end on a bang.

Film Is Finished

2007-05-11T12:23:00.000Z

Nearly. We still have to mix the sound and strike the prints, but we had 3 screenings yesterday and the response was fantastic. Packed house at the Amnesty screening, and people laughed, cried and tutted angrilly in all the right places. Thanks all for coming alone - please spread the word! Cinema listings now up on listings page.

No-one will be disciplined over the shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes, though this is no great surprise. However Sir Ian Blair has announced that they will be pressing charges on Mr Menzes for getting blood on the policeman's boots. Still the finest moment in the Menezes affair was when Richard Littlejohn wrote in his liberal column that the guy basically deserved it for being an iillegal immigrant.

The Cost of ID Cards

We would never question the government’s sense of timing when it comes to bad news but it seems almost uncanny that once again on a day when most news cameras are busy pointing in one direction, bad news should be released in another. This time it is the news that the projected total costs of the ID card scheme has risen to £5.55 billion. This is despite some clever accounting, which means that they will no longer be including any of the costs accrued by the Foreign Office (estimated to be £510 million). It’s interesting that even though these figures are supposed to be released by the 9th May at the latest, the Home Office found that they were unable to do so until the day that Tony Blair announced his departure.

While others may doubt the sincerity of this government when it comes to the timing of its announcements we in the Taking Liberties office believe that all Home Office staff were taken hostage for the past month and have therefore been entirely incapable of releasing this news on any day until yesterday. They have been making pitiful excuses about why they were unable to release the report only because they are too modist to tell the truth which is that they fought off these darstardly attackers armed only with a stapler, a hole punch and some biros (fortunately civil servants are big fans of Macgyver).

The end of the Blair era (well almost)

2007-05-10T14:58:00.000Z

Tony's departure announcement

Just in case anyone missed it Tony is stepping down on 27th June (if you hadn’t noticed then I am pretty sure that this isn’t the blog for you, British politics being something of a central theme to the blog, documentary and book we’ve written).

You wonder how newspapers managed to muster enough excitement about this to put it on their front pages. It’s hard to imagine cabinet this morning sitting in shocked silence while he announced that he had decided to step down “But Tony, this has really come out of nowhere for us. What do you mean you’re leaving; we didn’t even know you were unhappy. We came into the meeting this morning thinking that we were going to discuss the paperclip thievery from the Cabinet stationery cupboard” (cue pointed looks at Geoff Hoon - well he has to get something out of cabinet, after all he’s not allowed to vote) “and here you dropping this bombshell on us. I really think you could have given us more warning.”

Fortunately, this means that Tony really won’t have a lot to do over the next couple of weeks while his party squabbles over the entirely useless position of deputy leader. This will leave him free for other pursuits which he hasn’t had a lot of time for over the last decade, like going to the cinema…

Tony Blair – the man that irony forgot

2007-05-10T08:18:00.000Z

If there’s religious tension in your neighbourhood, who’re you gonna call? Tony Blair!

After 10 years in power, during which time relations between Muslims and Christians have hit about their lowest ebb since the Crusades (thanks in no small part to our glorious leader) Tony has decided that he will set up a foundation to foster interfaith relations.

Times article

A friend is quoted as saying “He sees this as where the action is and nobody else is really doing it.” Does this mean that the War on Terror, Iraq War and general breakdown between Christian and Islamic religions has merely been a ruse to give Tony something to do when he retires?

Now that’s what I call forward planning.

Tax Credits – the gift that keeps on giving

2007-05-10T08:10:00.000Z

It looks like more money is going to have to be written off due to overpayments on the tax credit system. This time they think it is going to be £1.4 billion. I’m going to say that again in case anyone missed it the first time £1.4 billion.

Now I don’t want to quibble with the Treasury about every pound that goes missing, and I understand that there will always be a fair amount of waste in government but I don’t think I am exadurating when I say that it is going to take Gordon a bit more than a quick rummage down the back of the sofa to make up that kind of loss.

BBC article

Tax credits were one of the flagship systems introduced in the last ten years and seem to have been a source of fraud, incompetence and heartache ever since.

Next up from the government that brought you tax credits, ID cards.

Well, nothing could go wrong there…right?

Reid all about it

2007-05-07T15:24:00.000Z

The Home secreatry "Dr" John Reid has announced that he will throw himself on Tony Blair's funeral pyre, as he can't bear the thought of staying one more day in the Government wihtout his beloved master. A few other things might have hastened "Dr" Reid's announcement of resignation:

1) If he holds a senior cabinet post for more than a year he turns into a pumpkin. "Dr" Reid has held 9 cabinet posts in 10 years. As usual, just as it starts to become apparent that he has made a pigs ear out of whatever unfortunate department Blair has parachuted him into, he gets promoted to cause havock somehere else. Reid's trail of disaster includes: Northern Ireland, Health Service (made NHS trusts overbudget by millions), Defence (he said that British Troops would be able to leave Afghanistan without firing a shot), and of course the Home Office where he has continued the work done by David Blunkett and Charles Clarke in pulverising what's left of our civil liberties.

2) "Dr" Reid and Gordon Brown detest each other. No-one is quite sure why but it has been going on for 20 years and is certainly a factor in Reid's departure, given the impendiong coronation of Gordon. We reckon the feud could be over a woman, a drunken fight, or a fiver that Gordon lent "Dr" Reid that he has never given back.

3) "Dr" Reid suddenly had an epiphany, realised that he was a belligerent, authoritarian dipstick who had no right on gods earth being let near a poition of civic responsibility and has quit in shame and has gone to spend the rest of his life shouvelling mud in the shetland islands. OK a bit far fetched but it's nice image.

In any event it looks like he will soon be in need of gainful employment. Any suggestions please let us know and we'll pass them on when we next see him in court.

More on Taking Liberties on various Blogs

More nice things being written... though it's only a matter of time before the serious verbal abuse starts. Thanks to:

Andrew Ian Dodge

Chicken yoghurt - is there such a thing? Please send us a sample if possible.

Mr Eugenides

And a reactionary snob

Thanks one and all. There are some new previews coming up soon and we'll try and keep a few tickets aside for Bloggers if possible.

Film nearly finished - no really. We have 3 screenings on thursday so this crazy war will be over soon.

PS. Schools now banning playgrounds and break times to keep children safe.

It was only a matter of time

2007-05-05T14:22:00.000Z

Words. They don't really mean anything do they? "Deadline"... "Picture Lock", "Bankruptcy"... They're just sounds that people shout at you before they bury their heads in an oven.

Yes we just changed the cut again. It's only 5 DAYS UNTIL WE SCREEN THE FILM FOR THE FIRST TIME?!?!

But it has made it a lot better. Kurt was in town so we asked him to come in and re-record the star spangled banner - Hendrix style - for the torture section. Had a lot of fun doing that in a recording studio on Brick Lane, and then we came back to the edit to have a look at some scenes... and it all went downhill from there. The sound department are can now only finish the mix if they go back in time, so Steve and Vince are brushing up on their quantum theory in order to make sure we have some sounds to accompany the pictures for the 3 screenings this Thursday.

Taking Liberties with Taking Liberties

2007-05-04T16:04:00.000Z

ok we admit it. The title "Taking Liberties" is not an original one and has been used by:

-numerous articles on the loss of civil liberties (like the one last week by Henry Porter)

-A blog by Simon Clark, that seems to look at several of the issues that we bang on about in the film/book/blog.

-A Raucous touring nightclub. This is a slightly surreal coincidence, but they have a very colourful website and if I'm ever in manchester looking to get a really bad hangover and VD then I'll be stopping by.

Big Brother Awards

Britain has won the Privacy International Big Brother award (again). For some reason Tony Blair didn't turn up to collect the award, so they screened a trailer of taking liberties instead which went down well.

Amnesty Screening

Is now completely booked out. In fact it's over subscribed so get there early. However the film still isn't finished, and if we don't get it done by thursday we will be screening Butch Casssidy and the Sundance Kid instead. Will be quite an interesting occasion - apparently there's a delegation from the Home Office coming so it looks like the secret's out.

Taking Liberties in the Press

Nice couple of articles in the week. Made page 2 of the Telegraph and Reuters carried a healthy piece as well.

The Long Goodbye

2007-05-03T18:27:00.000Z

The seemingly unending departure of Tony Blair rumbles on and more and more New Labourites jump up and down to tell us that while there may have been mistakes over the last ten years they are "nothing to do with us, honest"
see our friend Geoff Hoon
and the delectable Peter Mandelson

On the other hand Eclectech has decided to mark the historic ten years of Tony Blair through the medium of song. Take it away Tony

This is a short post as we're all completely knackered. Becca and chris have now been working on the film for a year and 4 months, but feels a lot longer.

Jarvis Rocks

2007-05-01T09:21:00.000Z

Jarvis said yes… well he had to really. Write a song called “c*nts are still ruling the world” and you’ve got to expect penniless film-makers banging on your door asking to use it for polemical documentaries about civil liberties. And so the great music chase is complete. Better get the film released before any of the bands change their minds…

Freedom Of Speech – US military style
Isn’t it nice that the US and Britain are exporting their democratic values to the unfortunate people of Afghanistan. The US and UK backed government is now openly arresting journalists who disagree with it. They have presumably taken the lead from US soldiers who enforce censorship among the locals at gunpoint. Recently a convoy of Marines shot and killed 10 people and wounded 33. A budding reporter managed to take some pictures of the incident, but was accosted by the marines and had his pictures deleted. A US commander later justified the deletions on the basis that “untrained” Afghans might capture “visual details that are not as they originally were.” A preliminary enquiry later found that all those killed were unarmed civilians.

Full Guardian Story

Bring out your dead – just don’t count them
Clearly embarrassed by the Iraqi body count, the US backed government in Iraq has now found a cunning way to hide this embarrassment. Stop counting and not letting anyone into the country who looks like they might have a go. Dr Latfa is a respected scientist who was barred from travelling to Iraq by the British Foreign office as he was intending to carry out a study into civilian deaths. Possibly this is an existential argument now being pushed by New Labour – if no-one actually counts dead Iraqis, are they actually dead? Discuss.

iraqi death count story

John Reid attempts to sign Memorandum of Understanding with Foxes
Well it’s the next logical stage isn’t it? While Amnesty International has a fat file showing that the fox has eaten over 300 chickens in the last year, John Reid wants to deport a chicken into the foxes den, and has strict assurances from the fox that this particular chicken will not be eaten, even though the fox signed the memorandum of understanding with the blood of the chicken it ate for lunch.

This is of course New Labour’s long running attempt to deport people back to countries where they face torture. No one knows how much public money they’ve spent trying to bypass the torture conventions, but if they keep this up then the Olympics could be in trouble. Then again if they turned trying to deport people to be tortured into an Olympic sport then John Reid and Tony Blair would be in with the chance of the gold.

On April 27th the court of appeal ruled that John Reid’s precious memorandum of understanding with Libya is not worth the paper it’s written on, so he cannot deport the 2 Libyan nationals back there. This might have something to do with the fact that:
1) Libya is still run by the bloodthirsty lunatic Colonel Gadaffi.
2) The head of Human Rights in Libya is said lunatic’s son.
This is the latest in a long line of Home Office screw ups when trying to send people back to countries where they might be tortured.

John Reid loves torture story

Mouloud Shihali (who is in the film) is in a very similar position. New Labour like to pretend that Algeria is now a land of peace and harmony and it’s perfectly safe for him to return – even though the last two people that they deported (with strict assurances that they would not be harmed) have since been banged up and their show trial is any year soon.

Reasons to be fearful

2007-04-25T10:55:00.000Z

Things I have learnt today:

US and Canadian customs have started using information from people’s Wikipedia pages to determine if whether or not they are terrorists:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2469270.ece

The British government has once again decided to use it’s favourite method of undermining any investigation they don’t like – play the man and not the ball. In this case they seem to be attempting to oust the head of the OECD when he is investigating the halting of the BAE investigation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/armstrade/story/0,,2064191,00.html

The papers have been full, once again, of politicians, civil servants and policemen saying that Al Quaida are planning more attacks. Now that John Reid has built himself a new department whose sole aim it is to look after security and policing I imagine that scaring the bejesus out of us will become a daily occurrence – how else will they be able to justify their budget?

I’m not disputing the security threat from terrorism; it’s just that I don’t feel I have to hear about it all the damn time. It’s like having a child bring home every doodle they’ve ever drawn in nursery school and demanding that it be given pride of place on the sitting room walls.

What, for example, do we do with the information from the Home Office that the threat level is Severe (why the capital S? Maybe it’s not a measure of the threat at all and the Home Office has just decided to name the threat Severe – next week the threat level will be Kevin)? Are we all supposed to hide under the bed until the mythical utopia arrives when people will stop wanting to kill each other and all live together in harmony? History tells us that’s about as likely to happen as my winning gold in the 100m at the next Olympics so I think I will just have to carry on as usual, and wait to see if it will magically move up to critical should the home office budget look to be in jeopardy.

Here are a spattering of the most recent reasons to be fearful:

From The head of Scotland Yard's counterterrorism command
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,2064947,00.html

From MI6

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1687360.ece

From John Reid

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6590111.stm

From Tony Blair

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6586883.stm

And, of course, John Reid again

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/about-us/news/john-reid-gmtv

Hay Festival

2007-04-20T16:35:00.000Z

Film & Book have been accepted into the Hay Festival! As the programme stands we are on last thing on the Sunday. Gordon Brown is also going to be there as well which could be quite interesting… We’re up against Ronnie Corbett just to give you an idea of the literary calibre that is attending.

Trailer is now onlined and finished and on the website. Pretty shit hot if we do say so ourselves… Thanks to Rachel Tunnard for coming in at the 11th hour and sorting it out.

Film locked but not finished. All the grading, sound design score and graphics still to do… 1st screening is on the 10th May and there’s about 2 months worth of work to do in 3 weeks. Hey ho. Daniel the assistant editor now scaring everyone, but we still can’t let him sleep as he’s the only person who knows where all the multitude of archive material has come from. The BBC have screwed up tape dubbing so many times we’ve now despatched Daniel down to White City to scare them into actually giving us the clips we need (eg Blair saying that “The Rules of The Game have Changed”) rather than those we don’t need (eg The Price is Right in 1974)

Recorded Ashley Jensen’s narration for the animation which is stunning. Sadly we didn’t get tot fly out to LA to record it, but thanks to the wonders of modern technology we were able to do the whole recording session over the interweb and the results are as good as if we’d been in the room. Probably better as she didn’t get to see what 5 months without sunlight does to a man.

Operation Ore

2007-04-20T16:32:00.000Z

Nothing gets the tabloid juices flowing quite like child porn so when the police announced that thousands of British residents were being investigated for viewing child pornography after the credit card details of purchasers processed by the US portal site Landslide, the headlines began immediately. People (mostly men) were arrested in a blaze of publicity and many have since been successfully prosecuted. However, Duncan Campell yesterday published an article in the Guardian which shows that the operation may not have been built on the sturdy foundations that we were lead to believe. Firstly, not all of the sites that Landslide processed were child porn sites some were just regular porn. This means that some of the names on the list were merely using the Internet in the traditional way. Secondly, the police didn’t take into account the massive amount of credit card fraud that was going on. So a lot of the people on the list had no idea what was being done in their name.

The stigma of an arrest for child porn is enough to ruin someone’s life and people are often considered guilty whether any charges are actually filed or not. The stigma in this operation has lead to the suicide of 39 men, some of whom had nothing to do with child pornography. For example, Commodore David White was found dead 24 hours after being suspended from the Navy because of an investigation by the police, despite the fact that the police had found no evidence against him.

Investigations into child pornography are essential but the hysteria that surrounds them isn’t. We need to be absolutely sure before branding someone a paedophile because this seems to be an area of the law where innocent until proven guilty does not apply.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2059880,00.html

We’ve locked picture!

2007-04-18T11:08:00.000Z

Over a year spent working on this film, hundreds of hours of footage, over 100 contributors and countless stories, reduced to an hour and a half. Dare we say so ourselves it is bloody marvellous.

Now we just have to convince people to come and see it…

Liberty News

On 5th April Amnesty released its latest report on conditions in Guantanamo in which they estimate that 80% of the population are being held in solitary confinement with little or no access to sunlight and exercise. Anyone who is any doubt about the illegality of Guantanamo and the War on Terror needs to read this report.

In other news NPower recently obtained an injunction against the peaceful protesters to stop their protest at the sight of a proposed ash dump in what had been a local beauty spot near the village of Radley. The corporation used the Protection from Harassment law, which was originally conceived as a way of protection people from harassment and anti-social behaviour, but is now being used by large corporations to protect themselves from inconvenient peaceful protesters. The lawyer who specialises in protecting these multinationals is Timothy Lawson-Cruttenden. His law firm is representing NPower in this particular case and also represented EDO against a similarly dangerous group of individuals in our documentary, including an 80-year old painter and his daughter.

What dastardly deeds had the protesters done to deserve this injunction I hear you cry? The most serious allegation was that a guard’s leg had been hit by a van driven by one of the protesters. The protester denies that this ever happened and even the guard admits that the incident did not cause any bruising. Another security guard testified to having overheard one of the protesters referring to the security firm as “the enemy” this made him, “only slightly afraid”. Since most of the security guards are ex-armed forces you would hope that they could withstand a campaign run by, amongst others, a vicar (Malcolm Carroll who is in our film) and a 67 year old physician. NPower claim that this injunction prevents anyone from filming their employees and one of the principal six named individuals was a press photographer, so it is not only being used to stop the protest but also to prevent reporting on the situation. If you want to know more about the protest, here is a link to the website:http://www.saveradleylakes.org.uk/

I wish you well in a Free Iraq

2007-04-16T16:24:00.000Z

It has recently emerged that the US government has paid $33 million in wrongful death payments to civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan. These payments are only made in non-combat situations so, for example, the family of a boy whose school book bag a sniper mistook for a bomb were not paid anything. Of the 500 claims that were uncovered by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) after a freedom of information request, 165 were paid between $500 and £35,000. About half of these were “condolence payments” where the Army does not admit fault but gives the family up to $2,500. ACLU believes that this is only a small proportion of the claims held by the Defence Department and they are pressing to uncover the rest.

Some of the letters that were denying claims contained the phrase “I am sorry for your inconvenience, and I wish you well in a Free Iraq.”

Now that’s what I call winning hearts and minds.

Government’s policy review of police powers

2007-04-11T16:27:00.000Z

This actually came out a couple of weeks ago but we have been a bit busy and have only just got round to reading all 102 scintillating pages of it. Mostly it is the usual government speak about rebalancing the system in favour of the victim and focusing on the criminal instead of the crime. It’s a comfort to know that thanks to this review policemen will be out on the street with the certain knowledge that they are hoping to detect and prevent criminals and not crimes (here we were thinking they were supposed to do both – that’s why this sort of review is so useful).

The review shows this government’s usual excitement with any solution that involves a database. It suggests expanding the DNA database to include anyone that the police suspect of committing a crime (why don’t they just admit they want a national database and get it over with), using CCTV with facial, weapon and explosives recognition capabilities (is that a gun in your pocket…sorry it’s a terrible joke but I just couldn’t help myself), using more powerful data analysis of databases (interestingly the identity database is included in the list of databases to be analysed, this was one of the things that Blair promised Parliament would not happen when the Identity bill went through) and providing police officers with access to databases where different levels of confidentiality are currently an issue (goodbye data protection laws then).

The terrorism section is mostly taken up with talking about how we have to embrace our shared values. This always makes me wonder what they are:
- All crises should be immediately followed by the offer of a cup of tea
- Anything is better if you’ve had to queue to get hold of it
- Shorts and a t-shirt should be worn at the slightest sighting of sunshine
- People should always stand on the left of an escalator and walk down the right.
- The breaking of any social rules should be met with some quiet tutting and a steely stare of disapproval. That’ll teach them.

Almost as an afterthought they add that their not entirely comfortable with Article 3 of the ECHR since it stops them sending terror suspects back to countries that might torture them so they are busy thinking of a way round this problem. If anyone can do it New Labour can!

One Week To Picture Lock

2007-04-02T16:26:00.000Z

Whose idea was this film? I want my life back. Nick the editor wants his life back. Daniel the assistant editor has given up all semblance of ever having a life and has moved his gear into the edit suite. In fact we’re all getting a bit worried about Daniel. He has started saying the strangest of things and looking like something out of a Terry Pratchet book. Still, he can still memorise the 600 odd hours of footage and can recall a shot of Blair looking like a dickhead in various different environments, so all is not lost. Let’s just hope he retains his faculties when the film finally locks. Whenever the hell that is.

Structure of the edit went through a massive overhaul this week and is an infinitely better film for it. We had to decide whether we were going to make an arty collection of stories of injustice, or a rollercoaster of polemic and humour… and went for the latter. Currently standing at 100 minutes but could come down further – always leave them wanting more.

RADIOHEAD SAID YES! Still can’t quite believe it…

And there is a sodding CCTV camera in our edit suite. Really. I mean irony of ironies. Which brings us neatly on to...

Liberty News
The plaque outside George Orwell’s old house in London can apparently be seen by 32 CCTV cameras. Not often that I want to laugh and throw up at the same time.

Bisher Al Rawi has finally been released from Guantanamo Bay back to the UK. Bisher is a UK resident (but not a national) who was abandoned by the UK government in Guantanamo for 5 years. As the government does not legally have to intercede on behalf of it’s residents Blair’s government has continually taken the course of leaving them to rot. While it is of course wonderful to see Bisher returned to his family, there are seven other British Residents (including Omar Deghayes – one of the stories in Taking Liberties). Bisher’s story is particularly horrific as he was only arrested by the CIA after a telegram sent to them by MI5…

And finally – the Observer article yesterday about Blair having accepted a role in The Crucible (directed by Kevin Spacey at the Young Vic in September) is sadly an April Fool. But a bloody good one…

David Blunkett gets a job at ID Card firm

2007-03-26T13:04:00.001Z

The man who pushed violently for ID Cards during his time as Home Secretary and helped the government write a cheque for £20 billion for the damn things, is now about to earn his keep from a firm that will make buckets of money out of the scheme. Keeping up New Labour’s strong ties with Texas, Blunkett will soon be getting a paycheque from Entrust which already has done very well out of the Spanish ID Card Scheme and has now formally registered an interest in the British ID Card Scheme. Blunkett has kept himself busy since he “resigned to save his party embarassment” (twice) writing a regular column in the Sun. What might have tipped the balance between himself and other disgraced authoritarian lunatics vying for the job was an impartial piece he wrote in the Sun 2 weeks before he got the job: “ID Cards… will protect our identity from fraudsters, stop illegal benefit foreigners in their tracks…” and all the other usual drivel on why we need to give the state ownership of our identities. Clearly David’s plug in The Sun worked and he’s now off to Texas to work for American money, following the lead of Tony Blair and John Prescott.

2 Weeks to picture lock.

2007-03-25T17:58:00.000Z

Yeah right. Film now standing at a whisker under 2 hours which is still too long. Really, really not keen to loose any further stories. In fact have actually added in a cheeky story that we have been chasing for ages… Riz Ahmed, actor and musician. He played one of the Tipton Three in Michael Winterbottom’s excellent film Road to Guantanamo. He went out to the Berlin Film Festival last year where the film deservedly won the Silver Bear. Anyway, Riz flew back to England and was detainted under the Terrorism Act at Luton Airport. The Police knew he was an actor but decided to cause him some grief as he had acted in a film that critisised the government. This McCarthyite incident happened last year and is just one of the tens of thousands of incidents of unwarranted Police behaviour towards young Muslim men. Riz maintains a healthy sense of humour about the whole thing, and still laughs at the irony. The incident inspired him to write the brilliant song The Post 9/11 Blues which was banned on Radio (yes another McCarthy parallel) but has got a massive following on MySpace. The video is also superb and we may be using a little bit of it in the film. Or not.

Note to self for future films, do not keep shooting 2 weeks before picture lock!

Oasis are on board! Not sure if we’re allowed to make this public yet but no doubt I’ll get shouted at if not. The Iraq War montage has always been crying out for a massive epic number. We cut it to Whatever (my favourite Oasis track by miles) and it works perfectly. Ian (our sensational music supervisor) pulled some favours and managed to get a DVD of the cut to Noel Gallagher. Noel gave it the thumbs up and the track is in the film… still can’t quite believe it. The soundtrack is shaping up really well, with confirmations from Annie Lennox, The Stranglers, Franz Ferdinhand. All the artists have agreed to let their music be in the film for basically pennies, and for every copy of the soundtrack that is sold £1 goes to Amnesty International. We are still awaiting some more confirmations, so hopefully in a couple of weeks time we can announce some more big names…

The book has finally been delivered!

2007-03-11T10:57:00.000Z

Now we just have to finish the film. Not much work there then - 150 hours of footage, and countless violations of the rights of our country, all to be shoehorned into an hour and a half. Oh and it needs to be funny, informative and make people want to get up and do something about their government.

Who’s bright idea was it to make this film then?

Bollocks, that was me.

Oh, and the government decided to change the tax laws this week, decreeing that Sale and Leaseback was no longer possible and therefore wiping out half of the funding of our film (and about 50 others) with a stroke of their pen. Fortunately, one of the other films affected was Casino Royale so the Treasury got out their Tippex and sale and leaseback was back on again. Whew, James Bond saves the day again.

Altogether, a pretty quiet week.

Taking Liberties the Book is officially not finished.

2007-02-08T12:55:00.000Z

Admittedly it was probably a considerable error on our part last November to promise Revolver unconditionally that we would be able to deliver a book on time on 7th of Feb. But we’re film people for chrissakes… and we never for a second expected them to take us seriously. There is an abundance of legal precedent showing categorically that film directors talk cobblers and will promise absolutely anything to get their film made.

Anyway, legal defences aside, we will be pushing what we laughably call the deadline back another week, in order to cut some of the dross, sort out the references, and make sure the thing actually works as a complete book.

The basic plan was to break down the destruction of civil liberties into 5 main chapters:
-Freedom of Speech/Right to protest
-Surveillance
-Detention Without Trial
-Extradition
-Torture

But of course this went through the mangle a bit…

Originally conceived as a 100 page concise addition to the film, it currently stands at over 300 pages and that has taken some brutal editing. It seems that the destruction of liberties has been greater than even we anticipated.

Anyway, off into the night armed with lots of black coffee, an ever growing case of RSI and resisting the temptation to find inspiration through alcohol.

Welcome to Taking Liberties.

2007-02-01T14:28:00.000Z

Here, not only will we keep you uptodate on the progress of the film, we'll also post news about the ongoing civil liberties movements we're related to.

ABOUT THE FILM

Right to Liberty. Right to Privacy. Right to a Fair Trial. Right to Freedom of Speech. Prohibition from Torture. TAKING LIBERTIES will reveal how these five central pillars of liberty have been systematically destroyed by New Labour, and the freedoms of the British people stolen from under their noses amidst a climate of fear created by the media and government itself. Uncovering the stories no-one wants you to hear so ridiculous you will laugh, so ultimately terrifying you will want to take action.

THIS IS WHAT YOU DON'T READ IN THE PAPERS.
THIS IS WHAT YOU DON'T SEE ON TV.
AND IT'S HAPPENING TO YOU!

IN CINEMAS NATIONWIDE JUNE 8