My internet use is none of Jacqui Smith’s business
MAINLY I spend my time online seeking out delicious home baking recipes and downloading Bible study podcasts. But suppose I was the type of guy who waited until the missus was out and then frantically googled for hot Asian teens? Shouldn’t my surfing habits should be for me to know, and not for Jacqui Smith [...]
Should al Qaradawi be allowed into Britain?
I’ve tried listening to those on the left who repeatedly try to tell me that I should see the utterances of Yusuf al Qaradawi ‘in context’. I really, really have. But the man widely regarded as one of the world’s leading moderate Muslim clerics openly argues that it is permissible for husbands to beat their [...]
Should unions be able to exclude political activists?
Among the measures announced in the Queen’s Speech today is an Employment Bill that will reportedly enable trade unions to expel members on grounds of their allegiance to a political party. It comes after the European Court of Human Rights earlier this year overruled British legislation, dating from 1992, that prevented train drivers’ union Aslef [...]
New Labour, civil liberties and the war on terror
It can’t be that long before we run out of civil liberties for New Labour to crack down on. The three successive Blair administrations have effectively torn up the Geneva Convention on refugees, and repeatedly contravened the substance and spirit of the European Convention on Human Rights. House arrest, arbitrary and punitive deportation, a shoot [...]
Trial by jury: why Falconer and Goldsmith are wrong
Sometimes it almost seems like we are running out of civil liberties for New Labour to crack down on. Last night saw the Fraud (Trials Without a Jury) Bill pass its third reading in the Commons, on a vote of 281 to 246. This is the fifth attempt since 2003 to get this particularly noxious [...]
D Notices: the British press and self-censorship
One of the many restrictions on press freedom in this country – which include the Official Secrets Act, Prevention of Terrorism Act, Police and Criminal Evidence Act, Contempt of Court Act, and laws relating to obscenity, libel, race relations, sedition, incitement to disaffection and treason, that is – is the ‘D Notice’ system. Basically, this [...]
In defence of freedom of speech
Tim Toulmin – a director of the Press Complaints Commission – and former New Labour spindoctor in chief Alastair Campbell have both joined the chorus against the seemingly total freedom of speech currently enjoyed in the blogosphere. Toulmin in particular calls for a voluntary code of conduct to be observed by bloggers. I have to [...]
