Surveillance state
"The continuous expansion of the state's capacity to monitor and detain people is a dangerous thing. Any new powers should be specific and justified, which is why, this Wednesday, MPs should vote against plans to extend pre-charge detention of some suspects to 42 days. The proposal is unnecessary and will hopefully be rejected. But whatever happens, it will at least have been debated. Ministers have been pressed to defend their case and officials, such as the director of public prosecutions, Ken Macdonald, have been free to speak out against it. That is a greater protection of individual liberty than has been granted in many other areas of the state's advance into the lives of citizens. As today's home affairs select committee report makes clear, the expansion of state surveillance has been as relentless as it has been under discussed. The 42-day law, if it is ever used, will only apply to a handful of people in highly public circumstances. Other powers, just as intrusive, have already been applied to millions and yet are hardly visible in debate".
A mixture of law, politics, autobiography and humour. Once described as "The Devilish Advocate" (Guardian), I do have the ability to provoke a response. Sometimes it comes from someone who uses a thought process, and sometimes from jerks usually associated with the knee.
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