Move Along. Nothing To See Here.
.
My country, my beloved Britain, I weep for you.

The terrorists have won and the loonies have taken over the asylum.

The Labour Party, my party, have turned Britain into a totalitarian police state and we've let them do it. We've sleep-walked into 1984. All of the great freedoms, and a lot of the lesser freedoms are gone now and we'll probably never get them back. In a few short years Blair and his cronies have:

Destroyed Habeus Corpus. You can now be detained, indefinitely, in your own home for 16 hours a day. You can be tagged and forced to attend a police station everyday for the rest of your life and there's nothing you can do about it. There is no appeal. All it takes is for the Home Office to sign a control order and that's it. No charge, no trial, no right of appeal.

Destroyed the right to protest. If you disagree with the Government you can no longer march to Parliament to make your views known. There's a one mile exclusion zone around Parliament (and now, other places in Britain such as American Air Bases) where you cannot peacefully protest without a license. A license can be granted or or withheld on the whim of the police. Even if a license is granted, you will be subjected to unreasonable restrictions.

Freedom of Speech. You can now be arrested for your views on immigration, religion and sexuality. You can be arrested for reading certain websites or literature. You hear that? You can be arrested for reading a book!!

Torture: The Labour government are complicit in the torture of, not only, foreign nationals
but also it's own citizens. They have allowed Americas flights of Extraordinary Rendition to fly through our air space and to land and refuel on our soil. In these planes were people who had been detained by the Americans and who were flown to countries where the could be tortured under the watchful eye of our American Allies. Gitmo is a fucking holiday camp compared to where some of these poor bastards ended up. And I don't *care* if they're terrorists. If they're terrorists, and you have evidence, try them and shoot them. If you have no evidence then you *have* to let them go. You can't just fly them to countries where torture is allowed.

The Right To A Trial By A Jury Of Your Peers. We've still got this but not for much longer. The Labour Government has tried once to abolish trial by jury and they'll surely try again.

The Right To Silence. Gone. You now *have* to answer the questions the police put to you or, if you refuse to answer then you can't later explain yourself in court. You have no right to silence.

Privacy: You have no right to privacy. You have no right to keep private even encrypted files on your computer. If the police ask for your encryption key then you have to give it to them even if you haven't been charged with any crime. Refusing to do so is a crime in it's own right. It doesn't matter if your private files are your deepest secrets or just old love letters. You have no right to keep them secret from the state. You have no right even to your own finger prints and DNA. If you are arrested your finger prints and DNA are the property of the state forever after. Even if you are never charged and never found guilty, you've still lost the right to your own DNA. Most Brits, especially in cities, are photographed hundreds of times a day. You have no right to see these pictures of yourself but the State has. Soon you won't even be able to travel where you want without giving the State first your fingerprints, then your retina scans, and later your DNA. These are no yours, they're the states.

I could go on and on about other freedoms we've lost since 1997 but I'd be here all day.

All this is being done in the name of security. To prevent terrorist attacks. We lived for over 20 years with much scarier terrorist, the IRA, who bombed and shot at us and killed far more than Bin Laden and his bunch of incompetents. But we didn't feel the need to lose our freedoms over them.

Oh. And I forgot to mention one of the things that *really* pissed me off about The New World Order. Detention, without trial or without charge, for up to 28 days. And that was a compromise. Blair wanted 90. Think about that. You can be lifted by the Police without warning and without evidence and held for a month. You can't see your family, your kids, your friends. No newspapers, no news, no idea what your boss thinks of this. Then you can be questioned, relentlessly, for 28 days solid. Then released without charge. "Don't do it again son!". What a fucking lovely weapon to control us.

And all this is being done in our names, in the quest for "security".

But,you've got to ask yourself, "Who's security?"

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. - Thomas Jefferson

Thanks for listening. Normal service will be resumed soon.

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Sun 4 May 2008, 11:18, 32 replies)

Yes, but...
"Detention, without trial or without charge, for up to 28 days. And that was a compromise. Blair wanted 90. Think about that. You can be lifted by the Police without warning and without evidence and held for a month."

I get your point, but think about it. In practice, do the police really just pick on some poor unfortunate law-abiding citizen and throw him in jail for 28 days without evidence or charge?

No, not really. They will only use these powers when they have strong suspicions that the person is involved in terrorism. They might not *yet* have the black and white evidence, but on the other hand they're not going to act without damn good reason.
(EuroSong I love horse meat: best of all the animals, Sun 4 May 2008, 11:25, closed)

BWHAHAHA
You trust the police a lot more than I do.

Mendez: Shot without warning. In fact, attacked, beaten, forced to the ground and then shot multiple times in the head.

The Birmingham 6.

The Guildford 4.

The British Police have shown, time and time again, that they can't be trusted to be honest and impartial. Oh, there are some good coppers, and things are a lot better than they were, but they but they still can't be trusted with this level of power.

Being locked up and relentlessly questioned for 28 days amounts to coercion. If you have enough evidence to arrest someone, you should have enough evidence to charge them. None of this rounding people up on spec then turning their lives upside down for a month until you can find(or manufacture) the evidence.

I say again. If you have the evidence to arrest then you should have the evidence to charge.

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Sun 4 May 2008, 11:33, closed)

I Know
Fucking ridiculous isn't it?

When I trust Boris "The Idiot" Johnson to safeguard my liberties far more than I trust the party I used to be a member of.

And, the emigration bit, I've already done that.

Fuckit. It might be time to give the Liberals a go. Only thing is, I haven't a clue what they stand for - and neither do they...

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Sun 4 May 2008, 11:40, closed)

And now we have Brown, whom I don't recall voting for,
seriously considering voting Lib Dem, though basically just 'cos I could never in good conscience vote Tory after the '80s...
( ..wil, Sun 4 May 2008, 11:47, closed)

Well 2nd Wasn't Bad..
.
I just couldn't, ever, vote Tory. I don't care how nice and fluffy they look right now - I remember them of old. An enemy of my blood and my class.

I remember the 80's and the strikes and the protests. Blood in the streets with the Police as hammers of the working classes.

I remember the pit closures, the shutting down of ship-building, the gutting of the steel industry.

Oh yes, I remember you you fuckers.


Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Sun 4 May 2008, 11:52, closed)

Right Now
Is like the end of Animal Farm where the animals are looking through the window at that pigs partying with the humans and can't tell them apart.

That's what it feels like now. The whole of the New Labour government has been like watching the Tories in power.

A Labour Government that declared war on another country? A Labour government who introduced tuition fees. A Labour government who are trying to introduce ID cards?

Animal Farm I tell you.

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Sun 4 May 2008, 12:03, closed)

Maybe
It was militant keeping you honest all those years

A right wing Labour party, who would have predicted that when they dumped Clause 4?

Sitting down to tea with Thatcher. Abolishing the 10p rate of income tax. Is it any wonder people think that Brown is a cunt?

I could go on but I need to get the blood pressure down
(magic the cat will someone please think of the kittens, Sun 4 May 2008, 12:19, closed)

WTF?
I mean, WHAT THE FUCK?

The Labour Prime Minister invited Maggie fucking Thatcher, one of the most evil people who ever walked the planet, to fucking TEA!!!!

Fuck this. If I hadn't already emigrated I'd emigrate again...

I missed that story as that was just after I'd arrived in OZ and no Internet access and was too busy sorting out somewhere to live.

But WHAT THE FUCK!!!

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Sun 4 May 2008, 12:30, closed)

TEA????
Were there scones involved too?
Fuck me, I'm for some industrial strength cod liver oil....
( Tourette's ( . )( . ) has a monkey hair in her fried egg, Sun 4 May 2008, 12:51, closed)

Brown - the class traitor
I never thought I'd see the day when a Labour PM was hurting the poor with taxes. And yet he has. The 10p abolition has hurt those with an income of less than £18k pa ie, the young and the poorly qualified. Also the pensioners, the vast majority of whom don't have anything like that level of income.

The first Scottish PM in how long? and he's fucked his own party and betrayed their grass-roots supporters. Even Scotland isn't voting Labour with much enthusiasm these days, and at one time a monkey in a red rosette could been elected - and looking at some of them it's hard to say that didn't happen.
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Sun 4 May 2008, 12:53, closed)

You Mean?
The police spies?

The ones who, in advance of a demo, follow and photograph the organisers? and their friends, neighbours, workmates, pets......

Or do you mean the FITs who, after a demo, turn up at protester's homes, workplaces and drinking holes and obtrusively take pictures of anyone who is associated with someone who's been on a protest march?

Yes I know they're only doing it in fun... They're only trying to put across the point that the government *likes* you.

They are in no way trying to intimidate you. To stop you going on any more marches. No sir. Our government wouldn't use the polce for such trivial purposes....

Would they?

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Sun 4 May 2008, 12:57, closed)

20 years of the "troubles"
And all we lost were litter bins next to public transport.

thank god this lot were not in charge then or we would all be truthspeaking by now.
(Halfy By light alone, Sun 4 May 2008, 12:58, closed)

Tecnically
The Freedom of Information Act means that you can obtain images taken by CCTV. trying to get hold of them is another matter, however.

And the FOI Act itself - what a lovely piece of legislation that was. Anyone can now request any piece of information they like. Except when it comes to the small matter of MPs expenses, which they voted on to be exempt from the act...

Utter bollocks.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Sun 4 May 2008, 13:12, closed)

What?
People can be arrested for their views on immigration and sexuality? How do you explain the Daily Mail then? As for religion; that law was defeated.

As for the rest of it, part of me wants to say "oh it's not all that bad", but then I don't look foreign.
(Cuthbert Annihilator, Sun 4 May 2008, 13:21, closed)

No, I didn't mean it like that
I didn't mean I didn't care because I'm not a foriegner, I just meant that from my personal experience, it didn't seem to be the case, but it would probably be different for someone that was/looked like a foriegner.
(Cuthbert Annihilator, Sun 4 May 2008, 13:41, closed)

*
QUOTE:
They might not *yet* have the black and white evidence, but on the other hand they're not going to act without damn good reason.

Actually they do have black and white evidence - they're white, the people they arrest are black.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Sun 4 May 2008, 13:49, closed)

Hello Ancrenne
And hope you are well :-)

FIT? Don't know about that at all. I do know that the FOI Act has been particular pain in my corporate arse recently though thanks to some fucktard wanting info on a grant that was given to a brewery, which he alleges put him out of business. Er, no it didn't mate, you put youself out of business because you had no marketing and didn't produce enough barrels of beer a week to satisfy your market. Don't go crying because somebody else has thought it through better than you have...
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Sun 4 May 2008, 14:10, closed)

top post :-)
*clicks*

What we could have done with is a full-on revolution back when we could have got away with it. People have been too lazy and apathetic for too long and wouldn't know HOW to fight if they were given a chance to.

There's only one way around it, and that's shag and bribe your way to the top, brown-nose like a bastard, and get in with the boys in charge.
(keyboardman, Sun 4 May 2008, 14:13, closed)

The trouble is..
the trouble is that although labour has said it will only use the powers sparingly etc..they have no idea what any succeessive government will do.

What seems like a minor inconvenience now could end up in the death of democracy as each government 'improves' these legislations a tiny bit more..then a tiny bit more..

scary stuff. Well done legless
( BadBadman saw an incorrect comma placement on, Sun 4 May 2008, 17:11, closed)

What the hell?
I am so sorry. I am really busy over here helping out with overturning the Patriot Act and associated nonsense - I had no idea it had gotten so bad over there; it's not news we get. There are a lot of us over here working diligently to return our nation to the rule of law. I wish I could do something. It isn't right to suggest or imply that we can tell you how to run your country - but if I can think of ways to help, I will.
(aeon chicken Like the Millenium Falcon, only slower and noisier, Sun 4 May 2008, 23:52, closed)

Yesterday, I went to see Ipswich Town
"my" team play, for the first time this season.

At half time, when we were in the bar area, there was a copper marked "Police Intelligence" taking photos. Actually, some people were mugging for the cameras, and it almost seemed jolly, but for the love of God, why was he in there ? There's no violence at Town matches, afterwards we all walked out together, home and away fans, quite happily.
But we can't do anything now without being monitored. We have more CCTV cameras than anywhere in the world.
What is being preserved here ? Our liberty ?
No. What is being preserved is our suppression.
I never voted NuLabour knowing full well that Bliar was no socialist. But what has been done in the last 10 years to erode our freedoms as listed in this great posting is beyond anything I could have dreamt of.
And it's only going to get worse. I can't emigrate, I have too many friends and family here. And I'm British / English, this is my home and I damned if I should have to leave it.
But the paranoia, the fear, the observation; Orwell has been proved right, and I can only see with an economic downturn things getting much worse.
I hates it, I hates it, I hates it. Fear and suspicion and the eroding of communities and the triumph of ignorance.
And it's my birthday today ! This is hardly cheering me up.

Once again, great post. Can't all us B3tans form a community somewhere ?
( I_Was_Mordred, Mon 5 May 2008, 10:56, closed)

standing ovation
*click*
( Zank Frappa Who let the lefties in?, Tue 6 May 2008, 8:07, closed)

Halfy is right
"20 years of the "troubles"
And all we lost were litter bins next to public transport."
And they had to dub over the voices of the spokespeople on the news.

20 years! And the terrorists we had in those days were proper terrorists not like the useless ones we get nowadays.

How did we get from removing rubbish bins and using a voice-overs to banning citizens from visiting parliament, retaining DNA without a conviction, and just locking people up without charge and all under a labour government?

Bah! Politicians - all as bad as each other. They can be the first ones on the National ID register - not airport workers. They are the biggest threat to _my_ country right now. And another thing. I pay their wages and their fucking expenses and from now on I'll approve their expenses. And I'll use the same process as my last employer. I'll need three copies of receipts, a fax and electronic copy and they'll need to post the claim (once approved by me) to a processing centre in Hungry. (EDS if anyone cares)
Freedom of information act not including public servants expense claims? WTF?

I better stop now. I only meant to post a light hearted post about terrorists not being what they used to and the illogical over reaction.
(Rich T has a clever and witty sig, Wed 7 May 2008, 9:03, closed)

New Labour and cuntage
I voted for Labour in 1997 because I wanted the Tories booted out in shame.

Eleven years on and boy, do I feel like a cunt.

We live in what's become a Police State, funded by ever spiralling environmental taxes, from which there is no escape because the "Fair, cheap and comprehensive" public transport system we were promised by John Prescott in 1998 failed to materialise, the monies instead being spent on making life a little bit more shit every year. Compensation culture, environmental propaganda, taxes, abuses of privacy, unchecked immigration, inflation and social stagnation are all rampant.

The shambles of the past eleven years have turned me from being non-committal to actually hating the Labour Party and all it stands for. I'm sorry but I want them out of office and unelectable forever after, there is a terrible mess that'll take generations to unmake.

The fact that extremist politics are on the mainstream agenda in Britain today is symptomatic of the fact that the government has stonewalled the citizens for eleven years and willfully ignored public opinion, safe in the knowledge that no-one wants the Tories back. Make no mistake, the Tories didn't win the local elections, Labout lost them. I know several otherwise rational and intelligent professional people who are openly admitting they've voted BNP.

So now, we have Labour politicians actively discussing pressuring OPEC to up oil production and to simultaneously postpone the 2p hike in fuel duty due in October. Tough new immigration rules, investment in shared equity schemes and a U turn on the 10% tax band are all apparently pending. After eleven years of sanctimonious and hysterical politics, they're backpedalling all they can to try and save their jobs in 2010 - don't forget that some Labour frontbenchers constituency seats are also under threat.

Watching the local election results come in last Thursday was very sweet indeed.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Wed 7 May 2008, 13:13, closed)

OK you bastards...
...what have you done with Legless? Where is he? If we don't have him back in 28 days you'll be sorry. Making him give up his b3ta log in password is despicable - and luring the rest of us sympathisers into posting agreement is just wrong.

It's you isn't Gordon?
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Wed 7 May 2008, 13:58, closed)