The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

6 responses to “Britain becoming a police state?”

1. 

   tbrrob

   February 17, 2009

   If you’re attending the convention on modern liberty. You may be interested in meeting a few of us poorer liberals for a pint over lunch. Would be nice to meet you.
   http://lpuksoutheast.blogspot.com/2009/02/alternative-convention-on-modern.html

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2. 

   Tom Paine

   February 17, 2009

   I would be delighted. How shall we link up?

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3. 

   Guthrum

   February 18, 2009

   I will be there Tom,After two years would be delighted to make your acquaintance, either at the event or at the LPUK alternative event.

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4. 

   Martin

   February 18, 2009

   I’ll be sure to meet up at lunchtime at the pub if I don’t see any of you in the main event.

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5. 

   Kevyn Bodman

   February 18, 2009

   I think you are being a bit harsh on Dame Stella.
   We don’t know what advice she was giving to her political masters, but when she was in post it would have been quite wrong for her to speak out in opposition to government policy.
   Policy is made by politicians and if we don’t like it we can turf them out at the ballot box.
   Civil servants are there to do their bidding,not publicly oppose them.
   (I wouldn’t mind being ‘fisked’ on what I’ve written there, and reading others’ thinking because
   it’s an extreme and ideal fantasy scenario that I’ve constructed and I’m nowhere near 100% convinced.)
   Closer to reality, the important point about turfing them out is fatally weakened if we don’t know what their beliefs, policies and actions are because they are fundamentally dishonest and lie to us whenever it suits them. And they do.
   Then we have an opposition run by a bunch of wimps as far as I can tell, who offer very little in the way of robust difference to the current bunch of liars.
   I was both angry and disappointed at the pitifully weak failure of Cameron and the Conservatives to speak out in favour of Geert Wilders being allowed to enter the UK. It was an open goal offered by Jackboots Jacqui and the Conservatives missed it.
   Whatever you might think of Wilders the point is that you don’t have to respect his beliefs, but you should respect his right to express them. (I’m paraphrasing a superb comment I read last week.)
   So, democracy isn’t working, the government are liars, the opposition are wimps and the police are attempting to crack down on dissent (see earlier post about going after the website host).
   When is it time to take to the streets?
   But what Dame Stella said in that newspaper is correct; and the Daily Mash did very well to deal with it with humour while retaining the serious aspect of the matter.
   Now I’m going to vote on that newspaper poll.

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6. 

   John

   February 18, 2009

   I’m interested by the results in the Times poll. 98% believe that the fight against terrorism is turning Britain into a police state. I voted ‘yes’, though technically speaking I believe that it is not the fight against terrorism per se that is turning Britain into a police state – it is the government.
   But I am sorry that I cannot believe that 98% of the British public actually believe that Britain is being turned into a police state. If they did, opinion polls would be telling a very different story. Either that, or becoming a police state is the least of people’s worries!

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