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…
Showing posts with label Gordon Brown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gordon Brown. Show all posts
Thursday, 26 July 2007
Monday, 4 June 2007
Hay Festival
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".
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".
Tuesday, 22 May 2007
The time has come...
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...
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...
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