First up this morning was the Convention on Modern Liberty, noted below. Then along comes the House of Lords judgment in Qatada. Carl Gardner, as ever, is on the money with this and his post dissects the issue thoroughly and with elegance. See Head of Legal blog post.
Thirdly… I had the pleasure of talking with Ian Parker-Joseph, Leader of the UK Libertarian Party. Ian is on twitter. In fact, I
was one of his first *Followers* and *Followees*. I’m doing a Podcast with Ian on Friday… to give you a taste of what we will be discussing here is a link to Ian’s blog and the UK Libertarian Party.
I was particularly taken with this piece of information… a masterly way to make a point:
A COPY OF ORWELL’S ‘NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR’ SENT TO EVERY MP
An Internet grass-roots campaign will this week deliver a copy of George
Orwell’s prophetic novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ to every Member of
Parliament.
The books will be inscribed with the words, ‘This book was a warning, not a
blueprint’, and will arrive at Parliament on or before November 5th — a
date of well known historical significance for that building.
—————
Outraged by the continual attack upon civil liberties within our nation, a
fortnight ago the Libertarian Party proposed reminding those in Westminster
who they were elected to serve, and in whose interests the laws that they
pass are meant to function.
Spread purely by word of mouth, a campaign to send each Member of Parliament
their own copy of Orwell’s dystopian classic met with overwhelming support
on the Internet, with many more books pledged than the 646 required to
ensure that every one of our elected representatives receive a personal
copy. The Libertarian Party contributed just 75 books itself, with the
remainder coming (directly, or via campaign donations) from people of all
political parties, and of none.
The UK Libertarian Party leader, Ian Parker-Joseph, explained, “As the
people of Britain become ever more spied upon and ever more heavily taxed,
as the government attempts to control how much we should smoke, eat and
drink, as the state legislates to regulate ever more the minutiae of our
lives, the Libertarian Party want to remind people that we have the power,
and that our elected representatives work for us.”
Extract from the Blogofbile
Yes… right up my street. I shall look forward to this podcast.
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