the very model of a modern labour minister : a tribute to charles clarke and his id cards
This link comes to you via Perfect. As do these:
Identity cards: nothing to hide, nothing to fear?
ID cards losing support as rising costs deter public
If you haven’t done so already, I urge you to consider signing this pledge.
The proxy-blog for Mark Pritchard is go. I know that I missed out on a few of these over the last 12 weeks, so if you’ve launched one recently and I haven’t plugged it yet, feel free to speak up now.
Isn’t it funny how a fake alert or an un-named threat or old intelligence dressed up as a current threat always crops up every time this government readies itself to remove another of our liberties? And isn’t it rather odd that this long-time Blairite mouthpiece always happens to lead the way? (Here’s a prime example.)
The Scum – Harry was a sitting duck: A Sun reporter with a “bomb” gained easy access to Prince Harry’s Sandhurst quarters – and could have blown him up.
For true!
The Scum Says – Army Shambles: If he had been a terrorist, the third in line to the throne could have been dead by now. This is the third time The Sun has planted a “bomb” at the heart of a supposedly ultra-secure zone. First it was the Commons, and then Windsor Castle. Now it is the home of the cream of our future Army officers.
For shame!
Rebekah Wade is being far too modest. She’s also pulled this stunt at several other secure zones, including Birmingham Airport. Anyway, I won’t bore you with needless details. I know you what to crack on and hear what the bird with the baps thinks…
Today, Zoe (a 24-year-old Page 3 stalwart who is notorious for her perky and positive views on Iraq) has her say regarding the security breach at Sandhurst: “Why are the royals so poorly protected? I’m appalled that a Sun reporter managed to walk around unchallenged. He could have been a terrorist. Lessons need to be learned before it’s too late.”
Yes, the point about lessons learned is a good one. The election is barely a month in the past and we’re already back on familiar and dangerous ground.
I saw this.
I did this.
UPDATE – Ahahahahahaha!
UPDATE – eBay have pulled my auction! If you missed it, it was an 8-year-old Australian belt (picture) tastefully and artfully arranged into a figure-8 to represent Bob Geldof’s sense of self-satisfaction. Why did eBay pull my auction? Well, here’s what they told me:
eBay has decided to not allow the re-sale of Live 8 tickets on the site.
Tickets? Who mentioned tickets? Someone’s getting a bit trigger-happy over at eBay.
Guess which MP’s website made the shortlist for the New Statesman New Media Awards 2005.
Evening Standard – Exclusion zone to Parliament protests: Political protests are to be curbed in a half-mile “exclusion zone” around Parliament, it emerged today. A map of the zone, drawn up by ministers and slipped out in the Commons, shows that it takes in the whole of Whitehall and the London Eye. Inside the zone, spontaneous demonstrations, even by a lone protester, will be banned. Police will be able to set stringent conditions on those who apply in advance, such as a half-hour time limit and a ban on placards and loudhailers. Anyone who fails to comply will face arrest. Critics denounced the measure as a heavy-handed attack on free speech.
Further: Ministers claimed a ban on demonstrations outside Parliament was needed to allow MPs and peers free access in and out of the building.
Yes. There are no secure underpasses to surrounding buildings, car parks and the Underground. All MPs walk the streets like common men these days
But the Act gave ministers the power to draw up an exclusion zone anywhere up to one kilometre from the Palace of Westminster. The map of the zone reveals Home Secretary Charles Clarke has used his new power to the full extent. The only significant site left out of the zone is Trafalgar Square after ministers accepted that it is a traditional venue for demonstrations.
Well, isn’t that big of them?
Here you go, folks, I drew you a map of a 1km exclusion zone around the Houses of Parliament. This is what democracy looks like:
Take a look at the teeny-tiny wedge they’ve so graciously allowed us for protest somewhere near the heart of this country’s ever-dwindling democracy.
Think about what your options are if you wish to stage a major protest over any action by the Home Office, the Foreign Office, the Treasury, the Ministry of Defence, etc. etc. etc.
This exclusion zone covers every major government office. If the 1km limit extends from the outer boundary of the Houses of Parliament (as I expect it does), then the area directly outside the gates of Buckingham Palace is also a no-go area.
Let me repeat the most important bit for you:
But the Act gave ministers the power to draw up an exclusion zone anywhere up to one kilometre from the Palace of Westminster. The map of the zone reveals Home Secretary Charles Clarke has used his new power to the full extent.
To. The. Full. Extent.
Remember that the next time someone speaks reassuringly about ID cards.
UPDATE:
BBC – Protest ban zone ‘goes too far’
Telegraph – Commons exclusion zone to ban protesters
UPDATE:
Here’s a revised map following the specifications outlined in The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (Designated Area) Order 2005. (Cheers to Anthony for the heads-up.)
Of course, this would be a lot easier if the Home Office released a sodding copy of the map to the public.
But no. They would prefer we didn’t know too much about it until it’s too late.
Hooray for Koala Play Group (take a look at the bottom of the page).
Today, Page 3 stunna Neval (22, from London) believes Micahel Jackson’s career could be over despite his acquittal on child abuse charges. She says: “The case was a tremendous drain on him. Some people will always have their doubts about Jacko – and I don’t think he can ever be the king of pop again.”
See also:
Lincoln Journal Star – Media’s tabloid coverage hurts their credibility: Media interest in celebrity trials is certainly nothing new. It goes back to at least 1921 when William Randolph Hearst used Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle’s trial on rape and murder charges to boost circulation of his newspaper chain. That ploy worked. Arbuckle was eventually found innocent, but his career was decimated. That, however, was of little concern to Hearst, who made his money and moved on to the next scandal.
BTW, wasn’t it nice of Rupert Murdoch and friends to react to the decision not to hold this trial in the glare of the media by staging their own media circus anyway?
The BBC reported last week in a documentary that during the trial (and the ‘trial’) Edward Moss, the man hired to portray Jackson in the re-enactments, was busy promoting a new single and video. The title of the single; Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Me Off
Sadly, today I can find no mention of it at Moss site No. 1 or Moss site No. 2
I’ve tried to get an explanation/clarification from Moss’s management, but haven’t had much luck so far. Perhaps you’d care to try:
Dan Gore
(626) 943-3156
for promotional video & material
iconsprods@aol.com
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
McPaper – ‘Downing Street memo’ gets fresh attention: Robin Niblett of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, says it would be easy for Americans to misunderstand the reference to intelligence being “fixed around” Iraq policy. ” ‘Fixed around’ in British English means ‘bolted on’ rather than altered to fit the policy,” he says.
There’s more:
Common Dreams – USA Today and the Downing Street Memo
See also:
Evening Standard – Surrender, anti-war man is told: Britain’s most persistent anti-war demonstrator was today ordered to quit his protest. Parliament Square protester Brian Haw has been served with a legal notice to dismantle his makeshift peace camp opposite the House of Commons. Ministers expect him to be gone by August…. Mr Haw’s removal would end demonstrations outside the Houses of Parliament for the first time in 350 years. The Home Office brought in special laws last month overturning the centuries-old right of people to challenge their elected representatives outside Westminster. They claimed the measures were needed for security reasons.
Yeah, *job* security reasons.
I described Brian Haw’s encampment as “a little cloud of shame that does and should hang over our representatives” in October of last year, and linked to an Independent article now mirrored on this support website. This article has a passage that deserves repeating, just to show you how desperate MPs are to do away with Haw:
Sir George Young, the Tory MP for Hampshire North West, has led the charge against Mr Haw, accusing ministers of an “inexcusable paralysis” for failing to get rid of him earlier. In a Commons debate in May he said that terrorists could hide behind the peace protester’s banners and “pick us off as we arrive at or leave the House”. No other democracy would allow “this shanty town” in the middle of the its capital, he said. Mr Blunkett agrees. He has decided to take the matter on with an amendment to the Serious Organised Crime Bill to be unveiled in the Queen’s Speech next month.
(cough)
So that’s legislation designed to target organised crime that targets a single peaceful protestor. It’s also an essential move in the ‘war’ on terror. Because Osama bin Laden could hide behind a paper sign and leap out to attack passing MPs. You can read more of Sir George Young’s claptrap on this subject by clicking here. FFS, he even cites environmental concerns.
In fact, there are almost as many ridiculous and false arguments being used to displace Brian Haw as there were used to justify the illegal invasion of Iraq.
Brian Haw should stay. The shadow he casts across the Houses of Parliament should remain in place until the gutless wonders inside call Blair and his cronies to account.
People who bleat about putting the past behind us and ‘moving forward’ in Iraq (example) need to know that there can be no positive move forward until justice is done and seen to be done. Even from a purely practical standpoint, it’s the only way to cripple the terrorists that swept into that country following an invasion with little to no legal justification, a greatly compromised moral argument, and no long-term plan.
UPDATE – A somewhat related link via Toby…
BBC – ‘Freedom fries’ lawmaker’s U-turn: A pro-Iraq war US congressman who campaigned for French fries to be renamed “freedom fries” is now calling for US troops to return home from Iraq. Republican Representative Walter Jones is to introduce legislation demanding a timetable for the withdrawal.
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