I don’t know where to start when it comes to critiquing the Government’s response to the London bombings, a mixture of excessive authoritarianism and shutting the stable door once the milk has been spilt. Can I really be agreeing with Peter Hitchens?
Fortunately, there was a good piece from Mary Riddell in yesterday’s Observer that expressed many of my thoughts:
Crimes of ‘glorifying and condoning terrorism’ hark back to the 18th-century offence of seditious libel, under which pamphleteers disagreeing with the state were clapped in jail. Outlawing non-violent groups, however dislikeable, may make them a magnet for the dangerous. Worst of all is talk of suspending Article Three of the Human Rights Act, which forbids sending suspects back to torture. Such a move is alarming both in its intent and in its symbolism. A first bone has been slung to those who bayed for an assault on human rights.
The Observer also featured Jason Burke’s manifesto for combatting terrorism.
In the Observer Review section was the second of the paper’s Sudoku puzzles. Both have been shockingly straightforward and took less than four minutes each. I assume they’re easing their readership in.
Recent comments