DAVID CAMERON: HUMAN RIGHTS IN MY SIGHTS

DAVID CAMERON: HUMAN RIGHTS IN MY SIGHTS



ALMOST two weeks on from the riots, the clean-up continues. Communities all over the country have come together with brooms, mops and pots of paint to restore local pride.

The Express Newspapers’ campaign Reclaim Our Streets, so generously backed by thousands of readers, shows how the best of Britain can overcome the worst.

But what is clear in the aftermath of these riots is that we don’t just need to reclaim our streets, we need to reclaim our society. The greed and thuggery we saw during the riots did not come out of nowhere. There are deep problems in our society that have been growing for a long time: a decline in responsibility, a rise in selfishness, a growing sense that individual rights come before anything else.

So now we need a concerted fightback against the wrong-headed ideas, bureaucratic nonsense and destructive culture that have led us to this. That fightback means scoring a clear line between right and wrong through every neighbourhood and backing it up with the full force of the law.

We need a stronger police presence on the streets, deterring crime and catching criminals instead of filling in forms or wasting time on phony targets. That is what people want. That is why elected Police and Crime Commissioners is a powerful idea; they will make policing more responsive to what the people in your neighbourhood need, to keep you safe.

The fightback also means rebuilding the sense of personal responsibility that has been eroded over the years by many things, from the welfare system where work doesn’t pay to the twisting and misrepresenting of human rights.

The British people have fought and died for people’s rights to freedom and dignity but they did not fight so that people did not have to take full responsibility for their actions. So though it won’t be easy, though it will mean taking on parts of the establishment, I am determined we get a grip on the misrepresentation of human rights.

We are looking at creating our own British Bill of Rights. We are going to fight in Europe for changes to the way the European Court works and we will fight to ensure people understand the real scope of these rights and do not use them as cover for rules or excuses that fly in the face of common sense.

Above all, a social fightback means instilling in our children and young people the decency, discipline and sense of duty that make good citizens.

The first place people learn these values is in the home. That is why I make no apology for talking about the importance of family and marriage. Every government policy must pass what I call the family test: does this make life better for families or worse? Does this make it easier to bring up well-behaved children or harder? Family is back at the top of the agenda.

Children also learn values in schools. Every school should be a place where children learn manners and morals but that is only possible when there is order in the classroom. So we are taking action to restore authority and boundaries, with teachers able to discipline pupils as they see fit and heads having the freedom to set uniform and behaviour policies and enforce them.

But I believe we can and should do more. When we see events as shocking as the riots and so many young people whose lives have no shape beyond the shape of their gang, no purpose beyond the next time they get smashed on drink or drugs, it is clear that the need to restore values calls for something new. That is why this Government is establishing National Citizen Service.

This has its roots in the National Service that many young people undertook decades ago. National Citizen Service is non-military but aims to foster the same sense of responsibility and self-discipline. It’s about young people spending time away from home, doing a mix of tough physical activities like climbing and hiking, alongside work in local communities.

They might be coaching younger children to play football, visiting elderly patients in hospital or offering a bike repair service to the community.

Before the riots we were already looking to roll this out across the country, with up to 30,000 teenagers taking part next year, but after the riots, I feel our ambitions weren’t big enough.

I want National Citizen Service to be available to every teenager after GCSEs. I want them to learn that they can make a difference in their communities and that real fulfilment comes not from trashing things or being selfish but by building things and working with others. Above all, I want them to learn that Britain is a great country they should feel proud to belong to.

Comment: It sent a chill down my spine when I read the above headline. Why would anybody in their right mind seek to attack human rights? The European Convention on Human Rights was drafted following World War 2 as a defence against another dictator like Hitler grabbing absolute power. The ECHR is designed to protect the citizens of Member States of the Council of Europe from becoming victims of totalitarian or authoritarian regimes. As a Human Rights Defender this article sends alarm bells ringing in my head.

Pride comes before a fall. Whilst brooms, mops and pots of paint may restore riot damage I fail to see how they will restore local pride. Besides, has anybody seen Tory Toff David Cameron with either a broom, mop or paint brush in his hands?

The Pornographer-in-Chief, Richard Desmond, owner of the racist and xenophobic Daily Express has started a campaign to Reclaim Our Streets. The problem with this is that nobody has taken our streets therefore the campaign is pointless unless the point is to mask a hidden agenda. How the Express can claim to be the best of Britain is beyond me. It is part of the gutter press.

"But what is clear in the aftermath of these riots is that we don’t just need to reclaim our streets, we need to reclaim our society". It's as clear as mud. What is needed in the aftermath of the riots is for the Prime Minister and owner of these papers to stop falsely claiming that somebody has taken our streets and society. Therefore, the claims that they have to be reclaimed are also false. In other words, David Cameron and Richard Desmond are engaging in political spin. Spin is just another word for lie. Accepting that they are both lying, what truth is it that they seek to hide from us?

"The greed and thuggery we saw during the riots did not come out of nowhere. There are deep problems in our society that have been growing for a long time: a decline in responsibility, a rise in selfishness, a growing sense that individual rights come before anything else".

Could it have come out of Parliament, for example? Ministers exercising power without responsibility. MPs and Lords selfishly filling their pockets out of the public purse. To add insult to injury they claimed the right of parliamentary privilege entitled them to steal from the taxpayers! According to the Interlaken process which the UK has signed up to, human rights should be deemed as higher law. Therefore individual humman rights should come before anything else, particularly before the notion of the Supremacy of Parliament. The Council of Europe recognises the sovereignty of the people and not the sovereignty of Parliament.

"So now we need a concerted fightback against the wrong-headed ideas, bureaucratic nonsense and destructive culture that have led us to this. That fightback means scoring a clear line between right and wrong through every neighbourhood and backing it up with the full force of the law".

I am fighting back against the wrong-headed ideas being spouted by David Cameron and Richard Desmond. The bureaucratic nonsense and destructive culture emanate from Parliament. So why blame the general public for what MPs and Lords have done? According to the law there is already a clear line between right and wrong, but when it comes to MPs and Lords the full force of law was not used against them. They have adopted a view that they are somehow above the law. The guilty need to be corrected over this misconception. Parliament cannot lead by good example whilst setting a bad example to follow.

"We need a stronger police presence on the streets, deterring crime and catching criminals instead of filling in forms or wasting time on phony targets. That is what people want. That is why elected Police and Crime Commissioners is a powerful idea; they will make policing more responsive to what the people in your neighbourhood need, to keep you safe".

Cutting police numbers does not add up to a stronger police presence but a weaker one. One of the reasons why the police have to fill in forms is because it provides a check against abuse of powers, for example on stop and search. Unchecked, the institutionally racist police target ethnic minorities. You can make policing more responsive if the call centre operatives stopped playing the game Twenty Questions whenever somebody dials 999 in an emergency! What the people in my neighbourhood need is for the police station opened by Charles Clarke and closed by his successor John Reid to be reopened again! As it stands we are in No Mans Land with the nearest police stations being 20 minutes away in each direction on Beverley Road in Hull.

"The fightback also means rebuilding the sense of personal responsibility that has been eroded over the years by many things, from the welfare system where work doesn’t pay to the twisting and misrepresenting of human rights".

David Cameron did not show personal responsibility when he went on drunken rampages in Oxford restaurants during his student days as a member of the Bullingdon Club. Likewise MPs and Lords have failed to show personal responsibility when fiddling expenses. Some Ministers have failed to be responsible in the Office of Home Secretary and Ministry of Justice. One of the drawbacks of imprisonment is that it denies inmates personal responsibility, and yet the UK has the highest prison population in Western Europe! Those in the welfare system collect benefits because they are not in work, therefore it follows that work doesn't pay! The only ones I have seen twisting and misrepresenting human rights are the right wing media and right wing politicians.

"The British people have fought and died for people’s rights to freedom and dignity but they did not fight so that people did not have to take full responsibility for their actions. So though it won’t be easy, though it will mean taking on parts of the establishment, I am determined we get a grip on the misrepresentation of human rights".

It's not just the British people who have fought and died. Many more millions in Europe fought and died too. The 46 other Member States of the Council of Europe and 26 other Member States of the European Union, and the UK signed up to the Convention which guarantees human rights. Whilst the Convention does place an obligation upon Member States to take full responsibility for ensuring human rights, the human rights under the Convention are not dependent upon individuals being responsible. For David Cameron and Richard Desmond to claim otherwise is a misrepresentation of human rights. It is not for the state to limit its citizens human rights. No wonder the Council of Europe has likened David Cameron to the dictators of the Greek Colonels and President of Belarus, in relation to denying convicted prisoners their human right to the vote.

"We are looking at creating our own British Bill of Rights. We are going to fight in Europe for changes to the way the European Court works and we will fight to ensure people understand the real scope of these rights and do not use them as cover for rules or excuses that fly in the face of common sense".

We already have a Bill of Rights 1688/9 and a Human Rights Act 1998, so what's with the "British" bit? The UK is 1/47th of the Council of Europe and 1/27th of the European Union, we no longer have the British Empire. Unless the UK withdraws from Europe or is expelled from Europe, any so-called British Bill of Rights which seeks to limit the human rights under the Convention will be incompatible. It is nonsense to talk about going to fight in Europe, any changes to the Convention and Court will require agreement of the other 46 Member States. Nor does a politician and newspaper owner have to fight to ensure that people understand the real scope of these rights. All it requires is for David Cameron and Richard Desmond to stop telling lies, and for the state to ensure the citizens human rights and the public will then understand the scope of the rights. It is David Cameron and Richard Desmond who are using the rights as a cover for their hidden agenda. One thing is for sure is that neither David Cameron nor Richard Desmond have a clue about common sense or they would not embark upon this hairbrained scheme of theirs.

"Above all, a social fightback means instilling in our children and young people the decency, discipline and sense of duty that make good citizens...I want them to learn that they can make a difference in their communities and that real fulfilment comes not from trashing things or being selfish but by building things and working with others".

This from a man known to have trashed Oxford restaurants just for fun!