JohnBM:Liberal

I say “No shinola sherlock”

Stella Rimington is absolutely right when she talks of  people in Britain feeling as if they were living “under a police state”.

42 days detention without trial, ID cards, CCTV, dubious arrests under terrorism laws, your emails and txt messages spied on, Guantanamo, rendition by and torture for UK and US secret services, house arrest without trial…

In seven years the Labour Government has torn up the liberties of the British citizen and replaced them with a hotchpotch of pseudo-totalitarian knee jerk reactions aided and abetted by the gutter press.

The initial reaction of Tony Blair (remember him) following the attacks on September 11th 2001 was that we would stand up to terrorism and the British way of life would not be changed by terrorism.

Since then, the government has introduced legistation, statutory instruments and policy which has impacted on the British way of life and liberty more than ever before.

The biggest problem with these kind of laws is that once they are on the statute books they are incredibly difficult to repeal without the Mail and Express screaming “WEAK ON TERROR…TERROR SUSPECTS ARE LOWERING OUR HOUSE PRICES!!!!”

It was said by Lib Dems at the time that if we must have liberty curtailing legislation it must always be subject to a sunset clause to ensure it either lapses or has to be renewed after a few years.

Stella Rimington’s comments echo yesterday’s publication of a study by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) that accuses the US and the UK of undermining the framework of international law.

Now is the time to roll back these draconian laws and policies.

Lets fight terror with democracy and freedom not more terror.

QI fact: Stella Rimington’s father-in-law wrote a biography of my great-grandfather.

As of the 18th October my entire family was put at risk of ID Fraud by the UK Government.

Government advice at this time is to change passwords and keep an eye bank accounts.

What the government is failing to warn us about is the need for vigilance of our credit records. Although my data lost by HM Government could be limited to my name, address, NI number, and bank account details, these snippets could used to make many credit card, loan, hire-purchase and mortgage applications.

Assuming the Taxman’s CDs are never found, my 21-month-old son will have to check his credit record for bogus applications at his own expense for the rest of his life.

Any future ID Card refusal can be justified solely on the back of this fiasco.

Ironically whilst typing this post I have just received an email from credit reference agency Experian cashing in on the recent HMRC Fraud fears and trying to make £6.99 a month out of me.