This entry was posted on
Monday, June 9th, 2008 at
10:39 am and is filed
under The War on Stupid.
Rachel from North London – 42 days. Once more for those at the back: The trust and good will of local communities in preventing murder-attacks is priceless and one of our best assets in saving lives. Time and again it is pointed out that draconian laws, laws that look like they are targeting Muslims unfairly, drafted on the basis of what tough-talking politicians say might be needed – rather than an honest assessment of the current situation are not only undemocratic but counter-productive. The Security Services, the people who do this day in and day out are not asking for this law. I repeat, the Security Services are not asking for this law. Don’t ask me how I know that, because I can’t tell you. But it is true.
And, bless her cotton socks, she was right on the money…
BBC – MI5 ‘has not asked for 42 days’: MI5 has not “directly” asked the government to extend the time limit for holding terror suspects without charge, to 42 days, Jacqui Smith has said.
As is noted here and here, there’s only one newspaper supporting 42 days, and that’s The Downing Street Echo, the same publication that pulled out all the stops for 90 days. Today, they’re busy parading a cop who does want 42 days (previously, they had to make do with two ex-cops (and the not-at-all blinkered MP Ann Widdecombe) but so far none of these people have shown why we need it now. All we get from the pro-42 camp is repeated assurances that we *might* need it someday backed by false urgency and shameless scaremongering like this; “Our enemies are planning our destruction and this is no time to play right into their hands.”
At this point I can confidently direct you back to the earlier post by Rachel and leave it at that:
Rachel from North London – 42 days. Once more for those at the back: The trust and good will of local communities in preventing murder-attacks is priceless and one of our best assets in saving lives. Time and again it is pointed out that draconian laws, laws that look like they are targeting Muslims unfairly, drafted on the basis of what tough-talking politicians say might be needed – rather than an honest assessment of the current situation are not only undemocratic but counter-productive.
By Wolf Solent June 9, 2008 - 11:47 am
There’s a lot about 42 days in the Northern Irish news at the moment, as there are rumours that a deal has been done with the DUP to secure their support. However, the NI Secretary of State, Sean Woodward, was on BBC Radio Ulster’s morning current affairs programme this morning and got absolutely fucking savaged. It has been a long time since I have heard an interviewer treat a politico with such entirely undisguised contempt; Woodward kept reiterating what was obviously his talking point for this one, that the PSNI’s head Hugh Orde, was in favour of 42 days, and eventually the interviewer basically gave up and told him “whatever”. Should be on Listen Again for a while – couldn’t tell you where it turns up in the programme, sadly.http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/radioulster/gmu/
By Pete Connolly June 9, 2008 - 10:41 pm
This creeping upper limit, almost a determination to hit the 90+ days target, looks like a slow introduction to internment in the UK. That really worked well in Northern Ireland in the 70's – for the wrong side. Hundreds of 'martyrs' had songs written about their plight and this acted as a fantastic recruiting tool for the IRA and other groups.I could understand if for technical reasons (e.g. 'we need 40 days to break their PGP keys'), the authorities wanted longed to examine evidence, but just come out and say so, we're adults, we can be reasoned with. Vague notions of plots and scaremongering just demonstrate that the current politicians think the public are idiots.Grrrr!