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Tuesday, March 13, 2007

The Shawshank Redemption - v - the Shawcross Convention

Guest blogger: Jack Hughes.

Anyone familiar with the prison movie The Shawshank Redemption will be aware that the movie was all about hope, not giving up hope or all would be lost. Across the Atlantic, in England, there is a correctional facility called Dartmoor Prison. Above the gates is a sign which reads "Abandon all hope ye who enter here". This can best describe the position which the British people find themselves in with the Shawcross Convention. A convention is an agreement between those people involved to conduct themselves in a particular way. The problem with the Shawcross Convention is that the British people have not signed up to it. They voted to put the government into power, to exercise that power in the public interest. The government uses the Shawcross Convention to deny the public the democracy they voted for. The Shawcross Convention is designed to deny the public of their right to hold the government accountable to the public. The government is only accountable to itself. The government does this by informing the public that it is the guardian of the public interest, and uses this phrase to deny the public of their right to know what nefarious activities the government is getting involved in for it own interests. At least with The Shawshank Redemption there was hope. Unless the public challenge the Shawcross Convention there is no hope. Why abandon all hope to a government you are unable to trust?

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