Monday, April 10, 2006

We are all free thinking individuals...(not for long)

For a while I've been subscribed to the peopleincommon email list, populated by the organisers of the weekly 'picnic' in Parliament Square every Sunday at 1pm. They also protest against the new SOCPA act which greatly proscribes the ability of orginary people to protest within the area around the Houses of Parliament, among other things.

Thought provoking things come through regularly on this list - here's one, an article from last week's Guardian.

www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1747669,00.html

from which: "The government is briskly and fundamentally reshaping the relationship of the individual to the state, of the Lords to the Commons, and of MPs to ministers. The ID cards bill will allow the authorities unprecedented surveillance of our lives, and the power to curtail our ordinary activities by withdrawing that card. The legislative and regulatory reform bill, now entering its final stages, will let ministers alter laws by order, rather than having to argue their case in parliament."

Do you agree with this?

Do you feel uneasy about saying, in public that you agree with any/some/all of this article? That, I fear, is the direction we're heading in (as ever, just a few years behind America).

Do leave a comment - signed or anonymous - and let me know what you think.

3 Comments:

At 3:07 pm, Blogger Gavin Whenman said...

"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety."
Benjamin Franklin
If we keep scarificing liberties (such as the Socpa provisions or the ID cards Bill) in order to gain more security, we will lose both. And if, in the name of speedy regulation, we bypass Parliament, we could well find that Parliament itself will disappear.
And (for now) I don't feel uneasy saying this in public... Give it a few more years though, and who knows.
In a fourth Labour term (as could be likely) we might find even more draconian legislation such as the above, unless we all stand up against it in 2009/10

 
At 9:38 am, Anonymous Anonymous said...

when my mum told me on Sunday that she is passionate about the confidentiality of her vote - because you never know when a time would come when they way you vote would be held against you...I realised a creeping sense of Orwell is settling on us, bit by bit. i feel like a boiling frog - being heated gently, but its not too hot to handle - yet. and when it is, it will be too late. Except! we are not frogs and we can use the site Andy posted earlier to make our voice heard. And definitely keep talking about it, waking ourselves and everyone up...

 
At 9:45 am, Blogger Big Buzzard said...

Check out this site.
Save Parliament
.

 

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